Alternating Current
With DC (Direct Current), electric current flows in only one direction. With AC (Alternating Current), current direction reverses periodically. More ...
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 ...
What Is an Electronic Circuit?
Circuits provide a path for current to flow. To be a circuit, this path must start and end at the same point. In other words, a circuit must form a loop. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Etching
photolithography is the process of transferring patterns to photoresist covering the surface of a semiconductor wafer. To produce circuit features, these resist patterns must be transferred into the underlying layers of the device. Pattern transfer is accomplished by an etching process that selectively removes unmasked portions of a layer. 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 ...
Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET)
A Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) consists of a channel and a pn junction. The gate controls the conductance of the channel. A JFET is a voltage controlled device, therefore no current flows into the gate. More ...
Transformers
Transformers work according to the principle of electromagnetic induction. If the first coil carries sine-wave ac of a certain frequency, then the induced current will be sine-wave ac of the same frequency in the second coil. More ...
Batteries
Early in the history of electrical science, laboratory physicists found that when metals came into contact with certain chemical solutions, voltages appeared between the pieces of metal. These were the first electrochemical cells. More ...
Inductors in Series and Parallel
Inductances in series add like resistances in series. The total value is the sum of the individual values. Inductances in parallel values add up like the values of resistors in parallel. The reciprocal of total inductance is the sum of reciprocals of all the individual inductances. More ...
Integrated Circuit Manufacturing Deposition
Many different types of thin films are used to manufacture integrated circuits, including thermal oxides, dielectric layers, epitaxial layers, polycrystalline silicon, and metal films. This article addresses two techniques for depositing such films. More ...
Capacitors
A capacitor is an electronic component that can store electric charge. A capacitor is constructed with two conductive plates separated by an insulator called a dielectric. More ...
Inductor Mutual Inductance and Coefficient of Coupling
Mutual Inductance the property of a coil in which it opposes the change of current in another coil. The coefficient of coupling between two coils is the fraction of magnetic flux produced by the current in one coil that links with the other coil. 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 ...
How to Read a Capacitor's Values
Due to the limited space available for printing, physically small capacitors are especially difficult to read. Therefore capacitors use a wide variety of codes to describe their characteristics. More ...
