Electronics

Electronics is a broad field that encompasses a range of technologies used in telecommunications, computing, industrial and military control systems. and many other areas. It generally involves the practical application of electrical theory to the design of micro-circuitry and electronic devices, and is heavily dependent on our understanding of the properties of various semiconductor materials. It is not possible to study electronics, however, without a basic knowledge of elctricity and electrical theory. Most of the integrated circuits and semiconductor devices that are so widely used in modern electronics have their origins in the not-so-distant past when discrete electrical components were connected together using wire and solder to create the circuits required for a particular task. The main difference is that today the components have been miniaturised and packaged within a tiny piece of silicon (or some other semiconductor material) together with the required interconnecting circuitry. Indeed, miniaturisation has now progressed to the point where some electronic devices and their associated circuitry are being engineered at the molecular level. The study of electronics also requires an ability to undertake circuit analysis for both direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) circuits, and an understanding of the properties of electromagnetic fields. For this reason, the first section listed on this page deals with the underlying electrical and electronic principles that will form the basis for the more advanced material that follows.