Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University

College of Engineering
Electrical Department

EE223
Fundamentals of Electronic Devices
 Prologue to Electronics
• The word electronics: televisions, laptop computers, cell phones, or iPods.

• Electronic systems composed of subsystems or electronic circuits.

• Including amplifiers, signal sources, power supplies, and digital logic circuits.

• Electronics: the science of the motion of charges in a gas, vacuum, or semiconductor (Early definition)

• Separating the field of electrical engineering: dealing with motors, generators, and wire communications,
from the new field of electronic engineering, dealt with vacuum tubes.

D. Neamen, Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th ed. 2010, pp. 1.
 Diodes

Semiconductor diodes were the

first semiconductor electronic
devices. The discovery of
asymmetric electrical conduction
across the contact between a
crystalline mineral and a metal was
made by German
physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1874.
ENIAC – Electrical Numerical Integrator and Calculator

• World 1st Computer – (1946 – 55) → 167m2

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Electronic Devices before transistors -
Vacuum Tubes
 Invention of the Transistor

• Vacuum tubes ruled in first half of 20th century Large, expensive,

power-hungry, unreliable
• 1947: first point contact transistor
• John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs
• See Crystal Fire
by Riordan, Hoddeson

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A Brief History
• 1958: First integrated circuit
• Flip-flop using two transistors
• Built by Jack Kilby at Texas
Instruments
• 2010 Courtesy Texas Instruments

• Intel Core i7 mprocessor

• 2.3 billion transistors
• 64 Gb Flash memory
• > 16 billion transistors

[Trinh09]
© 2009 IEEE

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Transistor Types
• Bipolar transistors
• npn or pnp silicon structure
• Small current into very thin base layer controls large currents between
emitter and collector
• Base currents limit integration density
• Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors
• nMOS and pMOS MOSFETS
• Voltage applied to insulated gate controls current between source and drain
• Low power allows very high integration

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Integrated Circuit (IC)
• IC, chip, microchip, microelectronic circuit.

• An electronic circuit built on a single semiconductor (e.g. Silicon Si)

wafer is called an IC.

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The Full Custom Approach

Intel 4004
Microprocessor

1971
1000 transistors
0.1 MHz operation
Transition to Automation and Regular Structures

Intel 4004 (‘71) Intel 8080 Intel 8085

Intel 8286 Courtesy Intel Intel 8486

 Prologue to Electronics

• Today electronics: transistors and transistor circuits.

• Microelectronics: integrated circuit (IC) technology, which can produce a circuit with multimillions
of components on a single piece of semiconductor material.

• A typical electrical engineer: performing many diverse functions, and is likely to use, design, or
build systems incorporating some form of electronics.

• Consequently, the division between electrical and electronic engineering is no longer as clear as
originally defined.

D. Neamen, Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th ed. 2010, pp. 1.
 Prologue to Electronics

Passive And Active Devices

• Passive device: an electronic component which can only receive energy, which it can either dissipate, absorb
or store it in an electric field or a magnetic field. Passive elements do not need any form of electrical power
to operate.

Examples: Resistors, Inductors, Capacitors, and Transformers

• An active component is an electronic component which supplies energy to a circuit.

Examples: Voltage sources, Current sources, Generators, and Transistors

D. Neamen, Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th ed. 2010, pp. 2.
 Prologue to Electronics

Analog Signals

• The voltage signal shown in Figures called an analog signal.

• The magnitude of an analog signal can take on any value within limits and may vary continuously with time.

• Electronic circuits that process analog signals are called analog circuits.

• Example of an analog circuit is a linear amplifier. A linear amplifier magnifies an input signal and produces an
output signal whose amplitude is larger and directly proportional to the input signal.

D. Neamen, Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th ed. 2010, pp. 2.
 Prologue to Electronics

Digital Signals

• An alternative signal is at one of two distinct levels and is called a digital signal.

• Since the digital signal has discrete values, it is said to be quantized.

• Electronic circuits that process digital signals are called digital circuits.

D. Neamen, Microelectronics Circuit Analysis and Design, 4th ed. 2010, pp. 2.
 Prologue to Electronics

Circuit Analysis

• Kirchhoff's current law.

• Kirchhoff's voltage law.

• Voltage divider

• Labeling voltages.

• Number of required equations