Physics 440 – Electronics – Fall 2010

The aim of this course is to give students a practical introduction to modern electronic circuits. It consists of two 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, pulsers, 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, tessmer@pa.msu.edu, 884-5660

Sean Wagner, TA and Lab Instructor; Kathy Walsh, TA & Lab Instructor

Important Data

Lectures: Tu Th 8:30 AM - 9:50 AM, Rm 1308 BPS

Labs: Sec 1: Tues 3:00-5:50, Sec 2: Thurs 11:30-2:20, Sec 3: Thurs 3:00-5:50, Sec 4: Tues 11:30-2:20

All labs take place in Rm 1254 BPS.

Tessmer office hour: Tuesdays 10am, 1308/4237 BPS

Walsh office hour: Mondays 3pm, Strosacker Center, 1248 BPS

Wagner office hour: Wednesdays 2pm, Strosacker Center, 1248 BPS

Course Schedule

Week of	Day	Topics	Reading chapter.section	Homework chapter – problem #s
Sep 2	Th	introduction, current, voltage, resistance, Ohm's law	1.1 - 1.5
	----	no lab
Sep 7	Tu	power, series and parallel, circuits	1.6 - 1.8
	Th	dividers, pots, Kirchoff’s equations	1.8 - 1.10	HW#1: Ch1 – 2
	----	no lab
Sep 14	Tu	Thevenin’s and Norton’s theorems, mesh loop method	1.11
	Th	DC measurements, input impedance	6.1 - 6.3	HW#2: Ch1 – 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13
	Lab 1	Voltage, Current, Ohm's Law, Multimeter
Sep 21	Tu	capacitance and inductance	2.1 - 2.4
	Th	RC, LC and RLC circuits	2.5 - 2.6	HW#3: Ch1 – 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 21, 22
	Lab 2	DC and AC, Function Generator, Oscilloscope	6.6 - 6.7
Sep 28	Tu	AC circuits, complex numbers	3.1 - 3.5, handout
	Th	generalized Ohm’s law	handout	HW#4: Ch2 – 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, T1
	Lab 3	Capacitors, Inductors, RC and RL Circuits
Oct 5	Tu	band width, quality factor, Bode plots	3.4, 3.5, A-3
	Th	transformers, PN junction	4.1 - 4.2	HW#5: Ch3 – 1,2,6,7
	Lab 4	RLC Passive Filters
Oct 12	Tu	diodes, Zener diodes, diode circuits	5.1- 5.4, 5.7
	Th	more diode circuits, bipolar transistor	5.8 - 5.9, 8.1 - 8.3	HW#6: Ch3 – 24, 25; T2; Ch5 – 3
	Lab 5	Diodes, LED's Rectifiers, Unregulated Power Supply, Zeners
Oct 19	Tu	bipolar transistor circuits	8.3 - 8.6
	Th	more bipolar transistor circuits	8.3 - 8.6	HW#7: Ch5 – 12, HH 1.27, HH 1.29, HH 1.30, Ch8 – 1
	Lab 6	Bipolar transistors I, I - V charactersistics, amplifiers
Oct 26	Tu	field effect transistors	8.7
	Th	JFET amplifier, op amps	8.8 - 8.9, 9.1 - 9.4	HW#8: Ch8 – 2, 3; T3
	Lab 7	Bipolar transistors II, regulation, circuit construction
Nov 2	Tu	op amp circuits	9.5 - 9.6
	Th	op amp filters and real world op amps	9.7 - 9.12	HW#9: T4, T5, Ch9 – 3, 4, 5
	Lab 8	JFET's, Op Amps I	9.5,JFET,OPAMP
Nov 9	Tu	oscillators and timers, digital electronics	10.1-5
	Th	logic, IC gates	11.1-3	HW#10: Ch9 – 7, T6, T7
	Lab 9	Op Amps II	10.4
Nov 16	Tu	Boolean algebra, numbering systems	11.4-11.7
	Th	digital circuitry - flip flops	12.1-12.2	HW#11: T8, T9; Ch10 – 6, 7; Ch11 – 2
	Lab10	Light Emitting Diodes and Digital Circuits 1	12.2
Nov 23	Tu	counters and registers	12.3 - 12.5
	Th	Thanksgiving		no homework
	----	no lab
Nov 30	Tu	digital to analog conversion, analog to digital conversion	14.6, 14.7
	Th	multiplexer, programmable logic devices	12.6, Introduction to...	HW#12: Ch11 – 5b, 6a&c, 7b&d, 9, 13
	Lab11	FPGA Logic - I	Quick Start, DIO1, D2XL, DIO1Pinout
Dec 7	Tu	computers, ROM and RAM	13.3
	Th	transducers, lock-in amplifiers	7.1, 7.2,15.4	HW#13: Ch12 – 5; Ch14 – 11, T10, T11
	Lab12	FPGA Logic - II	Quick Start, DIO1, D2XL, DIO1Pinout
Dec 13-17		Finals Week

Textbook and Clicker

Required Text: Diefenderfer and Holton, Principles of Electronic Instrumentation, 3rd Ed. Saunders, 1994. You are required to bring an i-Clicker to lectures.

Homework and Quizzes

There will be weekly homework assignments, due at the beginning of class on Thursdays. Quizzes and Clicker Questions 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 will be provided with a lab notebook into which all relevant information associated with an experiment will be recorded. The laboratory exercises will be performed during the 3 hour lab period, the data entered into the notebook will be left with the TA for grading. No formal write up 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: 50%-Laboratory, 30%-Quizzes, 20%-Homework, 5%-Clicker Questions. This adds up to 105%. 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