technology and applications of micro electronics and photonics
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
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Technology & App. of Micro-Electronics & Photonics
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Technology and Applications of Micro-Electronics and
Photonics
Lecture 1: Electronics: Introduction
Overview: electronics from many viewpoints:
• Technological point-of-view:
o What technologies define electronics?
• User’s point-of-view:
o Electronics as system components, and their applications
• Designer’s point-of-view:
o What are the inputs/outputs? What parameters can be optimized for?
• Future outlook:
o Evolution of technology
o Impact on society
o Future challenges
o Global challenges
1. Technological point-of-view:
Technological definition:
“The field of electronics refers to the study, design and use of systems that operate by
controlling the flow of electrons (or other charge carriers) in active (semiconductor) and
passive devices/components”.
ð Electronic system on a PCB (printed circuit board) has passive and active components.
Passive Components:
Inductor: Low-pass filter (small variations in voltage will be integrated over/smoothed out).
Capacitor: High-pass filter (high variations in voltage will be integrated over/smoothed out).
Transformer: “converts” a certain voltage in given current into a different voltage (i.e., double
the voltage).
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,The classical passive components always dissipate energy and exhibit linear behavior.
Therefore, it is limited.
ð For amplification/complex processing, we also need active components.
Active Active components
components:
BasedBased on semiconductors.
on semiconductors Can exhibit
. Can exhibit complex, complex,
non-linear non-linear
behavior (output isbehavior.
not proportional
Can amplify incoming signals.
to input). Can amplify incoming signals.
Diode Transistor Op-amp
Diode: one way current pass-through
Transistor: kind of “switch”; can be turned on (current passes through) or off based on the
current of the emitter. Applications: Amplification and cascading with other components.
OP-AMP: Amplify signal/current using V+ and V- (input), going to Vout (output), with VS 6as the
source current used to amplify the signal.
Operational Amplifier (OP-AMP) Example use:
ð Example: Thermostat has to keep a room at 20°C, so it turns on when it is less than
20°C. à Not very practical as it would turn off repeatedly every time it heats just
enough to get to 20°C, and then on again when it goes back to less than 20°C.
ð To cope with this, we introduce a threshold where the thermostat only turns off when
it is at 21°C, and only turns on when at 19°C. This is done using a Schmitt Trigger, using
a feedback loop (R2), where the output is fed back into the input to the point where it
saturates (maximum threshold, given the power it gets à OFF).
The fed-back input signal then has to drop below some specific threshold before the
feedback loop is flipped, and it will amplify in the opposite direction (minimum
threshold à ON).
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,Technological point-of-view:
• The design of good amplifiers counts for 80% of a course in electronics.
• The difference between electricity/electrical circuits and electronics is the use of active
components.
• The main focus of the Electronics part of this course will focus on active components:
the underlying physics, system analysis, optimization, and applications.
Hierarchy:
2. User’s point-of-view:
“Electronics is a technology for capturing, transmitting, processing, representation,
visualization, and storage of information or power. Most deal only with information.”
3. Designer’s point-of-view:
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, Analog Processing:
• Sensitive to noise (external real-life noise/perturbations)
• Constrained dynamical range (cannot surpass a certain maximum, as some
components will then start breaking)
• Important on input/output (as inputs/outputs interact with the real world à Analog),
but generally unfavorable for computation.
Digital Processing:
• Range: mostly fixed-point (integer) or floating-point
• Saturation / Overflow (signal can only be represented by a finite number of states à
we have to sample)
• Noise also depends on quantization (number of gradation levels/level of detail cannot
be perceived 100% accurately: displays have 8-bit color ranges, so they are limited in
the amount of colors they can display à shades of black usually don’t get through
accurately).
• Flexible for (micro-)programming (analog has to be one after the other when
processing, digital can be dynamically done/parallel and thus much more flexible).
• High dynamic range
• Generic components
• Structured design methods, even for complex systems
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