Fundamentals of Electronics Book 1: (Electronic Devices and Circuit Applications)

Book excerpt: This book, Electronic Devices and Circuit Applications, is the first of four books of a larger work, Fundamentals of Electronics. It is comprised of four chapters describing the basic operation of each of the four fundamental building blocks of modern electronics: operational amplifiers, semiconductor diodes, bipolar junction transistors, and field effect transistors. Attention is focused on the reader obtaining a clear understanding of each of the devices when it is operated in equilibrium. Ideas fundamental to the study of electronic circuits are also developed in the book at a basic level to lessen the possibility of misunderstandings at a higher level. The difference between linear and non-linear operation is explored through the use of a variety of circuit examples including amplifiers constructed with operational amplifiers as the fundamental component and elementary digital logic gates constructed with various transistor types.