Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
CHAPTER 1. CONTEXT and FORM
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Electronics is the term used for systems that are identified with the flow and control of the basic charge
unit that we call the electron. Electronics therefore is the basis for most of the enterprise area of Electrical
and Computer Engineering. As such, electronics is then (1) an exposition of the devices used to channel
and control the flow of electrons and (2) the deployment of these devices in application and interest
topologies. The topologies, great or small, are then denoted as circuit networks, for which the devices
form branches that are joined to one another by nodes. The flow of electrons through the circuit is then
defined and distributed by the application of voltages, typically of which are either in the form of energy
sources or in the form of signals.
If the components in the network have a linear response to an electrical stimulus and can be defined by a
single parameter the mathematics and analysis is straightforward and intuitive. Consequently linear
components serve as the basis by which we identify and define the rules of engagement for everything
else. The engagement is still an extensive undertaking, so textbooks exist just for the purpose of defining
the rules, theorems, and means by which a circuit can be simplified, analyzed, and interpreted. But with
attention to the basics that have a clear place in system design, the exposition can be cut to the chase and
reduced considerably. And this textbook has done so and unambiguously developed and deployed the
basics to fit comfortably into six chapters, 2 through 7, approximately 156 pp.
Chapters 8 through 11 are dedicated to non-linear electronics (155 pp). Chapters 12 through 19 are
dedicated to applications (193 pp). There are 19 chapters and 525 pages. And each chapter (except this
one and chapter 18) has a summary and portfolio designed to serve as a quick reference or a as talking
point resource within an instructional setting or review session.
Since the subject area of electronics is a reflection of a technology environment marked by evolution, any
textbook on electronics can be massive. However, if internet resources are woven into the exposition, a
great many reductions and simplifications can be achieved, simply by the judicious use of URLs.
Therefore the charter of this textbook is to realign the subject to a context that is hyperlink-friendly. A
collateral purpose is to keep it simple. So it should be expected that many favorite interests will be
bumped to a URL rather than being expanded within the text. Regrets.
For example, there is only a sub-chapter allotted to the subject area of logic circuits, a huge favorite of
many textbooks. Logic circuits may encompass a lot of territory and reach into a lot of options. But logic
circuits fall more under the tenets of switching theory, which demands a different art. The electronic side
of logic circuits relates to performance issues such as speed and power consumption. And these are
defined by technology. Logic technologies span many generations of relevance and obsolescence and
have more history than the Punic wars. The only logic technology that is represented in this book is
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
CMOS (Complimentary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) technology and it is a sub-section of the chapter on
FETs (field-effect transistors). As the dominant contemporary technology, even it has many technology
and topology variations. Given the technology push, CMOS will be undoubtedly be requalified by other
technologies as technology continues to advance and achieve higher densities.
Traditional textbooks in the Electronics arena are commonly deployed in three levels of exposition and
challenge. They are (1) Linear circuits, (2) Non-linear devices and circuits (semiconductor electronics)
and (3) Applications. Two or more may be combined to become a massive single source. But in use and
even reference, most pages remain clean and untouched. And many cousins reside on the same shelf
space, also clean and untouched. Courtesy that resource environment is virtually obsolete, since URLs
and Wikipedia have taken over much of the reference environment.
Consequently it is intended that this resource exist in three forms (1) hardbound (2) softcopy print replica
and (3) dissembled softcopy. The softcopy form are active and adaptive since they include URLs. URLs
from Wikipedia and its resources are strong URLs. Those for device parameters and parts specifications
may be more soft, since they are vulnerable to site volatility and obsolescence.
It is advisable that the user not confine usage to just the hardbound or the print replica versions but
subscribe to the support URL for this textbook (www.linkchainforge.com ) since it will include support
materials, updates, tutorials, and homework exercises.
The dissembled form and its open-source echo may be printed and published with the author’s complete
and unqualified permission. The author only asks that his name be included in the author list of any
publication that uses this material since it did demand a whopping amount of time developing the story
and the illustrations. Everything you see is my work, and there are no copies of anything from anywhere
else, even if of superior art or of superior form.
Inasmuch the instructor resources offer an open-source copy, any user can change, add, subtract, or
requalify the exposition and material. So if an extra chapter needs to be inserted about a new
semiconductor device or logic technology it will not be necessary to bulldoze the landscape. If an author
wants to add an application branch on medical electronics he can do so and republish. Novice users can
add problem solutions. All who are of mind to expand and elaborate or redeploy have complete
permission to use this source to author their own textbooks.
Maybe another author can insert a chapter on the next logic technology or the next materials technology
since a new option seems to appear every 12 months.
No problem sets will be included with this book. A set of URLs explicit to each of the chapters are
available online (www.lcf4u.com) and others can be inserted by any user, whether instructor, student, or
advocate. The site also includes a subdirectory of instructor resource materials along with the textbook
(msword) source files.
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
1.2 SHORTCUTS
By necessity the subject requires a lot of mathematical and computational entertainment. Some of it
seems to defy common sense when the overhead of an exercise plows the novice user into the grime and
grit of the underhead. But there are also a large number of common mathematical tools, such as
spreadsheets and programmable calculators that can handle much of the overhead. They are encouraged
but not directly sponsored.
But on the conceptual and user side of electronics there are plenty of hints and shortcuts to electronics that
are given markup herein. Many will be suggested in this chapter. But as the pages turn, equally as many
shortcuts will be sprinkled throughout the chapters.
For example consider the computation
1 1
1


R 25 1250
(1.2-1)
The answer is a straightforward calculator exercise and is R = 24.51.
Or a quicker rough answer is R ≅ 25. Not only does it require no calculator it is ‘good enough’
considering that manufactured components are not precision parts, particularly in the circuit world where
parts are soldered and integrated and parasitic contributions are embedded.
So analysis by inspection is very much in order in the electronics world and is encouraged throughout this
textbook.
It goes further than that, since many simple calculations do not need any overhead. For example no selfrespecting engineer would turn to a calculator to find
C = 2.0pF + 3.0pF
(1.2-2)
(= 5.0pf). It is also an analysis by inspection.
Notice also that electronics includes (metric) magnitude prefixes (prefix table listed). And we use every
durn one of them.
Magnitude prefixes used in electronics. (w/magnitude by scientific notation)
Common sub-unit prefixes
a (atto)
f (femto)
p (pico)
10-18
10-15
10-12
Reciprocals (also common supra-unit prefixes)
E (exa )
P (peta)
T (tera)
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1018
1015
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
n (nano)
 (micro)
m (milli)
c (centi)
10-9
10-6
10-3
10-2
G (giga)
M (mega)
k (kilo)
109
106
103
There are a few more listed by the URL that are less common but are also on the electronics book shelf.
Many of the supra-unit prefixes are also used to define byte memory count.
q = 1.60218 x 10-19 Coulomb
For example the charge on an electron is
q ≅ 0.16 aC (atto-Coulombs)
Or in more concise form
q ≅ 0.16 pC
Or if we want to play games with the prefixes
Of course this usage involves a defined measure of charge (= coulomb). If we should experience a
paradigm shift the measure of charge can be redefined in terms of Planck units which are based on the
five universal physical constants. The Planck unit of charge is
qP = q

= 1.875545 aC
(1.2-3)
where  is the fine-structure constant which almost has mystical significance in the physics community.
The use of qP, while unlikely, could be part of the next generation way of quantifying the science of
electrons that we call electronics, so it needs an honorable mention.
Prefixes are most likely to come into play in relatively simple calculations, in which case the
approximations are very relevant. If equation (1.2-2) was written as
C = 2.0pF + 3.0fF
(1.2-4)
Then the answer would be C ≅ 2.0pF (unless you want to cite it as 2.003pF). The same-as-before
approximation science and analysis by inspection usage is encouraged and will be sponsored
throughout this text.
Sometimes there are quantities that have formulas that relate to a particular context of electronics. But
instead of doing calculation a preconditioned default is used. For example in chapter 8 you will encounter
something called the thermal voltage
VT  kT q
(1.2-5a)
Where k = Boltzmann constant and q = magnitude of the electronic charge. At a nominal room (ambient)
temperature of 300K the thermal voltage is then
VT  .025 V
(1.2-5b)
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
The approximation is ‘good enough’, even though on the surface of the planet Venus (T = 750K) it would
not be.
Electronics is rife with approximations and prefixes and so it is not necessary for exact calculation
analysis or the time it takes to do so. So even WAGs (wild-eyed guesses) are often acceptable. A WAG
is usually better than an accurately bad calculation.
As an example, consider the following resistance network (Figure 1.2-1). Find the equivalent resistance
between node A and node B.
Since you presumably know nothing about either networks or
resistances it is grossly unfair to assert that you should be able
to make any assessment. But as a WAG and a glance over the
other values you might guess that the value is
R = 10k
(1.2-5)
Figure 1.2-1. Resistance network
And you would be wrong, of course. But, given the prefixes, you would not be so far off that the
usefulness of the circuit would be degraded. Actual answer ≅ 13.9k .
1.3 CIRCUIT SIMULATION
The rest of the story is that circuit simulation utilities can be called up to do almost all of the dirty work.
There is no point in grinding through the formulae of yesteryear in order to make an assessment when the
same formulae (and a lot more) are embedded in a circuit simulation utility. In addition, the circuit
simulator will almost always have a post-processor that can render and parse computational results in
terms of graphics and plot traces that are much more informative than a hand calculation.
The use of formulae and context is mostly just to ascertain an (approximate) expectation and to determine
enough background information to make decisions. Accuracy is almost a non-issue even though we may
try for 2-3 significant figures. Most electronics analysis is intended to make a snake check on either
content or context (i.e. the user wants to know how well he/she is doing).
The simulation platform of choice for this textbook is a software platform called SPICE (Simulation
Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) developed at UC Berkeley circa 1984. It exists in many
different versions and application settings. The subchoice used for most of the applications cited by this
textbook is an older version of pspice (personal spice) developed by MicroSim Inc and given many
postprocessor features by OrCAD Inc, the successor company that bought out MicroSim. Under OrCAD
pspice rests under the design center software ‘DesignLab’ and is relatively friendly. This product has
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
since been bought out by Cadence, Inc. The older more friendly version is available under the URL
pspice(olde).
User tutorials for the olde version are available at
1. Tutorial #1: Getting Started - pSPICE Schematics editor.
2. Tutorial #2: Execute pSPICE and invoke the PROBE (output display) window.
3. Tutorial #3: Set up parametric sweep option. Example: Maximum power transfer
theorem via pSPICE.
4. Tutorial #4: Load BSIM MOSIS parameters into generic MOS part. Example: I-V
charactersitics for short-channel transistor.
The choice of a circuit simulator is about like an automobile purchase in which you make the investment
and drive on. If you want a more sophisticated automobile, you will at least now know how to drive.
Circuit simulation has its limits and occasionally does tell lies. Most of the lies come from use of ideal
models and the constraints imposed by numerical computation. Overhead also is a factor. A very large
circuit can take a large chunk of time to process. So most circuit simulation is broken down and confined
to relatively small subcircuits. All circuit simulation software uses a modified nodal analysis (MNA) .
(Nodal analysis is discussed in chapters 2 and 4.) If the MNA contains non-linear (semiconductor and/or
magnetic) components then the MNA matrix is iterated by Newton-Rhapson iteration.
The size of the matrix that is iterated is the same as the number of nodes in the circuit. A circuit with ten
nodes has a 10 × 10 matrix and is not something that a user or software developer would want to do by
hand. Even with sparse matrix techniques and clever computational algorithms it should be apparent why
a simulation would take a chunk of time to complete its task.
All circuit simulation platforms also recognize and parse magnitude prefixes. A caution should be
acknowledged for the measure of 106, (a.k.a. Meg) since pspice is NOT case-sensitive. And so its prefix
for a magnitude prefix corresponding to106 is Meg and not M.
In most cases device parameters can be declared as software parameters, i.e. subject to lookup by the
simulation platform. This feature greatly enhances the postprocessor options.
The rest of the story resides in the device models used by the simulator and the accuracy of these models.
It is no small task to derive and develop mathematical models of a non-linear component controlled by
multiple inputs. There are a great many variations in the technology and process technologies. Few of
them are universally accessible since many manufacturing processes are proprietary.
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Circuits, Devices, Networks, and Microelectronics
1.4 NOMENCLATURES
A few comments should be made about the nomenclatures used to keep the faith and keep the sanity.
Upper case implies steady-state measure, a.k.a. DC (direct current) level measures. It also implies
magnitude levels. Lower case implies signal levels, usually in rms (root-means square) values. It also
implies slope measures that are equivalent to small-signal interpretations of a circuit. Most of the slope
(small-signal) measures arise from assessments of non-linear devices.
Subscripts associated with a component are usually (but not exclusively) numerical. Electrical current
through a component will usually have the same subscript as the component. Nodes (junctions) will
usually be in terms of voltages with labels. A double subscript on a voltage is always a difference
between two node voltages. For example VGS = VG – VS.
Vector fields are usually given in boldface type. Their magnitudes will be in plainface type..
The charge on an electron uses the notation q rather than the e used by the physics community.
For complex numbers the  1 imaginary prefix is j rather than the i favored by the mathematics
community.
These notations are consistent throughout the 19 chapters.
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