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)
The
High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)
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 Technologies
Flash memory
MRAM - Magneto-resistive Random Access Memory
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
EEPROM
SDRAM
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
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
