Electronic Circuits, Fundamentals and Applications, 3rd edition

Citation

Ellis, B. (2006), "Electronic Circuits, Fundamentals and Applications, 3rd edition", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 18 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.2006.21918dae.001

Electronic Circuits, Fundamentals and Applications, 3rd edition

Electronic Circuits, Fundamentals and Applications, 3rd edition

Mike TooleyNewnesISBN 0-7506-6923-3paperback 430 pp.

Keywords: Electronics, Circuits, Packaging

Let us start with the negative and state what this book is not. If you are looking for a book on printed circuit design, fabrication or assembly, then you have come to the wrong address. These subjects are covered in a chapter called circuit construction but I can confidently say that the technology described in it was out-of-date more than two decades ago. It is a pity that this has not been updated in the third edition.

Having got that off my chest, we can move onto the positive. This book is an extraordinary basic textbook on electronics. It starts with the fundamentals of electricity in a 20 page chapter and I would not mind betting that any engineer who has been working with the subject for more than five years will be reminded of something that he has forgotten in the meanwhile, such is the compact density of the information. This is followed by a chapter on passive components of all types, illustrating the physical aspect as well as the theory. After that, there are chapters on DC and AC theory.

Chapter 5 is an introduction to semiconductors and covers most types of diodes and transistors. Rather surprisingly, it goes straight into power supplies; this is good on “conventional” power supplies but I find that the section on switched mode power supplies does leave to be desired. The chapter on amplifiers is reasonably complete for a book of this nature, and is followed, naturally, by one on operational amplifiers. I was rather surprised by the chapter on oscillators, in that it misses out completely on the conventional Hartley, Colpitts and Clapp types and goes directly into RC and crystal oscillators.

The tenth chapter is all about logic, starting with an explanation of the basic functions and going on to such circuitry as binary counters and shift registers, with practical information on both CMOS and TTL devices. From there, it is a big jump to microprocessors which, strangely, is handled in one of the shorter chapters! One of the most ubiquitous components since its introduction some 25 years ago is the 555 timer, to which a whole chapter is devoted.

The first applications of electronics were undoubtedly in radio and chapter 13 covers this. Rather unexpectedly, it still includes the Morse code, even though this is no longer a requirement for radio operators. I'm a little nonplussed at the chapter on test equipment and measurements, because it seems to treat the reader as an idiot; it is almost entirely devoted to showing the different positions of the switches on analogue and digital multimeters plus a few pages on oscilloscopes. The following chapter, on fault finding, is also rather too basic.

Of course, all electronic circuits are interfaced by some means or other with the outside world. The chapter on sensors and interfacing provides a summary of both input and output transducers in a reasonable amount of detail.

Although it does not describe the net lists and component models very well, the chapter on circuit simulation gives a good introduction to the various forms of analysis offered by the simpler software packages such as SPICE- based simulation for both analogical and logical circuitry. However, it does not go as deep as, for example, Monte Carlo analysis which most software is capable of doing.

I assume, from its position, that the chapter on the PIC microcontroller is a recent addition and has been placed where it is, to maintain the numerical order of chapters from the earlier editions. It would have been better placed immediately after the chapter on microprocessors but, be that as it may, it provides an excellent introduction to their use for a number of applications, along with instruction sets and programming, as well as simulation. However, it obviously requires more than a few pages to get down to the nitty-gritty details of their use.

Each chapter is provided with a number of problems for the student, happily with the answers given in one of the nine appendices. The other appendices offer student assignments, revision problems, some semiconductor pin connections, some semiconductor data sheets, a section on decibels, 24 pages of mathematics for electronics and some useful web addresses. The index, which completes the book, is fairly comprehensive.

Although this book is essentially an introduction into electronics, I feel that it is an excellent reference work without going into too much detail. I would have loved to have a book like this when I was a student, not just for the content, but also for the fact that it combines theory and practice. In the context of this journal, I would like to state that I believe that it would be good reading as a primer for those wishing to pass from the practical packaging to the theoretical side of electronics. As a final word, there is a page at the beginning on safety. This is often neglected but it is important to realise that handling live circuitry does constitute a potential danger, even though it does not mention picking up a soldering iron by the hot end or breathing in flux fumes when using it correctly!

Brian EllisCyprus