Modern Semiconductor Manufacturing
The modern semiconductor manufacturing process sequence is the most sophisticated and unforgiving volume production technology that has ever been practiced successfully. It consists of a complex series of hundreds of unit process steps that must be performed very nearly flawlessly. More ...
Electronics Lab
Even though an electronic circuit may appear to work on paper, and maybe even in a circuit simulator, it's always important to test it in the real world. Prototype circuits can be built using a solderless breadboard. More ...
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
An LED is a diode that converts electrical current directly into light and therefore it is more efficient than other sources of light which convert some energy into heat. When electrons recombine with holes in the depletion region they release energy in the form of light photons. More ...
Inductors in DC Circuits
When voltage first applied current through an inductive circuit is low because a magnetic field starts building in the coil, and this magnetic field creates a back electromotive force (EMF) that oppose the current in the inductor. More ...
Integrated Circuits
An integrated circuit (IC) is a thin rectangular piece of semiconductor upon which, using a photographic process, thousands of electronic components, and the conducting paths to connect them, are printed. The types circuits that can be etched into a semiconductor chip range from amplifiers to logic gates and even microprocessors with millions of transistors. More ...
Electrical Transformers
A transformer is an electrical device that uses the principle of magnetic induction to step voltage up or step down. Inversely it increases or decreases the current available at the different voltages. More ...
EMI, RFI, EMC, EMS, What's the Difference?
EMI, RFI, EMC, and EMS all refer to different aspects of radio frequency interference which may cause elecronic devices to malfunction. Correcting these problems can be an art and a science. More ...
Phase shift in AC Circuits
In an AC circuit with a capacitor or an inductor there is a phase shift between voltage and current. In this article you learn how to calculate the amount of that phase shift. More ...
Magnetism Permeability and Retentivity
Permeability is a property of a material that describes the ease with which magnetic flux is established in the material. Retentivity is a materials ability to retain a certain amount of residual magnetism after the magnetizing force is removed. More ...
Integrated Circuit Fabrication Photolithography
Photolithography is the process of transferring patterns on a mask to a thin layer ofphotoresist covering the surface of a semiconductor wafer. These patterns define the various regions in an integrated circuit, such as the implantation regions, the contact windows, and the bonding pad areas. More ...
Use a Resistor to Measure Inductance
Inductance is usually measured by using an LCM multimeter. It can also be mesured using a resistor. With the resistor method, you adjust the frequency of a sine wave until the AC voltage accross the resistor and inductor are equal. Then using a formula to calculate the inductance. More ...
Superposition Theorem
The resistive networks that satisfy Ohm's law allow a number of simplifying approaches to be taken in their analysis. Circuit analysis by superposition replaces all voltage sources but one with short circuits, then using the summation rules of series-parallel combinations of resistors determine the voltage across and current in each branch due to the remaining voltage source, and then repeating this process for all voltage sources and superposing the results. More ...
Zener Diode
A zener diode is similar to a standard diode allowing current flow in the forward direction except the semiconductor is more heavily doped and this allows it to operate in the reverse-bias break down mode. More ...
Magnetism
Electric currents and magnetic fields are closely related. Whenever an electric current flows a magnetic field accompanies the current. When a wire is coiled up, the resulting magnetic flux becomes more concentrated. More ...
