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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.
- Capacitor marking codes
- Conversion chart to convert pF to nF to uF
- SMD capacitors
- Summary of capacitor types
- Capacitor ESR, dissipation factor, loss tangent and Q
- Electrolytic capacitor overview
- Tantalum capacitor overview
- Ceramic capacitor overview
- Silver mica capacitor overview
- Glass dielectric capacitor
- Polycarbonate capacitor
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.
- Transistor datasheet parameters - descriptions of the parameters used in transistor datsheets.
- Introduction to the PN junction and the basic diode
Diode types:
- Types of diodes
- Basic PN junction diode
- Gunn diode
- IMPATT or IMPact Avalanche Transit Time diode
- Laser Diode
- Light emitting diode (LED)
- Photodiode
- Avalanche photodiode
- PIN Diode
- Schottky barrier diode
- Step recovery 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
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.