Transistor

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one
of the basic building blocks of modern electronics.[1] It is composed of semiconductor material,
usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current
applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of
terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a
transistor can amplify a signal. Some transistors are packaged individually, but many more in
miniature form are found embedded in integrated circuits. Because transistors are the key active
components in practically all modern electronics, many people consider them one of the 20th
century's greatest inventions.[2]

Physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld proposed the concept of a field-effect transistor (FET) in 1926, but it
was not possible to construct a working device at that time.[3] The first working device was a point-
contact transistor invented in 1947 by physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
at Bell Labs; the three shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for their achievement.[4] The most
widely used type of transistor is the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET),
invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959.[5][6][7] Transistors
revolutionized the field of electronics and paved the way for smaller and cheaper radios, calculators,
computers, and other electronic devices.

Most transistors are made from very pure silicon, and some from germanium, but certain other
semiconductor materials are sometimes used. A transistor may have only one kind of charge carrier
in a field-effect transistor, or may have two kinds of charge carriers in bipolar junction
Transistor devices. Compared with the vacuum tube, transistors are generally smaller and require
less power to operate. Certain vacuum tubes have advantages over transistors at very high operating
frequencies or high operating voltages, such as Traveling-wave tubes and Gyrotrons. Many types of
transistors are made to standardized specifications by multiple manufacturers

Resistor
A resistor is a passive two-terminal electrical component that implements electrical
resistance as a circuit element. In electronic circuits, resistors are used to reduce current flow,
adjust signal levels, to divide voltages, bias active elements, and terminate transmission lines,
among other uses. High-power resistors that can dissipate many watts of electrical power as
heat may be used as part of motor controls, in power distribution systems, or as test loads
for generators. Fixed resistors have resistances that only change slightly with temperature, time
or operating voltage. Variable resistors can be used to adjust circuit elements (such as a volume
control or a lamp dimmer), or as sensing devices for heat, light, humidity, force, or chemical
activity.

Resistors are common elements of electrical networks and electronic circuits and are ubiquitous
in electronic equipment. Practical resistors as discrete components can be composed of various
compounds and forms. Resistors are also implemented within integrated circuits.

The electrical function of a resistor is specified by its resistance: common commercial resistors
are manufactured over a range of more than nine orders of magnitude. The nominal value of the
resistance falls within the manufacturing tolerance, indicated on the component.

Electronic symbols and notation

Main articles: Electronic symbol and RKM code
Two typical schematic diagram symbols are as follows:

ANSI-style: (a) resistor, (b) rheostat (variable resistor), and (c) potentiometer

IEC resistor symbol

The notation to state a resistor's value in a circuit diagram varies.

One common scheme is the RKM code following IEC 60062. Rather than using a decimal
separator, this notation uses a letter loosely associated with SI prefixes corresponding with the
part's resistance. For example, 8K2 as part marking code, in a circuit diagram or in a bill of
materials (BOM) indicates a resistor value of 8.2 kΩ. Additional zeros imply a tighter tolerance,
for example 15M0 for three significant digits. When the value can be expressed without the need
for a prefix (that is, multiplicator 1), an "R" is used instead of the decimal separator. For
example, 1R2 indicates 1.2 Ω, and 18R indicates 18 Ω.

Theory of operation
 The hydraulic analogy compares
electric current flowing through circuits to water flowing through pipes. When a pipe (left) is clogged
with hair (right), it takes a larger pressure to achieve the same flow of water. Pushing electric current
through a large resistance is like pushing water through a pipe clogged with hair: It requires a larger
push (voltage) to drive the same flow (electric current).[1]

Ohm's law

Main article: Ohm's law

The behaviour of an ideal resistor is described by Ohm's law: V=I.R

Ohm's law states that the voltage ( ) across a resistor is proportional to the current ( )

passing through it, where the constant of proportionality is the resistance ( ). For example, if a
300-ohm resistor is attached across the terminals of a 12-volt battery, then a current of 12 / 300 =
0.04 amperes flows through that resistor.

The ohm (symbol: Ω) is the SI unit of electrical resistance, named after Georg Simon Ohm. An ohm is
equivalent to a volt per ampere. Since resistors are specified and manufactured over a very large
range of values, the derived units of milliohm (1 mΩ = 10−3 Ω), kilohm (1 kΩ = 103 Ω), and megohm
(1 MΩ = 106 Ω) are also in common usage.[2][3]: p.20

Series and parallel resistors

Main article: Series and parallel circuits

The total resistance of resistors connected in series is the sum of their individual resistance values.
The total resistance of resistors connected in parallel is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocals of
the individual resistors.[3]: p.20ff

For example, a 10 ohm resistor connected in parallel with a 5 ohm resistor and a 15 ohm resistor
produces 1/1/10 + 1/5 + 1/15 ohms of resistance, or 30/11 = 2.727 ohms.

A resistor network that is a combination of parallel and series connections can be broken up into
smaller parts that are either one or the other. Some complex networks of resistors cannot be
resolved in this manner, requiring more sophisticated circuit analysis. Generally, the Y-Δ transform,
or matrix methods can be used to solve such problems.[4][5][6]

Power dissipation

Duration: 15 seconds.0:15Subtitles available.CCResistor warming caused by electrical current

captured by thermal camera

At any instant, the power P (watts) consumed by a resistor of resistance R (ohms) is calculated as:

where V (volts) is the voltage across the resistor and I (amps) is the current flowing through it.
Using Ohm's law, the two other forms can be derived. This power is converted into heat which must
be dissipated by the resistor's package before its temperature rises excessively.[3]: p.22

Resistors are rated according to their maximum power dissipation. Discrete resistors in solid-state
electronic systems are typically rated as 1⁄10, 1⁄8, or 1⁄4 watt. They usually absorb much less than a
watt of electrical power and require little attention to their power rating.

An aluminium-encased power resistor rated for dissipation of

50 W when mounted on a heat-sink

Power resistors are required to dissipate substantial amounts of power and are typically used in
power supplies, power conversion circuits, and power amplifiers; this designation is loosely applied
to resistors with power ratings of 1 watt or greater. Power resistors are physically larger and may not
use the preferred values, color codes, and external packages described below.
If the average power dissipated by a resistor is more than its power rating, damage to the resistor
may occur, permanently altering its resistance; this is distinct from the reversible change in resistance
due to its temperature coefficient when it warms. Excessive power dissipation may raise the
temperature of the resistor to a point where it can burn the circuit board or adjacent components, or
even cause a fire. There are flameproof resistors that will not produce flames with any overload of
any duration.

Resistors may be specified with higher rated dissipation than is experienced in service to account for
poor air circulation, high altitude, or high operating temperature.

All resistors have a maximum voltage rating; this may limit the power dissipation for higher
resistance values.[7] For instance, among 1⁄4 watt resistors (a very common sort of leaded resistor)
one is listed with a resistance of 100 MΩ[8] and a maximum rated voltage of 750 V. However even
placing 750 V across a 100 MΩ resistor continuously would only result in a power dissipation of less
than 6 mW, making the nominal 1⁄4 watt rating meaningless.

Capacitor
In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by
accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other.
The capacitor was originally known as the condenser,[1] a term still encountered in a few
compound names, such as the condenser microphone. It is a passive electronic component with
two terminals.

The utility of a capacitor depends on its capacitance. While some capacitance exists between
any two electrical conductors in proximity in a circuit, a capacitor is a component designed
specifically to add capacitance to some part of the circuit.

The physical form and construction of practical capacitors vary widely and many types of
capacitor are in common use. Most capacitors contain at least two electrical conductors, often in
the form of metallic plates or surfaces separated by a dielectric medium. A conductor may be a
foil, thin film, sintered bead of metal, or an electrolyte. The nonconducting dielectric acts to
increase the capacitor's charge capacity. Materials commonly used as dielectrics
include glass, ceramic, plastic film, paper, mica, air, and oxide layers. When an electric
potential difference (a voltage) is applied across the terminals of a capacitor, for example when a
capacitor is connected across a battery, an electric field develops across the dielectric, causing a
net positive charge to collect on one plate and net negative charge to collect on the other plate.
No current actually flows through the dielectric. However, there is a flow of charge through the
source circuit. If the condition is maintained sufficiently long, the current through the source
circuit ceases. If a time-varying voltage is applied across the leads of the capacitor, the source
experiences an ongoing current due to the charging and discharging cycles of the capacitor.

Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices.
Unlike a resistor, an ideal capacitor does not dissipate energy, although real-life capacitors do
dissipate a small amount (see Non-ideal behavior).

The earliest forms of capacitors were created in the 1740s, when European experimenters
discovered that electric charge could be stored in water-filled glass jars that came to be known
as Leyden jars. Today, capacitors are widely used in electronic circuits for blocking direct
current while allowing alternating current to pass. In analog filter networks, they smooth the
output of power supplies. In resonant circuits they tune radios to particular frequencies. In electric
power transmission systems, they stabilize voltage and power flow.[2] The property of energy
storage in capacitors was exploited as dynamic memory in early digital computers,[3] and still is in
modern DRAM

A capacitor consists of two conductors separated by a non-conductive region.[24] The non-conductive

region can either be a vacuum or an electrical insulator material known as a dielectric. Examples of
dielectric media are glass, air, paper, plastic, ceramic, and even a semiconductor depletion
region chemically identical to the conductors. From Coulomb's law a charge on one conductor will
exert a force on the charge carriers within the other conductor, attracting opposite polarity charge
and repelling like polarity charges, thus an opposite polarity charge will be induced on the surface of
the other conductor. The conductors thus hold equal and opposite charges on their facing
surfaces,[25] and the dielectric develops an electric field.

An ideal capacitor is characterized by a constant capacitance C, in farads in the SI system of units,

defined as the ratio of the positive or negative charge Q on each conductor to the voltage V between
them:[24]

A capacitance of one farad (F) means that one coulomb of charge on each conductor causes a
voltage of one volt across the device.[26] Because the conductors (or plates) are close together, the
opposite charges on the conductors attract one another due to their electric fields, allowing the
capacitor to store more charge for a given voltage than when the conductors are separated, yielding
a larger capacitance.

In practical devices, charge build-up sometimes affects the capacitor mechanically, causing its
capacitance to vary. In this case, capacitance is defined in terms of incremental changes:
Hydraulic analogy[edit]

In the hydraulic analogy, a capacitor is analogous to an elastic

diaphragm within a pipe. This animation shows a diaphragm being stretched and un-stretched, which
is analogous to a capacitor being charged and discharged.

In the hydraulic analogy, voltage is analogous to water pressure and electrical current through a wire
is analogous to water flow through a pipe. A capacitor is like an elastic diaphragm within the pipe.
Although water cannot pass through the diaphragm, it moves as the diaphragm stretches or un-
stretches.

• Capacitance is analogous to diaphragm elasticity. In the same way that the ratio of charge

differential to voltage would be greater for a larger capacitance value ( ), the ratio of
water displacement to pressure would be greater for a diaphragm that flexes more readily.

• In an AC circuit, a capacitor behaves like a diaphragm in a pipe, allowing the charge to move
on both sides of the dielectric while no electrons actually pass through. For DC circuits, a
capacitor is analogous to a hydraulic accumulator, storing the energy until pressure is
released. Similarly, they can be used to smooth the flow of electricity in rectified DC circuits
in the same way an accumulator dampens surges from a hydraulic pump.

• Charged capacitors and stretched diaphragms both store potential energy. The more a

capacitor is charged, the higher the voltage across the plates ( ). Likewise, the greater
the displaced water volume, the greater the elastic potential energy.

• Electrical current affects the charge differential across a capacitor just as the flow of water
affects the volume differential across a diaphragm.

• Just as capacitors experience dielectric breakdown when subjected to high voltages,

diaphragms burst under extreme pressures.

• Just as capacitors block DC while passing AC, diaphragms displace no water unless there is a
change in pressure.

Circuit equivalence at short-time limit and long-time limit[edit]

In a circuit, a capacitor can behave differently at different time instants. However, it is usually easy to
think about the short-time limit and long-time limit:

• In the long-time limit, after the charging/discharging current has saturated the capacitor, no
current would come into (or get out of) either side of the capacitor; Therefore, the long-time
equivalence of capacitor is an open circuit.

• In the short-time limit, if the capacitor starts with a certain voltage V, since the voltage drop
on the capacitor is known at this instant, we can replace it with an ideal voltage source of
voltage V. Specifically, if V=0 (capacitor is uncharged), the short-time equivalence of a
capacitor is a short circuit.
Parallel-plate capacitor[edit]

Parallel plate capacitor model consists of two conducting plates,

each of area A, separated by a gap of thickness d containing a dielectric.

A surface-mount capacitor. The plates, not visible, are layered

horizontally between ceramic dielectric layers, and connect alternately to either end-cap, which are
visible.

The simplest model of a capacitor consists of two thin parallel conductive plates each with an area

of separated by a uniform gap of thickness filled with a dielectric of permittivity . It

is assumed the gap is much smaller than the dimensions of the plates. This model applies well
to many practical capacitors which are constructed of metal sheets separated by a thin layer of
insulating dielectric, since manufacturers try to keep the dielectric very uniform in thickness to avoid
thin spots which can cause failure of the capacitor.

Since the separation between the plates is uniform over the plate area, the electric field between the

plates is constant, and directed perpendicularly to the plate surface, except for an area near
the edges of the plates where the field decreases because the electric field lines "bulge" out of the
sides of the capacitor. This "fringing field" area is approximately the same width as the plate

separation, , and assuming is small compared to the plate dimensions, it is small enough

to be ignored. Therefore, if a charge of is placed on one plate and on the other plate (the
situation for unevenly charged plates is discussed below), the charge on each plate will be spread

evenly in a surface charge layer of constant charge density coulombs per square meter, on the
inside surface of each plate. From Gauss's law the magnitude of the electric field between the plates

is . The voltage(difference) between the plates is defined as the line integral of the
electric field over a line (in the z-direction) from one plate to another
The capacitance is defined as . Substituting above into this equation

Therefore, in a capacitor the highest capacitance is achieved with a high permittivity dielectric
material, large plate area, and small separation between the plates.

Since the area of the plates increases with the square of the linear dimensions and the

separation increases linearly, the capacitance scales with the linear dimension of a capacitor (

), or as the cube root of the volume.

A parallel plate capacitor can only store a finite amount of energy before dielectric
breakdown occurs. The capacitor's dielectric material has a dielectric strength Ud which sets
the capacitor's breakdown voltage at V = Vbd = Udd. The maximum energy that the capacitor can
store is therefore

The maximum energy is a function of dielectric volume, permittivity, and dielectric strength.
Changing the plate area and the separation between the plates while maintaining the same volume
causes no change of the maximum amount of energy that the capacitor can store, so long as the
distance between plates remains much smaller than both the length and width of the plates. In
addition, these equations assume that the electric field is entirely concentrated in the dielectric
between the plates. In reality there are fringing fields outside the dielectric, for example between
the sides of the capacitor plates, which increase the effective capacitance of the capacitor. This is
sometimes called parasitic capacitance. For some simple capacitor geometries this additional
capacitance term can be calculated analytically.[27] It becomes negligibly small when the ratios of
plate width to separation and length to separation are large.

For unevenly charged plates:

• If one plate is charged with while the other is charged with , and if both plates are
separated from other materials in the environment, then the inner surface of the first plate

will have , and the inner surface of the second plated will have charge.[citation

needed]
Therefore, the voltage between the plates is . Note that the outer surface of

both plates will have , but those charges do not affect the voltage between the plates.

• If one plate is charged with while the other is charged with , and if the second

plate is connected to ground, then the inner surface of the first plate will have , and the
 inner surface of the second plated will have . Therefore, the voltage between the

plates is . Note that the outer surface of both plates will have zero charge.

Interleaved capacitor[edit]

The interleaved capacitor can be seen as a combination of

several parallel connected capacitors.

For number of plates in a capacitor, the total capacitance would be

where is the capacitance for a single plate and is the number of interleaved plates.

As shown to the figure on the right, the interleaved plates can be seen as parallel plates connected to
each other. Every pair of adjacent plates acts as a separate capacitor; the number of pairs is always

one less than the number of plates, hence the multiplier.

Energy stored in a capacitor[edit]

To increase the charge and voltage on a capacitor, work must be done by an external power source to
move charge from the negative to the positive plate against the opposing force of the electric

field.[28][29] If the voltage on the capacitor is , the work required to move a small increment

of charge from the negative to the positive plate is . The energy is stored in the increased

electric field between the plates. The total energy stored in a capacitor (expressed in joules) is
equal to the total work done in establishing the electric field from an uncharged state.[30][29][28]
where is the charge stored in the capacitor, is the voltage across the capacitor,

and is the capacitance. This potential energy will remain in the capacitor until the charge is
removed. If charge is allowed to move back from the positive to the negative plate, for example by
connecting a circuit with resistance between the plates, the charge moving under the influence of
the electric field will do work on the external circuit.

If the gap between the capacitor plates is constant, as in the parallel plate model above, the
electric field between the plates will be uniform (neglecting fringing fields) and will have a constant

value . In this case the stored energy can be calculated from the electric field strength

The last formula above is equal to the energy density per unit volume in the electric field multiplied
by the volume of field between the plates, confirming that the energy in the capacitor is stored in its
electric field.

Current–voltage relation[edit]

The current I(t) through any component in an electric circuit is defined as the rate of flow of a
charge Q(t) passing through it. Actual charges – electrons – cannot pass through the dielectric of
an ideal capacitor.[note 1] Rather, one electron accumulates on the negative plate for each one that
leaves the positive plate, resulting in an electron depletion and consequent positive charge on one
electrode that is equal and opposite to the accumulated negative charge on the other. Thus the
charge on the electrodes is equal to the integral of the current as well as proportional to the voltage,
as discussed above. As with any antiderivative, a constant of integration is added to represent the
initial voltage V(t0). This is the integral form of the capacitor equation:[31]

Taking the derivative of this and multiplying by C yields the derivative form:[32]

for C independent of time, voltage and electric charge.

The dual of the capacitor is the inductor, which stores energy in a magnetic field rather than an
electric field. Its current-voltage relation is obtained by exchanging current and voltage in the
capacitor equations and replacing C with the inductance L
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip, computer chip, or simply chip, is a
small electronic device made up of multiple interconnected electronic components such
as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. These components are etched onto a small piece
of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Integrated circuits are used in a wide range of
electronic devices, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, to perform various
functions such as processing and storing information. They have greatly impacted the field of
electronics by enabling device miniaturization and enhanced functionality.

Integrated circuits are orders of magnitude smaller, faster, and less expensive than those
constructed of discrete components, allowing a large transistor count.

The IC's mass production capability, reliability, and building-block approach to integrated circuit
design have ensured the rapid adoption of standardized ICs in place of designs using discrete
transistors. ICs are now used in virtually all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the
world of electronics. Computers, mobile phones, and other home appliances are now essential
parts of the structure of modern societies, made possible by the small size and low cost of ICs
such as modern computer processors and microcontrollers.

Very-large-scale integration was made practical by technological advancements

in semiconductor device fabrication. Since their origins in the 1960s, the size, speed, and
capacity of chips have progressed enormously, driven by technical advances that fit more and
more transistors on chips of the same size – a modern chip may have many billions of transistors
in an area the size of a human fingernail. These advances, roughly following Moore's law, make
the computer chips of today possess millions of times the capacity and thousands of times the
speed of the computer chips of the early 1970s.

ICs have three main advantages over circuits constructed out of discrete components: size, cost
and performance. The size and cost is low because the chips, with all their components, are
printed as a unit by photolithography rather than being constructed one transistor at a time.
Furthermore, packaged ICs use much less material than discrete circuits. Performance is high
because the IC's components switch quickly and consume comparatively little power because of
their small size and proximity. The main disadvantage of ICs is the high initial cost of designing
them and the enormous capital cost of factory construction. This high initial cost means ICs are
only commercially viable when high production volumes are anticipated.

Terminology[edit]

An integrated circuit is defined as:[1]

A circuit in which all or some of the circuit elements are inseparably associated and electrically
interconnected so that it is considered to be indivisible for the purposes of construction and
commerce.
In strict usage, integrated circuit refers to the single-piece circuit construction originally known as
a monolithic integrated circuit, built on a single piece of silicon.[2][3] In general usage, circuits not
meeting this strict definition are sometimes referred to as ICs, which are constructed using many
different technologies, e.g. 3D IC, 2.5D IC, MCM, thin-film transistors, thick-film technologies,
or hybrid integrated circuits. The choice of terminology frequently appears in discussions related
to whether Moore's Law is obsolete.

Main articles: Electronic design automation, Hardware description language, and Integrated
circuit design
 Virtual detail of an integrated circuit through four layers of
planarized copper interconnect, down to the polysilicon (pink), wells (greyish), and substrate
(green)
The cost of designing and developing a complex integrated circuit is quite high, normally in the
multiple tens of millions of dollars.[63][64] Therefore, it only makes economic sense to produce
integrated circuit products with high production volume, so the non-recurring engineering (NRE)
costs are spread across typically millions of production units.

Modern semiconductor chips have billions of components, and are far too complex to be
designed by hand. Software tools to help the designer are essential. Electronic design
automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD),[65] is a category
of software tools for designing electronic systems, including integrated circuits. The tools work
together in a design flow that engineers use to design, verify, and analyze entire semiconductor
chips. Some of the latest EDA tools use artificial intelligence (AI) to help engineers save time and
improve chip performance
.