20801859 - ELECTRONICS I

The objective of the course is to introduce the student in the world of electronics. The course includes principle of operation and models of electronic devices (diodes, bipolar transistor and field effect transistor) and their applications to electronic circuits focusing on analog amplifiers and basic logic gates and studying their properties in both time and frequency domain.
teacher profile | teaching materials

Programme

Course syllabus (short)
Introduction to electronics. Principle of operation and models of: the pn junction, the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET). Biasing the BJT and the MOSFET. Single and multiple stage amplifiers. Differential amplifier. Current sources. Active loads. Frequency response of electronic amplifiers. Logic gates and amplifiers in NMOS and CMOS technology. Feedback theory and feedback amplifiers. Sinusoidal oscillators. Operational amplifiers. Other applications of most common analog device circuits.

Course syllabus (detailed)

Introduction: a bit of history, classification of electronic signals, conventions, problem-solving approach, basic concepts from circuit theory, electronic amplifiers, logic inverters, element variation in circuit design, numeric precision.

Solid state electronics: semiconductors and electronic devices, resistivity of insulators, conductors and semiconductors, covalent bonds and band diagrams, forbidden band, intrinsic concentration, electrons and holes in semiconductors, donors and acceptors, controlling carrier concentration with doping, drift and diffusion current, mobility and saturation velocity, temperature and doping dependence of mobility.

Diodes and diode circuits: structure and layout, electrostatics of the pn junction, regions of operation (forward, reverse, breakdown), large and small signal models, analysis and design of diode circuits, applications (rectifiers, power supplies, regulators, DC-DC converters).

Field effect transistor (MOSFET): structure and principle of operation, regions of operation (triode, saturation, cut-off), analytical model and i-v characteristics, DC MOSFET circuits, bias of MOSFET, the MOSFET as an amplifier and as a logic inverter, small signal equivalent circuits, single stage MOS amplifiers, MOSFET capacitances and frequency response, NMOS and CMOS logic inverters.

Bipolar junction ransistor (BJT): structure and principle of operation, regions of operation (active, inverse, saturation, cut-off), analytical model and i-v characteristics, DC BJT circuits, bias of BJT, the BJT as an amplifier and as a logic inverter, small signal equivalent circuits, single stage BJT amplifiers, BJT capacitances and frequency response, discrete voltage regulators.

Integrated amplifiers: design concept of integrated circuits, MOSFET/BJT comparison, biasing integrated circuits, frequency response, CS and CE amplifiers, CG and CB amplifiers, the Cascode amplifier, CD and CC amplifiers.

Differential amplifier: MOSFET differential pair, large and small signal operation, BJT differential pair, large and small signal operation, ideal/real differential amplifiers, active loaded differential amplifiers, frequency response.

Feedback: basic concepts of feedback theory, classification of feedback circuits, properties, examples, stability and compensation.

Sinusoidal oscilators: introduction to oscillators, the Barkhausen criteria, LC tuned oscillators (Colpitts and Hartley), crystal oscillators, design examples.

Core Documentation

A.S. Sedra, K.C. Smith "Circuiti per la microelettronica" EDISES 5th edition
or
A.S. Sedra, K.C. Smith "Circuiti per la microelettronica" EDISES 4rd edition
or
A.S. Sedra, K.C. Smith "Microelectronic Circuits (5th edition or later)

+ additional contents on Moodle e-learning platform

Reference Bibliography

none

Type of delivery of the course

72 hours of classroom lectures + recorded exercises

Attendance

attendance is not mandatory but strongly recommended

Type of evaluation

The evaluation includes a written test and an oral test (the oral exam is only accessed after passing the written one). Alternatively, it is possible to access the oral exam by passing the intermediate tests.