Basic Electronics

Definition: FET is an acronym used for “field effect transistor”. It is a three terminal unipolar device in which conduction is manipulated with the help of applied electric field. The name itself gives a brief idea about its working principle, “field effect”, these two words clearly indicates it is a transistor controlled by electric field. Thus, it is also referred as a voltage controlled device in which only majority charge carriers are involved in the conduction mechanism. It comprises of … [Read more...] about Field Effect Transistor (FET)

Definition: The Clapp Oscillator is an electronic device that consists of single stage amplifier and a phase shift network.The basic function of an oscillator is to generate the sinusoidal signal and the same work a Clapp oscillator does. With the help of amplifier circuit, it provides the amplified signal to the phase shift network. This in return provides regenerative feedback to the amplifier circuit and thus sustained oscillations are produced. Have a look at the block diagram … [Read more...] about Clapp Oscillator

Definition: Oscillator is a circuit which utilizes positive feedback amplifier to generate sinusoidal waveforms of fixed amplitude and frequency. It is the major source of power in electrical and electronic instruments. The amplifier provided with the positive feedback can generate the sinusoidal signal even in the absence of any input. These signals are termed as oscillations, and hence the device is known as an oscillator. The positive feedback here implies the addition of some part of the … [Read more...] about Oscillator

Definition: The Sample and Hold circuit is an electronic circuit which creates the samples of voltage given to it as input, and after that, it holds these samples for the definite time. The time during which sample and hold circuit generates the sample of the input signal is called sampling time. Similarly, the time duration of the circuit during which it holds the sampled value is called holding time. Sampling time is generally between 1µs to 14 µs while the holding time can assume any value … [Read more...] about Sample and Hold Circuit

Definition: LASCR or light activated SCR is a semiconductor device which turns ON when it is exposed to light. The constituent element of SCR is silicon, and it works like a rectifier, and thus, it is termed as Silicon Controlled Rectifier. The LASCR is a type of thyristor which is triggered by photons present in the light rays. It is a three terminal device, consists of cathode, anode and gate terminal. The gate terminal is used when the electrical triggering is supplied to the LASCR. The … [Read more...] about Light Activated SCR

Definition: UPS is an acronym of Uninterruptible Power Supply, it is an electronic device which is used to supply power to other devices such as a computer, telecommunication equipment etc. in case of power outage. The rectifier present in the UPS converts the AC power into DC, then the battery stores the DC power. This process continues when the AC power is on. When there is the power outage, the inverter converts the DC power into AC which is required for the functioning of the … [Read more...] about Uninterruptible Power Supply

Definition: Phototransistors resemble normal transistor except the fact that the base terminal is not present in case of the phototransistor. Phototransistors convert the incident light into photocurrent. Instead of providing the base current for triggering the transistor, the light rays are used to illuminate the base region. The base terminal is made up of the material which shows sensitivity towards the light. The circuit symbol of the phototransistor is similar to that of the conventional … [Read more...] about Phototransistor

Definition: Thyristor is a semiconductor device which comprises of four layers made up of P-type and N-type material arranges in the alternate fashion. The word Thyristor is formed from two words thyratron and transistor. Besides, the characteristics possessed by a thyristor is the combination of the properties of thyratron and transistor. The thyratron has the property of rectification and the transistor has the property of switching. The thyristors are turned on using the control signal … [Read more...] about Thyristor Operation

Definition: NPN transistor is a current controlled circuit which comprises of three terminal that are emitter, base and collector. It is formed by sandwiching the layer of N-type material between two layers of P-type material. It acts as the current source because it provides current through the base terminal. NPN transistor is exactly opposite of PNP transistor. NPN transistor can be understood as a Negative-Positive-Negative transistor. This is because the N-type layer of semiconductor … [Read more...] about NPN Transistor

Definition: PNP transistor is three terminal current controlled device which consists of three terminals formed by sandwiching a layer of N-type material between the two P-type semiconductors. It acts as a current sink because all the emitter current sinks into the base terminal. PNP transistor can also be understood as positive – negative – positive transistor. The majority charge carriers involved in the conduction process of PNP transistor are holes. Thus, the current which generates at … [Read more...] about PNP Transistor