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Electronics and radio components
- including capacitors, resistors, inductors, semiconductors, diodes, transistors, crystals .....
There is a very wide range of electronics components available from passive components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors and quartz crystals to active components including semiconductors such as diode and transistors. Thermionic valves or tubes are also used in some specialist applications as well. These and more are all used in electronics and radio circuits today.
Surface Mount Technology (SMT)
In recent years there has been a drammatic change from the use of leaded components to surface mount technology. These SMT components make the manufacturing process much easier and faster.
Introduction to surface mount technology SMT
Surface mount technology (SMT) component packages
The Ball Grid Array, BGA, package used for integrated circuits
Capacitors
The capacitor may appear to be simple device at first site, there is more to them than meets the eye. The choice of capacitor can enable the circuit to work correctly... or not.
Resistors
Resistors come in an enormous variety of sizes. Their markings are known as the resistor colour code and this normally tells their value, and other parameters about them.
Resistor colour code
Standard or preferred resistor values and the E series
Thermistor - the temperature dependent resistor
Light dependent resistor, LDR, or photo resistor
SMD resistor - the surface mount resistor
Semiconductors
Transistors and diodes are in widespread use today. Many millions are used each day apart from those that are incorporated in integrated circuits.
Basics of semiconductors
Semiconductor numbering or coding systems - the Pro-electron and JEDEC systems for diode, transisor and FET codes.
Diode types:
Introduction to the PN junction and the basic diode
Gunn diode
IMPATT or IMPact Avalanche Transit Time diode
Laser Diode
Light emitting diode (LED)
Photodiode
Avalanche photodiode
PIN Diode
Schottky barrier diode
Tunnel diode
Varactor or varicap diode
Zener or Voltage reference diode
Diac
Active devices:
The bipolar junction transistor (BJT)
Photo transistor (phototransistor)
Junction FET or JFET
MOSFET
VMOS FET
UMOS FET - similar to the VMOS FET
TrenchMOS
MESFET (GaAs FET) basics
HEMT, High Electron Mobility Transistor
The Thyristor or Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
Triac
Charge coupled image sensor CCIS
FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array
ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
Semiconductor memory types and technologies
Flash memory
MRAM memory technology
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
EEPROM
SDRAM
SRAM - static RAM basics
Quartz Crystals
Quartz crystals are widely used in many areas of electronics. Their unique properties make them an ideal choice in many applications
Quartz crystals - What are they and how the can be used as a resonator
The effects of ageing on the frequency stability of quartz crystals
Oven controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO) for greater temperature stability
Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator (TCXO)
Voltage Controlled Crystal Oscillator (VCXO)
Quartz crystal specifications and how to specify them for radio oscillator and filter applications
Quartz crystal filters:
Quartz crystal bandpass filter - filters using discrete crystals
Monolithic crystal filter
Vacuum tubes
Vacuum tubes or thermionic valves are still used today and many can be found in vintage radio sets. (For information about the history of valves and their development see the Radio History section of this website - see side menu). Many audio enthusiasts prefer the sound that comes from a tube amplifier. Additionally there are many valve radios or wireless sets in use, and vacuum tube or thermionic technology continues to be used in some specialist areas of electronics.
Basic concepts behind the vacuum tube
Descriptions of the cathode, anode and grid used in the vacuum tube.
Vacuum tube or thermionic valve numbering systems
Vacuum tube or thermionic valve equivalents for replacements and substitution.
Vacuum tube or thermionic valve pin connections - pin connections for some popular valves.
Travelling wave tube (TWT) - used for high power microwave amplifiers.
Photomultiplier - used for image capture in very low light levels
Battery technology
Battery technology is an area of electronics that is growing in importance and sophistication with the ever increasing number of battery power electronics products.
Battery technology basics
Nickel cadmium / NiCad battery overview
Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH battery overview
Lithium-ion, Li-ion battery
Wire and cables
Wire and cable are an important part of any electronic system. While wire and cables may not attract the same attention as other components, wire and cables are nevertheless an important topic.
Wire and cable Metric / AWG conversion chart
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