Electronics

C

Radio Frequency Amplifiers

These amplifiers boost the signal level of radio or television communication systems. Their frequencies generally range from 100 kHz to 1 gigahertz (1 GHz = 10⁹ cycles/sec) and can extend well into the microwave frequency range.

VI

Oscillators

Oscillators generally consist of an amplifier and some type of feedback: the output signal is fed back to the input of the amplifier. The frequency-determining elements may be a tuned inductance-capacitance circuit or a vibrating crystal. Crystal-controlled oscillators offer the highest precision and stability. Oscillators are used to produce audio and radio signals for a wide variety of purposes. For example, simple audio-frequency oscillators are used in modern push-button telephones to transmit data to the central telephone exchange when dialling. Audio tones generated by oscillators are also found in alarm clocks, radios, electronic instruments, computers, and warning systems. High-frequency oscillators are used in communications equipment to provide tuning and signal-detection functions. Radio and television stations use precise high-frequency oscillators to produce transmitting frequencies.

VII

Switching and Timing Circuits

Switching and timing circuits, or logic circuits, form the heart of any device where signals must be selected or combined in a controlled manner. Applications of these circuits include telephone switching, satellite transmissions, and digital computer operations.

Digital logic is a rational process for making simple “true” or “false” decisions based on the rules of Boolean algebra. “True” can be represented by a 1 and “false” by a 0, and in logic circuits the numerals appear as signals of two different voltages. Logic circuits are used to make specific true-false decisions based on the presence of multiple true-false signals at the inputs. The signals may be generated by mechanical switches or by solid-state transducers. Once the input signal has been accepted and conditioned (to remove unwanted electrical signals, or “noise”), it is processed by the digital logic circuits. The various families of digital logic devices, usually integrated circuits, perform a variety of logic functions through logic gates, including “OR”, “AND”, and “NOT”, and combinations of these (such as “NOR”, which includes both OR and NOT). One widely used logic family is TTL (transistor-transistor logic). Another family is CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor logic), which performs similar functions, but consumes less power. Several other, less popular families of logic circuits exist, including the obsolete RTL (resistor-transistor logic) and ECL (emitter-coupled logic); the latter is used for very high-speed systems.

The elemental blocks in a logic device are called digital logic gates. An AND gate has two or more inputs and a single output. The output of an AND gate is true only if all the inputs are true. An OR gate has two or more inputs and a single output. The output of an OR gate is true if any one of the inputs is true and is false if all of the inputs are false. An INVERTER has a single input and a single output terminal and changes a true signal to a false signal, thus performing the NOT function. More complicated logic circuits are built up from elementary gates. They include flip-flops (binary switches), counters, comparators, adders, and more complex combinations.

To perform a desired overall function, large numbers of logic elements may be connected in complex circuits. In some cases microprocessors are used to perform many of the switching and timing functions of the individual logic elements. The processors are specifically programmed with individual instructions to perform a given task or tasks. An advantage of microprocessors is that they make possible the performance of different logic functions, depending on the program instructions that are stored. A disadvantage of microprocessors is that normally they operate in a sequential mode, which may be too slow for some applications. In these cases specifically designed logic circuits are used.

VIII

Recent Developments

The development of integrated circuits has revolutionized the fields of communications, information handling, and computing. Integrated circuits reduce the size of devices and lower manufacturing and system costs, while at the same time providing high speed and increased reliability. Digital watches, hand-held computers, and electronic games are systems based on microprocessors. Other developments include the digitalization of audio signals, where the frequency and amplitude of an audio signal are coded digitally by appropriate sampling techniques, that is, techniques for measuring the amplitude of the signal at very short intervals. Digitally recorded music, as found on compact discs, shows fidelity far superior to direct-recording methods. New digital recording media, such as digital versatile disk (DVD), enable gigabytes of information to be stored and read conveniently and cheaply, thereby allowing high-quality digital recording of video and other data-intensive information.

Medical electronics has progressed from computerized axial tomography (the use of CAT or CT scanners) to systems that can discriminate more and more of the organs of the human body. Devices that can view blood vessels and the respiratory system have also been developed. The combination of low-cost computing with other new technologies is making powerful new tools more widespread. For example, electronic radiographs (which record X-ray images in electronic form) and computer processing of images allow dentists to identify tooth decay using only one-tenth the quantity of X-rays needed by older methods.

Today’s research to increase the speed and capacity of computers concentrates mainly on the improvement of integrated circuit technology and the development of even faster switching components. Very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits that contain several hundred thousand components on a single chip have been developed. The same technological advances have enabled high-tech systems such as mobile telephones to be produced at relatively low-cost. Very-high-speed computers are being developed in which semiconductors may be replaced by superconducting circuits using Josephson junctions (see Josephson Effect) and operating at temperatures near absolute zero.