Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes,transistors, diodes and integrated circuits. The nonlinear behaviour of these components and their ability to control electron flows makes amplification of weak signals possible, and is usually applied to information and signal processing. Electronics is distinct from electrical and electro-mechanical science and technology, which deals with the generation, distribution, switching, storage and conversion of electrical energy to and from other energy forms usingwires, motors, generators, batteries, switches, relays, transformers, resistors and other passive components. This distinction started around 1906 with the invention by Lee De Forest of the triode, which made electrical amplification of weak radio signals and audio signals possible with a non-mechanical device. Until 1950 this field was called "radio technology" because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers andvacuum tubes.
Today, most electronic devices use semiconductor components to perform electron control. The study of semiconductor devices and related technology is considered a branch of solid state physics, whereas the design and construction of electronic circuits to solve practical problems come underelectronics engineering. This article focuses on engineering aspects of electronics.
Electronic devices and components
An electronic component is any physical entity in an electronic system used to affect the electrons or their associated fields in a desired manner consistent with the intended function of the electronic system. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example anamplifier, radio receiver, or oscillator). Components may be packaged singly or in more complex groups as integrated circuits. Some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors,resistors, diodes, transistors, etc. Components are often categorized as active (e.g. transistors and thyristors) or passive (e.g. resistors and capacitors).
Types of circuits
Circuits and components can be divided into two groups: analog and digital. A particular device may consist of circuitry that has one or the other or a mix of the two types.
[edit]Analog circuits
Main article: Analog electronics
Most analog electronic appliances, such as radio receivers, are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic circuits. Analog circuits use a continuous range of voltage as opposed to discrete levels as in digital circuits.
The number of different analog circuits so far devised is huge, especially because a 'circuit' can be defined as anything from a single component, to systems containing thousands of components.
Analog circuits are sometimes called linear circuits although many non-linear effects are used in analog circuits such as mixers, modulators, etc. Good examples of analog circuits include vacuum tube and transistor amplifiers, operational amplifiers and oscillators.
One rarely finds modern circuits that are entirely analog. These days analog circuitry may use digital or even microprocessor techniques to improve performance. This type of circuit is usually called "mixed signal" rather than analog or digital.
Sometimes it may be difficult to differentiate between analog and digital circuits as they have elements of both linear and non-linear operation. An example is the comparator which takes in a continuous range of voltage but only outputs one of two levels as in a digital circuit. Similarly, an overdriven transistor amplifier can take on the characteristics of a controlled switch having essentially two levels of output.
Digital circuits are electric circuits based on a number of discrete voltage levels. Digital circuits are the most common physical representation of Boolean algebra and are the basis of all digital computers. To most engineers, the terms "digital circuit", "digital system" and "logic" are interchangeable in the context of digital circuits. Most digital circuits use a binary system with two voltage levels labeled "0" and "1". Often logic "0" will be a lower voltage and referred to as "Low" while logic "1" is referred to as "High". However, some systems use the reverse definition ("0" is "High") or are current based.Ternary (with three states) logic has been studied, and some prototype computers made. Computers, electronic clocks, and programmable logic controllers (used to control industrial processes) are constructed of digital circuits. Digital Signal Processors are another example.
Heat dissipation and thermal management
Heat generated by electronic circuitry must be dissipated to prevent immediate failure and improve long term reliability. Techniques for heat dissipation can include heat sinks and fans for air cooling, and other forms of computer cooling such as water cooling. These techniques use convection, conduction, & radiation of heat energy.
[edit]Noise
Noise is associated with all electronic circuits. Noise is defined[1] as unwanted disturbances superposed on a useful signal that tend to obscure its information content. Noise is not the same as signal distortion caused by a circuit. Noise may be electromagnetically or thermally generated, which can be decreased by lowering the operating temperature of the circuit. Other types of noise, such as shot noise cannot be removed as they are due to limitations in physical properties.
[edit]Electronics theory
Mathematical methods are integral to the study of electronics. To become proficient in electronics it is also necessary to become proficient in the mathematics of circuit analysis.
Circuit analysis is the study of methods of solving generally linear systems for unknown variables such as the voltage at a certain node or the current through a certain branch of a network. A common analytical tool for this is the SPICE circuit simulator.
[edit]Electronics lab
Due to the empirical nature of electronics theory, laboratory experimentation is an important part of the study of electronics. These experiments are used to prove, verify, and reinforce laws andtheorems such as Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's laws, etc. Historically, electronics labs have consisted of electronics devices and equipment located in a physical space, although in more recent years the trend has been towards electronics lab simulation software, such as CircuitLogix, Multisim, and PSpice.
[edit]Computer aided design (CAD)
Today's electronics engineers have the ability to design circuits using premanufactured building blocks such as power supplies, semiconductors (such as transistors), and integrated circuits. Electronic design automation software programs include schematic capture programs and printed circuit board design programs. Popular names in the EDA software world are NI Multisim, Cadence (ORCAD), Eagle PCB and Schematic, Mentor (PADS PCB and LOGIC Schematic), Altium (Protel), LabCentre Electronics (Proteus), gEDA, KiCad and many others.
[edit]Construction methods
Many different methods of connecting components have been used over the years. For instance, early electronics often used point to point wiring with components attached to wooden breadboards to construct circuits. Cordwood construction and wire wraps were other methods used. Most modern day electronics now use printed circuit boards made of materials such as FR4, or the cheaper (and less hard-wearing) Synthetic Resin Bonded Paper (SRBP, also known as Paxoline/Paxolin (trade marks) and FR2) - characterised by its light yellow-to-brown colour. Health and environmental concerns associated with electronics assembly have gained increased attention in recent years, especially for products destined to the European Union, with its Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive(RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which went into force in July 2006.
Logic gate
A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and unlimited fan-out, or it may refer to a non-ideal physical device.[1] (see Ideal and real op-amps for comparison)
Logic gates are primarily implemented using diodes or transistors acting as electronic switches, but can also be constructed using electromagnetic relays (relay logic), fluidic logic, pneumatic logic,optics, molecules, or even mechanical elements. With amplification, logic gates can be cascaded in the same way that Boolean functions can be composed, allowing the construction of a physical model of all of Boolean logic, and therefore, all of the algorithms and mathematics that can be described with Boolean logic
Background
The simplest form of electronic logic is diode logic. This allows AND and OR gates to be built, but not inverters, and so is an incomplete form of logic. Further, without some kind of amplification it is not possible to have such basic logic operations cascaded as required for more complex logic functions. To build a functionally complete logic system, relays, valves (vacuum tubes), or transistors can be used. The simplest family of logic gates using bipolar transistors is called resistor-transistor logic (RTL). Unlike diode logic gates, RTL gates can be cascaded indefinitely to produce more complex logic functions. These gates were used in early integrated circuits. For higher speed, the resistors used in RTL were replaced by diodes, leading to diode-transistor logic (DTL). Transistor-transistor logic(TTL) then supplanted DTL with the observation that one transistor could do the job of two diodes even more quickly, using only half the space. In virtually every type of contemporary chip implementation of digital systems, the bipolar transistors have been replaced by complementary field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) to reduce size and power consumption still further, thereby resulting in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) logic.
For small-scale logic, designers now use prefabricated logic gates from families of devices such as the TTL 7400 series by Texas Instruments and the CMOS 4000 series by RCA, and their more recent descendants. Increasingly, these fixed-function logic gates are being replaced by programmable logic devices, which allow designers to pack a large number of mixed logic gates into a single integrated circuit. The field-programmable nature of programmable logic devices such as FPGAs has removed the 'hard' property of hardware; it is now possible to change the logic design of a hardware system by reprogramming some of its components, thus allowing the features or function of a hardware implementation of a logic system to be changed.
Electronic logic gates differ significantly from their relay-and-switch equivalents. They are much faster, consume much less power, and are much smaller (all by a factor of a million or more in most cases). Also, there is a fundamental structural difference. The switch circuit creates a continuous metallic path for current to flow (in either direction) between its input and its output. The semiconductor logic gate, on the other hand, acts as a high-gain voltage amplifier, which sinks a tiny current at its input and produces a low-impedance voltage at its output. It is not possible for current to flow between the output and the input of a semiconductor logic gate.
Another important advantage of standardised integrated circuit logic families, such as the 7400 and 4000 families, is that they can be cascaded. This means that the output of one gate can be wired to the inputs of one or several other gates, and so on. Systems with varying degrees of complexity can be built without great concern of the designer for the internal workings of the gates, provided the limitations of each integrated circuit are considered.
The output of one gate can only drive a finite number of inputs to other gates, a number called the 'fanout limit'. Also, there is always a delay, called the 'propagation delay', from a change in input of a gate to the corresponding change in its output. When gates are cascaded, the total propagation delay is approximately the sum of the individual delays, an effect which can become a problem in high-speed circuits. Additional delay can be caused when a large number of inputs are connected to an output, due to the distributed capacitance of all the inputs and wiring and the finite amount of current that each output can provide.
Logic gates
All other types of Boolean logic gates (i.e., AND, OR, NOT, XOR, XNOR) can be created from a suitable network of NAND gates. Similarly all gates can be created from a network of NOR gates. Historically, NAND gates were easier to construct from MOS technology and thus NAND gates served as the first pillar of Boolean logic in electronic computation.
For an input of 2 variables, there are 16 possible boolean algebraic functions. These 16 functions are enumerated below, together with their outputs for each combination of inputs variables.
| INPUT | A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| OUTPUT | FALSE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Whatever A and B, the output is false. Contradiction. | |
| A AND B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Output is true if and only if (iff) both A and B are true. | ||
A  B | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | A doesn't imply B. True iff A but not B. | ||
| A | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | True whenever A is true. | ||
A  B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | A is not implied by B. True iff not A but B. | ||
| B | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | True whenever B is true. | ||
| A XOR B | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | True iff A is not equal to B. | ||
| A OR B | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | True iff A is true, or B is true, or both. | ||
| A NOR B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | True iff neither A nor B. | ||
| A XNOR B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | True iff A is equal to B. | ||
| NOT B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | True iff B is false. | ||
A  B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | A is implied by B. False if not A but B, otherwise true. | ||
| NOT A | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | True iff A is false. | ||
A  B | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | A implies B. False if A but not B, otherwise true. | ||
| A NAND B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | A and B are not both true. | ||
| TRUE | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Whatever A and B, the output is true. Tautology. | ||
The four functions denoted by arrows are the logical implication functions. These functions are not usually implemented as elementary circuits, but rather as combinations of a gate with an inverter at one input.
[edit]Symbols
There are two sets of symbols in common use, both now defined by ANSI/IEEE Std 91-1984 and its supplement ANSI/IEEE Std 91a-1991. The "distinctive shape" set, based on traditional schematics, is used for simple drawings, and derives from MIL-STD-806 of the 1950s and 1960s. It is sometimes unofficially described as "military", reflecting its origin. The "rectangular shape" set, based on IEC 60617-12, has rectangular outlines for all types of gate, and allows representation of a much wider range of devices than is possible with the traditional symbols. The IEC's system has been adopted by other standards, such as EN 60617-12:1999 in Europe and BS EN 60617-12:1999 in the United Kingdom.
The goal of IEEE Std 91-1984 was to provide a uniform method of describing the complex logic functions of digital circuits with schematic symbols. These functions were more complex than simple AND and OR gates. They could be medium scale circuits such as a 4-bit counter to a large scale circuits such as a microprocessor. IEC 617-12 and its successor IEC 60617-2 do not include the "distinctive shape" symbols. [1] These are, however, included in ANSI/IEEE 91 (and 91a) with this note: "The distinctive-shape symbol is, according to IEC Publication 617, Part 12, not preferred, but is not considered to be in contradiction to that standard." This compromise was reached between the respective IEEE and IEC working groups to permit the IEEE and IEC standards to be in mutual compliance with one another.
In the 1980s, schematics were the predominant method to design both circuit boards and custom ICs known as gate arrays. Today custom ICs and the field-programmable gate array are typically designed with Hardware Description Languages (HDL) such as Verilog or VHDL.
| Type | Distinctive shape | Rectangular shape | Boolean algebra between A & B | Truth table | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AND |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| OR |  |  | A + B |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| NOT |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| In electronics a NOT gate is more commonly called an inverter. The circle on the symbol is called a bubble, and is used in logic diagrams to indicate a logical inversion between the external logic state and the internal logic state (1 to 0 or vice versa). On a circuit diagram it must be accompanied by a statement asserting that the positive logic convention or negative logic convention is being used (high voltage level = 1 or high voltage level = 0, respectively). The wedge is used in circuit diagrams to directly indicate an active-low (high voltage level = 0) input or output without requiring a uniform convention throughout the circuit diagram. This is called Direct Polarity Indication. See IEEE Std 91/91A and IEC 60617-12. Both the bubble and thewedge can be used on distinctive-shape and rectangular-shape symbols on circuit diagrams, depending on the logic convention used. On pure logic diagrams, only the bubble is meaningful. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| NAND |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| NOR |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| XOR |  |  |  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| XNOR |  |  |  or  |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Two more gates are the exclusive-OR or XOR function and its inverse, exclusive-NOR or XNOR. The two input Exclusive-OR is true only when the two input values are different, false if they are equal, regardless of the value. If there are more than two inputs, the gate generates a true at its output if the number of trues at its input is odd ([2]). In practice, these gates are built from combinations of simpler logic gates.
[edit]Universal logic gates
Charles Sanders Peirce (winter of 1880–81) showed that NOR gates alone (or alternatively NAND gates alone) can be used to reproduce the functions of all the other logic gates, but his work on it was unpublished until 1933.[2] The first published proof was by Henry M. Sheffer in 1913, so the NAND logical operation is sometimes called Sheffer stroke; the logical NOR is sometimes called Peirce's arrow.[3] Consequently, these gates are sometimes called universal logic gates.[4]
[edit]De Morgan equivalent symbols
By use of De Morgan's theorem, an AND gate can be turned into an OR gate by inverting the sense of the logic at its inputs and outputs. This leads to a separate set of symbols with inverted inputs and the opposite core symbol. These symbols can make circuit diagrams for circuits using active low signals much clearer and help to show accidental connection of an active high output to an active low input or vice-versa.
Symbolically, a NAND gate can also be shown using the OR shape with bubbles on its inputs, and a NOR gate can be shown as an AND gate with bubbles on its inputs. The bubble signifies a logic inversion. This reflects the equivalency due to De Morgans law, but it also allows a diagram to be read more easily, or a circuit to be mapped onto available physical gates in packages easily, since any circuit node that has bubbles at both ends can be replaced by a simple bubble-less connection and a suitable change of gate. If the NAND is drawn as OR with input bubbles, and a NOR as AND with input bubbles, this gate substitution occurs automatically in the diagram (effectively, bubbles "cancel"). This is commonly seen in real logic diagrams - thus the reader must not get into the habit of associating the shapes exclusively as OR or AND shapes, but also take into account the bubbles at both inputs and outputs in order to determine the "true" logic function indicated.
All logic relations can be realized by using NAND gates (this can also be done using NOR gates). De Morgan's theorem is most commonly used to transform all logic gates to NAND gates or NOR gates. This is done mainly since it is easy to buy logic gates in bulk and because many electronics labs stock only NAND and NOR gates.
[edit]Data storage
Main article: sequential logic
Logic gates can also be used to store data. A storage element can be constructed by connecting several gates in a "latch" circuit. More complicated designs that use clock signals and that change only on a rising or falling edge of the clock are called edge-triggered "flip-flops". The combination of multiple flip-flops in parallel, to store a multiple-bit value, is known as a register. When using any of these gate setups the overall system has memory; it is then called a sequential logic system since its output can be influenced by its previous state(s).
These logic circuits are known as computer memory. They vary in performance, based on factors of speed, complexity, and reliability of storage, and many different types of designs are used based on the application.
[edit]Three-state logic gates
Three-state, or 3-state, logic gates are a type of logic gates that have three states of the output: high (H), low (L) and high-impedance (Z). The high-impedance state plays no role in the logic, which remains strictly binary. These devices are used on buses also known as the Data Buses of the CPU to allow multiple chips to send data. A group of three-states driving a line with a suitable control circuit is basically equivalent to a multiplexer, which may be physically distributed over separate devices or plug-in cards.
In electronics, a high output would mean the output is sourcing current from the positive power terminal (positive voltage). A low output would mean the output is sinking current to the negative power terminal (zero voltage). High impedance would mean that the output is effectively disconnected from the circuit.
'Tri-state', a widely-used synonym of 'three-state', is a trademark of the National Semiconductor Corporation.
[edit]Miscellaneous
Logic circuits include such devices as multiplexers, registers, arithmetic logic units (ALUs), and computer memory, all the way up through complete microprocessors, which may contain more than 100 million gates. In practice, the gates are made from field-effect transistors (FETs), particularly MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors).
Compound logic gates AND-OR-Invert (AOI) and OR-AND-Invert (OAI) are often employed in circuit design because their construction using MOSFET's is simpler and more efficient than the sum of the individual gates.[5]
[edit]History and development
In a 1886 letter, Charles Sanders Peirce described how logical operations could be carried out by electrical switching circuits.[6] Starting in 1898, Nikola Tesla filed for patents of devices containing electro-mechanical logic gate circuits (see List of Tesla patents). Eventually, vacuum tubes replaced relays for logic operations. Lee De Forest's modification, in 1907, of the Fleming valve can be used as AND logic gate. Ludwig Wittgenstein introduced a version of the 16-row truth table, which is shown above, as proposition 5.101 of Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921). Claude E. Shannonintroduced the use of Boolean algebra in the analysis and design of switching circuits in 1937. Walther Bothe, inventor of the coincidence circuit, got part of the 1954 Nobel Prize in physics, for the first modern electronic AND gate in 1924. Active research is taking place in molecular logic gates.
[edit]Implementations
Since the 1990s, most logic gates are made of CMOS transistors (i.e. NMOS and PMOS transistors are used). Often millions of logic gates are packaged in a single integrated circuit.
There are several logic families with different characteristics ( power consumption, speed, cost, size) such as: RDL (resistor-diode logic), RTL (resistor-transistor logic), DTL (diode-transistor logic), TTL(transistor-transistor logic) and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor). There are also sub-variants, e.g. standard CMOS logic vs. advanced types using still CMOS technology, but with some optimizations for avoiding loss of speed due to slower PMOS transistors.
Many early electromechanical digital computers, such as the Harvard Mark I, were built from relay logic gates, using electro-mechanical relays.
It is also possible to make logic gates out of pneumatic devices, such as the Sorteberg relayor mechanical logic gates, including on a molecular scale.Logic gates have been made out of DNA (seeDNA nanotechnology) and used to create a computer called MAYA (see MAYA II).
Additionally, logic gates can be made from quantum mechanical effects (though quantum computing usually diverges from boolean design).
No comments:
Post a Comment