ELECTRONICS

The course provides elements of electron devices and basic analog and digital electronics.

00. Introduction

Presentation of the course. History of electronics. Electronics branches. Moore’s law. Evolution of integrated circuits. Levels of integration. Electronics design abstraction levels. Review of the basic electronic tools: electric dipoles; Kirkhoff laws; equivalent resistances and voltage dividers; controlled sources; superposition principle; memory elements. Bode diagrams. Time and frequency response of basic RC networks. Analog and digital signals. Electronic simulators.

- Electronics Workbench: analysis of basic RC networks.

01. Semiconductor Physics

Semiconductors: basic properties of semiconductors; semiconductor types; energy band structure; valence and conductance bands. Insulators and conductors. Charge carriers. Silicon: atomic configuration; electronic and crystal structure. Electron-hole generation. Movement of carriers. Dynamic equilibrium. Intrinsic charge carrier concentration. Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors. Doped semiconductors: donor elements and acceptor elements. N-type and P-type doping. Charge carriers in N-type and P-type semiconductors. Doping effects. Drift current and diffusion current.

02. Diodes and Applications

The PN junction. Electric charges and currents in semiconductors. Diode junction: carrier diffusion; depletion region; forward and reverse biasing; I-V characteristics and operating modes. Diode static models. Diode circuit analysis. Zener diodes: reverse bias characteristics and operating principle. Diode applications: half-wave and full-wave rectifiers; clipping circuits; capacitive filter; voltage regulators. Diode small-signal analysis. Diode small-signal conductance. Diode small-signal model.

- Electronics Workbench: analysis of rectifier and clipping circuits; capacitive filters.

03. Bipolar Junction Transistors

The BJT transistor: basic structure; operating modes; cut-off, forward-active and saturation regions; current gain in forward-active mode. BJT static models. Output characteristics. Early effect. Load lines. BJT bias configurations. The BJT transistor as a signal amplifier. BJT small-signal model. BJT small-signal parameters.

- Electronics Workbench: bias configurations of the BJT transistor; static circuits with the BJT transistor; bias point evaluation in static circuit topologies.

04. MOSFET Transistors

The MOSFET transistor: basic structure; aspect ratio; operating modes; cut-off, saturation and triode regions; operating conditions. MOSFET static models. Output characteristics. Channel length modulation effect. Load lines. MOSFET bias configurations. The MOSFET transistor as a signal amplifier. MOSFET small-signal model. MOSFET small-signal parameters.

- Electronics Workbench: bias configurations of the MOSFET transistor; static circuits with the MOSFET transistor; bias point evaluation in static circuit topologies.

05. Amplifier Circuits

The amplifier: energy balance; voltage transfer characteristics; equivalent models. Single-stage amplifiers: voltage, current, transconductance and transresistance amplifiers. Bypass and decoupling capacitances. Amplifier frequency response. BJT single stage amplifier configurations: common-emitter; common-collector; common-base; common-emitter with degeneration resistance. MOSFET single stage amplifier configurations: common-source; common-drain; common-gate; common-source with degeneration resistance. Mid-band gain and input/output resistances. BJT and MOSFET current mirrors: large-signal operation. Differential amplifier: large-signal operation.

- Electronics Workbench: bias point evaluation and small-signal analysis of basic BJT and MOSFET single-stage amplifier configurations.

06. Operational Amplifiers

The operational amplifier: real and ideal voltage transfer characteristics; equivalent models; fundamental properties of ideal operational amplifiers. Analysis of analog circuits with ideal operational amplifiers. Basic operational amplifier configurations: inverting and non-inverting amplifier; buffer amplifier; inverting voltage summer; integrator; differentiator. Generic feedback amplifier configurations.

- Electronics Workbench: analysis of basic operational amplifier configurations.

07. Logical Circuits

Combinational and sequential circuits. Basic logical functions: NOT; AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR. Boolean algebra. De Morgan theorems. Universal gates. Boolean functions. Canonical forms. Truth tables. Logical gates. Digital signal representation. Inverter static characteristics: voltage transfer characteristics; logic threshold; logic swing; noise margins; fan-in and fan-out. Inverter dynamic characteristics: rise time and fall time; rise and fall delays; propagation delay. Power consumption: average static power; dynamic power.

- Electronics Workbench: analysis of basic digital gates.

08. CMOS Logic

Complementary MOS logic: pull-up and pull-down networks; basic operation principle. Digital circuits and logical functions. Basic CMOS gates: inverter; NAND, NOR. Complex functions in CMOS logic: two-input XOR. Transistor-level implementation of generic digital functions in CMOS logic.

09. Sequential Circuits

Bistable elements: latches and flip-flops. SR latch. JK latch. Asynchronous reset. T and D latches. Race conditions. Master-slave SR and JK latches. Edge-triggered flip-flops. JK, T and D flip-flops. Applications of sequential circuits: shift registers, asynchronous counters.

- Electronics Workbench: analysis of basic sequential circuits; implementation of counters with asynchronous reset; simulation of complex digital applications.

10. Semiconductor Memory

Basic concepts. Memory classification. Volatile DRAM memory: basic 1T cell. Volatile SRAM memory: basic 6T cell. Non-volatile EEPROM memory. Non-volatile FLASH memory. Non-volatile ROM memory.

1. F. Centurelli, A. Ferrari, «Fondamenti di Elettronica», Editore Zanichelli, 2016.

2. A. S. Sedra, K. C. Smith, «Circuiti per la Microelettronica», Editore Ingegneria 2000, 2004.

3. J. Millman, A. Grabel, «Microelettronica», seconda edizione, Editore Mc-Graw-Hill, 2005.

4. J. Rabaey, A. Chandrakasan, B. Nikolic, «Digital Integrated Circuits», 2nd edition, Editore Prentice Hall, 2003.