PH 221: Analog Electronics (2023) Autumn
Prof Pradeep Sarin

Prerequisite

None

Course Content

1. Fundamentals of semiconductor of device physics 2. Electronic signal transmission in circuits in time and frequency domain 3. Operational characterization of diodes and transistors performance. 4. Use of a transistor as a switch 5. Study linear amplification mode of transistor with some applications including: a. voltage amplification b. power amplification 6. Opamps – Design characteristics 7. Typical opamp application circuits including: a. Inverting, Non-inverting voltage amplification b. Transimpedance amplifiers to measure signals from typical transducers like photo-diodes, thermocouples etc c. Instrumentation amplifier and/or Lock-in amplifier Feedback control circuit using the PID (Proportional-Integrative-Differential) algorithm

Books

MicreelectronicsJacob Millman and Arvin Grabel, McGraw-Hill Education, 2nd editionBuilding Scientific ApparatusJohn H. Moore and Cristopher C. DavisCambridge University Press011

Review by Arnav Jain

Lectures

Lectures were a bit hard to follow, as voice is not very clear. However there is not a large impact of them on the labs. DO follow the labs; if you do not understand how to build and design your circuit by the steps which professor gives in the lab sheet, you will have a hard time in labs where student interaction, or TA help, or in final endsem lab. If you do not understand how to build the circuit, bug your TA or whoever near you gets it at the start of the semester to walk you through the process; do NOT copy the circuit blindly. I am stressing this as Digital Electronics has long labs where you need to be quick to build the circuit; without practice here, not only this course will be a bit iffy, the next course will suffer too. However, it is a chill course with nicer labs. You will rarely get faulty equipment, and TAs are very lenient in grading. Just make sure to follow the warning above. The course primarily focuses on MOSFETs and OpAmps; in our case it was roughly 50-50 both, however that is highly subject to change and expect more of OpAmps than that.

Assignments, Exams and Grading

Each lab was graded, along with an endsemester circuit that spanned three labs. Overall chill, with nice grading.

Tips

Get your hands dirty and build the circuits. DO NOT be shy in asking help from TAs in the beginning of the course itself if you are lost; the longer you stall, the harder it will be to build the skills up from scratch to the level expected.

Review by Anonymous

Lectures

The theory content had little to no bearing on what was done in the labs, and all the evaluation was done in the labs. Naturally, this meant no one cared for the theory content after a point. The labs would never end in 3 hours for a good amount of people. They always took more time. The course content, as presented in the labs, was pretty divisive – interesting and simple for some, boring and tedious for others. The course took up that semester's TAship slot (Wednesday 2-5 PM). The professor was really hard to hear. Course provided a very surface level knowledge about the subject. Any in-depth coverage and real skill gained (apart from handling some basic lab equipment) shouldn't be expected.

Assignments, Exams and Grading

Weekly labs (75%) (one of the labs was Midsem). Final 3 labs comprised the Endsem and had the same objective, which took 3 labs to complete (25%) (the 25% was all for the last day, in which no TA assistance was available. The other 2 days had regular lab attendance and grading).

Tips

Since the lectures take place in the lab, it is advisable to sit close to the professor if the content is actually to be heard and processed. Also, the explanations are too vague and students are apparently supposed to make do with them.