Physics 440 – Electronics – Spring 2008

 

The aim of this course is to give students a practical introduction to modern electronic circuits. It consists of three weekly lectures where the theory and principles of electronics circuits will be discussed, and a three hour lab where students will get some hands-on experience with electronic circuits and a variety of instrumentation such as oscilloscopes, pulesers, power supplies and digital multimeters. The topics covered in the course will start with simple DC circuits and end in computer design of programmable logic devices (PLD's). In between we will study AC circuits, filters, diodes, bipolar transistors, FET's, operational amplifiers and a variety of digital circuits. Where possible we will make use of computer programs such as LabView and software from the Xilinx corporation to program field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA's).

 

Instructors

            Stuart Tessmer, professor, tessmer@pa.msu.edu, 355-9200 x2210

            Richard Hallstein, Lab Coordinator, hallstein@pa.msu.edu, 355-9200 x2517

            Morewell Gasseller, TA, Curtis Walkons, TA

 

Important Data

Lectures: MWF 3-3:50, Rm 1308 BPS

            Labs: Tues 11:30-2:20 (Sec 1), Tues 6pm-8:50 (Sec 2), Thurs 11:30-2:20 (Sec 3) in Rm 1254 BPS

            Tessmer office hour: Mondays 9:30am, 1254/4237 BPS

            Hallstein office hours: Mondays 12-1pm, Wednesdays 10-11am, 1253 BPS

            Gasseller office hour: Thursdays 3-4pm, Strosacker BPS

            Walkons office hour: Thursdays 10-11am, Strosacker BPS

 

Assignment Schedule

 

Week of

Day

Topics

Reading

chapter.section

Homework

chapter – problem #s

Jan 7

M

Introduction

 

 

 

W

Current, voltage, resistance, Ohm's law

1.1 - 1.5

 

 

F

Power, series and parallel, circuits

1.6 - 1.8

HW#1: 1 – 2

Jan 14

M

Dividers, pots, loading effects

1.8 - 1.10

 

 

W

Kirchoff, Mesh loop method,

1.8 - 1.10

 

 

F

Thevenin’s theorem

1.11

HW#2: 1 – 3,4,5,6,7,13

Jan 21

M

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

 

 

 

W

DC measurements

6.1 - 6.3

 

 

F

Capacitance and inductance

2.1 - 2.4

HW#3: 1 – 8,9,10,15,20,21,22

 

Lab 1

Voltage, Current, Ohm's Law, Multimeter

6.4

 

Jan 28

M

RC, LC and RLC Circuits

2.5 - 2.6

 

 

W

AC circuits, complex numbers

3.1 - 3.2, handout

 

 

F

Impedance, filters

3.3 - 3.4

HW#4: 2 – 1,2,3,6,7,8,10,T1

 

Lab 2

DC and AC, Function Generator, Oscilloscope

6.6 - 6.7

 

Feb 4

M

Filters

3.4

 

 

W

Band width, quality factor

3.5

 

 

F

Bode plots

A-3

HW#5: 3 – 1,2,6,7

 

Lab 3

Capacitors, Inductors, RC and RL Circuits

 

 

Feb 11

M

Transformers

4.1 - 4.2

 

 

W

PN junction, diodes, Zener diodes

5.1- 5.3, 5.7

 

 

F

Diode circuits - I

5.4

HW#6: Ch3 – 24,25; T2; Ch4 – 2; Ch5 – 3

 

Lab 4

RLC Passive Filters

 

 

Feb 18

M

Diode circuits - II

5.8 – 5.9

 

 

W

Bipolar transistor introduction

8.1 - 8.3

 

 

F

Bipolar transistor circuits - I

8.3 - 8.6

HW#7: Ch5 – 12,
HH 1.27, HH 1.29,
HH 1.30, Ch8 – 1

 

Lab 5

Diodes, LED's Rectifiers, Unregulated Power Supply, Zeners

 

 

Feb 25

M

Bipolar transistor circuits - II

8.3 - 8.6

 

 

W

Darlington configuration

8.5

 

 

F

Field effect transistors - introduction

8.7

HW#8: Ch8 – 2,3; T3

 

Lab 6

Bipolar transistors I, I - V charactersistics, amplifiers

 

 

Mar 3

 

Spring Break

 

 

Mar10

M

JFET amplifier

8.8 - 8.9

 

 

W

Op amps - Introduction

9.1 - 9.4

 

 

F

Op amps - Differential amps, functions

9.5 - 9.6

HW#9: T4, T5,
Ch9 – 3

 

Lab 7

Bipolar transistors II, regulation, circuit construction

 

 

Mar 17

M

Op amp filters and real world op amps

9.7 - 9.12

 

 

W

Op amp filters and logic

10.1-10.2

 

 

F

Oscillators and timers

10.3-5

HW#10: Ch9 – 4,5,7; T6, T7

 

Lab 8

JFET's, Op Amps I

9.5,JFET,OPAMP

 

Mar 24

M

IC Gates

11.1-3

 

 

W

Boolean algebra, numbering systems

11.4-11.6

 

 

F

Open collector and three-state Logic

11.6-11.8

HW#11: Ch10 – 5,6,7; T8, T9

 

Lab 9

Op Amps II

10.4

 

Mar 31

M

Digital circuitry - flip flops

12.1-12.2

 

 

W

Digital readouts - counters

12.3-12.5

 

 

F

Counters and registers

12.5 - 12.6

HW#12: Ch11 – 2, 5b, 6a&c, 9; HH 8.8

 

Lab10

Light Emitting Diodes and Digital Circuits 1

12.2

 

Apr 7

M

One shots - debouncing

12.7-12.9

 

 

W

Digital to analog conversion

14.6

 

 

F

Analog to digital conversion

14.7

HW#13: Ch11 – 7b, 7d, 13; Ch12 – 5; HH 8.2

 

Lab11

Schmitt Triggers and Decoders

SN74138

 

Apr 14

M

Programmable logic devices I

Introduction to...

 

 

W

ROM and RAM, frequency to voltage converters

13.3,14.9

 

 

F

FIFO' and other devices

 

HW#14: Ch14 – 11, 17, 17b (For 11, use buffers and op-amps. 17b is same as 17 except for a 1.5000 V signal.)

 

Lab12

FPGA Logic - I

Quick Start, DIO1, D2XL, DIO1Pinout

 

Apr 21

M

State machines

 

 

 

W

Lock-in amplifiers

15.4

 

 

F

Transducers I

7.1,2

HW#15: Ch7 – 4; T10, T11

 

Lab13

FPGA Logic - II

Quick Start, DIO1, D2XL, DIO1Pinout

 

Apr 28

 

Finals Week

 

 

 

 

Textbooks

Required Text: Diefenderfer and Holton, Principles of Electronic Instrumentation, 3rd Ed. Saunders, 1994.

 

Suggested Reference: Horowitz and Hill, The Art of Electronics, 2nd Ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1995.
This book is an excellent reference and students planning to continue with electronics in future years should consider acquiring it. It will be put on reserve in the BPS library.

 

Homework and Quizzes

There will be weekly homework assignments, due at the beginning of class on Fridays. Each assignment will be given on Monday and may be amended on Wednesday. Quizzes will be given during lecture; there will be roughly twelve quizzes throughout the semester.

 

Laboratory Procedure and Notebook

The laboratory part of the course consists of a series of experiments that students will perform working alone. Students are required to purchase a lab notebook into which all relevant information associated with an experiment will be recorded. This notebook should have numbered pages with quadrille ruling. The laboratory exercises will be performed during the 3 hour lab period, the data entered into the notebook which will be left with the TA for grading. No formal writeup will be required but students are cautioned to enter all relevant data and explanations clearly and succinctly so that the TA can easily follow the work done. No erasures or page removal is allowed. If an error is made it should be neatly crossed out and the corrected data re-entered.

 

Grades

Your Total Score will be determined by the scores on the homework assignments, quizzes, and laboratory notebook. The Total Score is weighted as follows: 25%-Homework, 25%-Quizzes, 50%-Laboratory. Grade assignments at the end of the term will be taken from the table below. (It may be shifted slightly in your favor.)

 

Total Score % and Grades

Minimum %

Grade

85

4.0

80

3.5

75

3.0

70

2.5

65

2.0

60

1.5

50

1.0

<50

0.0