Introduction to Electronics Bing Chen 10/21/2013

Outline Circuit Technologies Types of Circuits Digitization Power and Signals Measuring Tools Prototyping Design Considerations

Circuit Technologies Type Applications Complexity Initial Cost Scalability Breadboard Simple Prototyping Low Poor Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Prototyping, production Low to High Low to Medium Good Integrated Circuits Research, very high volume, performance High Fantastic! Micro Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS)/Hybrid Sensor technology, biomedical implants Medium to High Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) Printable electronics, display

They look like… Breadboard PCB IC MEMS TFT

Circuit Catagories Analog Circuits Digital Circuits Biological Power Electronics Control Circuits Microwave, mm-Wave, RF, THz … many more! They are often mixed!

From the real world to the machines We live in a “digital era” Reliable signal processing format, algorithms, “machine learning” Need to convert natural signals for computing Use analog-to-digital converters for digitization Data Acquisition Systems (DAQs) are often used in data taking: Sensors -> Frontend (DAC) -> (Firmware) -> SW (loopback) www.niu.edu

Power Direct Current (DC) vs. Alternate Current (AC) Single Supply vs. Dual Supply High Power vs. Regular vs. Low Power vs. Ultralow Power Systems Power is the most important thing to any circuit operation. If something didn’t work check the power first! Power consumption in ICs can be high ~30W Effects speed and noise performance Mobile systems need low power!

Signals Analog vs. digital signals Low quality signal (large noise) is could cause faulty circuit operations Often encoded in communication systems Clock is the most important signal in most digital mixed signal systems If something didn’t work check the clock line! Signal lines are used in testing, debugging Simply looking at top IOs is often inadequate for testing Signals carry information But without physical storage there is NO information (not now anyway)

Measuring Signal Values Digital multi-meter (mostly DC) Oscillascopes (low to high frequencies) Network Analyzer (high frequency) Probing station (IC)

Generating signals for testing Function generator Usually simple functions: pulse, square, sine, ramp Software-defined signals Meaning encoding of information: command, data Combined with measuring, PC-based prototyping/validation systems are becoming very popular – lower cost and easy to use i.e. Labview, PC-based Simulators

Prototyping Something… Nowadays there are many design tools, PDK, SDK, EDKs, Demo Boards, etc PCB prototyping Microcontroller FPGA Labview … Highly depends on final application It’s like that at CERN…

Production Considerations VERY different from prototyping Cost is usually the biggest issue, aside from: Reliability, testability, IP violation, regulation, reimbursement, security, …

Next Time… Analog Design Concepts Sensors