Electronic Components Introduction

This post will give introduction to electronic parts which are mostly used in any of the electronic circuit. Elaborate description of each parts will be posted in separate posts.  

1. Resistor (R)

Resistor is a two terminal component. It is mostly used for current limiting, Potential divider, Pull up and Pull down purposes. It is made up of different material and it is available in different packages,termination styles. Based on the requirement such as SMD/Through hole, tolerance and power rating a particular package can be selected.

2. Inductor (L):

Inductor is a two terminal component. It opposes the sudden changes in the current flowing across it. It is mostly used for temporary energy storage and filtering purposes.It is made up of different core material and it is available in shielded/unshielded packages,termination styles. Based on the requirement such as usage (Power or Noise Filtering) , Tolerance and Power rating a particular package can be selected.

3. Capacitor (C):

Capacitor is a two terminal component. Capacitor stores the DC voltage and supply the stored voltage whenever the circuit requires.It is mostly used for filtering and timing circuits.  It is made up of different dielectric materials and it is available in different packages. Based on the application such as Power, High frequency filtering a particular capacitor can be selected.

4. Diode (D):

Diode is basically a two terminal device. Diodes allows the electron flow only in one direction. It is mostly used in Power converters, Regulators, Clipping and Clamping circuits. Based on the doping level and construction there are different types of diodes are available. Depending upon the application (rectifier, regulator) and frequency of the circuits a particular type of diode can be chosen.

 

5. Transistor (Q):

Transistor is a 3 terminal device and it is the combination of two PN junctions. It is mostly used in switching and amplifier circuits. 

6. MOSFET (Q):

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor which is a voltage controlled device. It is mostly used in switching circuits.

7. Sensors

A sensor is a device which can sense a particular physical property such as temperature and produce an output signal. Normally the output signal is analog in nature. There are different types of sensors.

a. Temperature sensor

b. Infrared sensor

c. Image sensor

8. Analog to Digital Converter (ADC):

ADC is an Integrated Circuit (IC) which convert analog voltage into digital data. There are variety of ADCs based on the their architecture. An ADC is chosen mainly based on the resolution it can deliver.

9. Memory

Memory is used to store data in the form of bit (0 or 1).  It can be broadly classified in to types volatile and non-volatile. Volatile memories (Random Access Memory-RAM) don’t retain stored data when the power is OFF. But Non-volatile memories (Read Only Memory-ROM) retain stored data when the power is OFF.

Memories are basically chosen based on the application (temporary storage or permanent storage), size and speed.

10. Microprocessor

Microprocessor accepts digital inputs, process those data in the Central Processing Unit (CPU) as per the predefined sequence (program) and delivers digital output. Microprocessor have no inbuilt memory to store program hence it requires external memory.

11. Microcontroller

Microprocontroller is similar to Microprocessor but the main difference is it has inbuilt memory to store program. Normally the processing power is less in Microcontroller when compared with Microprocessor.