INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONICS

IN THIS ULTRAMODERN WORLD IT IS

UNABLE TO IMAGINE ANY APPLICATION OR ANY PLACE WITHOUT ELECTRONICS, FROM DOMESTIC APPLIANCES TO DEFENCE APPLICATIONS. MODERN COMMUNICATIONS, COMPUTATION, AUTOMATION, POWER GENERATION AND AMPLICATIONS WILL ALWAYS START FROM ELECTRONICS DEVICES AND CIRCUITS.

THEREFORE STUDYING THE BASIC ELECTRONICS SUBJECT IS VERY ESSENTIAL FOR EVERY ENGINEERING.

 HISTORY OF ELECTRONICS:
IT CAN BE SAID THAT ELECTRONICS TOOK BIRTH IN 1897, WHEN A VACUUM DIODE WAS DEVELOPED BY J.A.FLEMING. HOWEVER THE REAL BEGINNING WAS MADE IN 1906, WHEN LEE DE FOREST DEVELOPED THE VACUUM TRIODE. WITHOUT THIS DEVICE, THE AMPLIFIERS i.e. THE HEART OF ALL ELECTRONICS GADJETS, WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE POSSIBLE. THE VACUUM TUBE DEVICES DOMINATED THE FIELD OF ELECTRONICS UNTIL THE END OF WORLD WAR II.

 IN 1948, TRANSISTOR WAS INVENTED BY THREE GENIUS JOHN BARDEEN, WALTER BRATTAIN AND WILLIAM SHOCKLEY AT BELL LABORATORY. THIS INVENTION COMPLETELY REVOLUTIONALIZED THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY AND OPEN THE FLOODGATES TO FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN ELECTRONICS.
WITHIN A DECADE, A LARGE NUMBER OF SUCH DEVICES WERE PRODUCED WHICH EXCEEDED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF VACUUM BASED DEVICES PRODUCED PRIOR TO 1948.

 THE DEVELOPMENT IN ELCTRONICS DEVICES GOES FURTHER AND THE FIRST INTEGRATED CIRCUIT(IC) WAS APPEARED IN THE MARKET DURING EARLY SIXTIES.
THE STRINGENT DEMAND OF SPACE ELECTRONICS RESULTED IN FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY STARTING FROM SMALL SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS(SSI), THEN MEDIUM SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS(MSI), LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED (LSI) CIRCUITS AND NOW RECENTLY DEVELOPED VERY LARGE SCALE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS(VLSI).

 THE TECHNOLOGY OF ICs IS SEEMINGLY PERFECTED TO ITS MAXIMUM. BUT ARE WE SURE ? NO! THE ELECTRONIC FIELD IN GENERAL AND THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE FIELD IN PARTICULAR ARE SO DYNAMIC AND SO FAST CHANGING THAT TODAYS CONCEPTS MAY BE OBSOLETE TOMORROW.

 ELECTRONICS:
THE WORD ELECTRONICS IS DERIVED FROM ELECTRON WHICH IS PRESENT IN ALL MATERIALS. THE BEHAVIOUR OF AN ELECTRON UNDER DIFFERENT CONDITIONS OF EXTERNALLY APPLIED FIELDS IS STUDIED UNDER ELECTRON MECHANICS. THE BRANCH OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WHICH DEALS WITH THE FLOW OF ELECTRONS THROUGH VACUUM OR GAS OR SEMICONDUCTOR IS KNOWN AS ELECTRONICS.

 IN FACT, ELECTRONICS IS A BRANCH

WHICH ESSENTIALLY DEALS WITH ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND THEIR UTILIZATION. AN ELECTRON DEVICE IS A DEVICE IN WHICH CONDUCTION(ELECTRON FLOW ) TAKES PLACE THROUGH A VACUUM, A GAS OR A SEMICONUCTOR.

ELECTRONICS IS A NEWCOMER IN THE FIELD OF ENGINEERING AS COMPARED TO THE OTHER ESTABLISHED BRANCHES SUCH AS CIVIL, ELECTRICAL OR MECHANICAL.
PREVIOUSLY IT WAS CONSIDERED AN INTEGRAL PART OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING.

 BUT DUE TO TREMENDOUS DEVELOPMENT IN THIS FIELD DURING THE LAST FEW DECADES, IT HAS NOW ESTABLISHED AS A SEPARATE BRANCH OF ENGINEERING.

 APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRONICS:
THE ELECTRONICS PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ALMOST EVERY SPHERE OF OUR LIFE. IT HAS PENETRATED IN EVERY FIELD e.g. FROM AN ORDINARY WRIST WATCH TO SUPER COMPUTERS; FROM TELEPHONE REPEATERS BURIED DEEP UNDER SEA TO SPACESHIPS FAR OUT IN SPACE; FROM THE CONTROL OF MODERN HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES TO THE CONTROL OF 400000 TONNE SUPERTANKER CARRYING CARGO ACROSS THE SEA.

 ELECTRONICS DEALS IN THE MICRO AND MILLI RANGE OF VOLTAGE, CURRENT AND POWER, BUT IT CONTROLS KILO AND MEGA VOLTS, AMPERES AND WATTS. SOME OF THE IMPORTANT APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRONICS IN VARIOUS FIELDS ARE GIVEN BELOW:

1. COMMUNICATIONS AND ENTERTAINMENTS:

IN EARLIER STAGES, THE MAIN APPLICATION OF ELECTRONICS WAS IN THE FIELD OF TELEGRAPHY AND TELEPHONY. THIS UTILIZES A PAIR OF WIRES. THE START OF WIRELESS TRANSMISSION FOR RADIO COMMUNICATION CAN BE TAKEN FROM THE WORK OF HEINRICH HERTZ, A GERAMN PHYSICIST. IN 1887, FIRST OF ALL, HE DEMONSTRATED THE EFFECT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATIONS THROUGH SPACE.

 WITH THE DEVELOPMENT IN THIS FIELD, IT IS NOW POSSIBLE TO TRANSMIT ANY MESSAGE FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER, THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS AWAY. PEOPLE LIVING IN ANY PART OF WORLD CAN KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OTHER PARTS BY RADIO BROADCASTING. THE MESSAGES CAN TYPED ON A TYPEWRITER KEPT IN ANOTHER CITY WITH THE HELP OF A TELEPRINTER.THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF VARIOUS EVENTS OCCURING IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD CAN BE TRANSMITTED ON FASCIMILE(FAX) AND THEN CAN BE PRINTED IN THE NEWSPAPER ALL OVER THE WORLD.

 RADIO AND TV BROADCASTING NOT ONLY PROVIDES THE LATEST INFORMATION BUT ALSO PROVIDES ENTERTAINMENT TO THE LISTENERS OR VIEWERS.

THE ELECTRONICS GADJETS LIKE TAPE RECORDERS, MP3/VCD/DVD PLAYERS, STEREO SYSTEMS ETC. ARE ALSO WIDELY USED FOR ENTERTAINMENT.

2. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
THE AUTOMATIC CONTROL CIRCUITS(ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS) ARE USED INVARIABLY IN THE INDUSTRIES NOW-A-DAYS. THESE ARE USED TO CONTROL QUALITY, THICKNESS OF JOB, CUTTING OF JOB, MOISTURE CONTENT IN A MATERIAL, LIGHTING SYSTEMS, SOUND SYSTEMS, AUTOMATIC DOOR-OPENERS, POWER SYSTEMS AND SAFETY DEVICES ETC. SIMILARLY, THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER OPERATIONS IN THE INDUSTRY WHICH ARE AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLED BY ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS.

3. DEFENCE APPLICATIONS:
THE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE DURING THE WAR DAYS. THE SUCCESS OR DEFEAT OF A NATION LARGELY DEPENDS UPON THE RELIABILITY OF ITS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. ALL THE MESSAGES ARE CONVEYED THROUGH COMMUNICATION SYSTEM. THE OTHER IMPORTANT ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT, USED DURING THE WAR DAYS IS RADAR(RADIO DETECTION AND RANGING).

 WITH THE HELP OF RADAR, THE EXACT LOCATION OF ENEMYS AIRCRAFT IS DETERMINED. THE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS ARE THEN ACCURATELY DIRECTED TO SHOOT DOWN THE AIRCRAFT.
IN FACT, RADAR AND ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS ARE LINKED BY AN AUTOMATIC CONTOL SYSTEM TO FORM A CONTROL UNIT. SIMILARLY, GUIDED MISSILES ARE ALSO USED DURING WAR WHICH ARE COMPLETELY CONTROLLED BY ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS.

4. APPLICATIONS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES:

VARIOUS ELECTRONIC MACHINES/EQUIPMENT ARE USED BY THE DOCTORS IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF VARIOUS DISEASES. SOME OF THE MACHINES/EQUIPMENT ARE: (i) ELECTRON MICROSCOPE TO ANALYSE BLOOD ETC. (ii) X-RAYS FOR TAKING PICTURES OF BONE STRUCTURE. (iii) ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHS(ECG) TO STUDY THE CONDITION OF HEART.

(iv) OSCILLOSCOPES ARE USED AS THE DISPLAY TO MONITOR THE HEARTBEATS OF THE PATIENT. (v) SHORT-WAVE DIATHERMY UNITS FOR HEALING SPRAINS AND FRACTURES ETC. THERE ARE SO MANY OTHER ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS WHICH ARE USED BY DOCTORS. IN FACT, THE USE OF ELECTRONICS IN MEDICAL SCIENCES HAS EXPANDED TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT A NEW BRANCH IN MEDICAL SCIENCES HAS BEEN STARTED CALLED BIOELECTRONICS.

5.APPLICATIONS IN AUTOMOBILES:
MORE AND MORE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT ARE USED IN CARS FOR CHARGING OF BATTERY, POWER-ASSIST FUNCTIONS, MEASURING GUAGES AND MONITORING AND CONTROL OF ENGINE PERFORMANCE. THE MOST IMPORTANT APPLICATION IN AUTOMOBILES IS ELECTRONIC IGNITION, WHICH PROVIDES BETTER TIMING OF THE IGNITION SPARK, ESPECIALLY AT HIGH SPEEDS.

6. DIGITAL ELECTRONICS:
THE CIRCUITS FOR DIGITAL APPLICATIONS OPERATE WITH PULSES OF VOLTAGE OR CURRENT. A PULSE WAVEFORM IS EITHER COMPLETELY ON OR OFF BECAUSE OF THE SUDDEN CHANGES IN AMPLITUDE. IN BETWEEN VALUES HAVE NO FUNCTION. ALL THE DIGITAL CLOCKS, COUNTERS, CALCULATORS, COMPUTERS ETC. ARE OPERATED BY THESE PULSES.

7. INSTRUMENTATION:
ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS LIKE VTVM, CATHODE-RAY OSCILLOSCOPE, FREQUENCY COUNTER, SIGNAL GENERATOR, pH METERS, STRAIN GAUGES ETC. ARE MUCH MORE ACCURATE THAN ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS. WITHOUT THESE INSTUMENTS NO RESEARCH LABORATORY IS COMPLETE. ALL ROUND DEVELOPMENT BASICALLY DEPENDS UPON THESE ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS.