BEng Electronic Engineering with Industrial Experience / Course details

This unit will cover the following:

• Operational (voltage) amplifiers; non-inverting and inverting circuits; limitations of real integrated circuits (ICs); adder and differential circuits; circuits with two or three op amps; understanding data sheets. (10 lectures)
• Related ICs: comparator; transimpedance and transconductance amplifiers. (6 lectures)
• Capacitor characteristics; circuits with capacitors; coupling and decoupling; integrator and differentiator (4 lectures).
• Diode characteristics; applications of diodes, detector circuits; d.c. level control. LED, semiconductor laser and photodiode characteristics; non-linear circuit applications.  (4 lectures)
• Field Effect Transistor (FET) characteristics; Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) characteristics; amplifier and switch circuits; biasing. (8 lectures)
• Tutorials (4 lectures).

This course unit detail provides the framework for delivery in the current academic year and may be subject to change due to any additional Covid-19 impact.  Please see Blackboard / course unit related emails for any further updates.

The course unit aims to:

• Explain the principles of amplification using electronic components;
• Describe the characteristics of electronic components and introduce the concept of functional flexibility;
• Explain the benefits of applying negative feedback in the context of operational amplifiers and circuits using discrete devices.

Students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding:

• Demonstrate knowledge and  understanding of the most important basic operational amplifier configurations and their applications.

• Show that they understand the  limitations of simple circuits.

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of simple characteristics and circuit applications of  semiconductor diodes, light emitting diodes (LEDs), photodiodes, field effect transistors (FETs) and bipolar junction transistors (BJTs).

Intellectual skills:

• Analyse simple electronic circuits containing the above devices using Kirchhoff's  laws.

• Understand that a variety of functions can be achieved with a limited number of devices.

Practical skills:

• Select appropriate circuit configurations and component values for a variety of applications.

Transferable skills and personal qualities:

• Interpret some of the parameters given in specification data   (e.g. data sheets).

• Simple electronic design with practical demonstration in a time-limited environment. 

Coursework 1:

Three laboratory sessions

Laboratory duration: 3 hours each

Assessed by: Written reports after labs 2 and 3. Each report forms 10% of the unit assessment

Coursework 1 forms 20% of the unit assessment.

Coursework 2:

Tutorial quesitons, as defined by tutorial schedule.

Coursework 2 forms 10% of the unit assessment.