ECE3254 Electronic Circuits II

Policy/Syllabus:

This course is dedicated to the development of expertise and confidence in the subject area of electronics. As indicated by the course name it is the second course in the electronics sequence. So the policies and syllabus make the assumption that you already have a semester's worth of insight in the subject area.

1. Policies and Certification
2. Syllabus for spring 2005

Skills level:

Electronic II is an upper level course, and it would be a good idea to take a read of this perspective document and its commentary.

Email:

Email is the operational link to your instructor. And it is also the vehicle by which you will receive most of your runtime information, such as homework assignments, corrections, new postings and updates. When enrolled in the course you are also instantiated in the class alias, usually within the first few days of the semester if not earlier. If for some reason you find that you are not receiving email you might check with the ECE office or send email to admin@ece.msstate.edu to ascertain the reason why you do not exist. If you have registered late you may find that you are in purgatory and your existence is delayed by circumstance. But if you do not appear to have an electronic presence within 2-3 days of the beginning of the semester you might ping the admin services in order to advance and be recognized.

Homework Files

Since homework will, in large part, not be drawn from the textbook but exist as postings on this class website, it will be in a somewhat dynamic state, subject to minor modifications and wholesale changes. Homework from past semesters is not valid, and if solutions from old homework postings should appear, then it may will cease to become homework and then become evidence in a hearing, for which your perceptions of academic dishonesty will have to be reviewed and you will have need to rethink your career choices. Your professor would rather not have to deal with this sort of situation.

Electronic submissions: Subject to professor discretion, it is likely that pSPICE homework may be called for submission electronically .

A particular demand of pSPICE submissions is that you should be concise. You are expected to parse your pSPICE output files and submit only those parts that are relevant to the question being addressed. This is a demand, not a request, and penalties are assessed for excess inclosures. And they add up quickly.

Whether electronic or hardcopy, pSPICE submissions should be accomplished using MS Word or an equivalent utlity to format the output into a compact and concise (and readable) form, usually 2-3 pages at most. All electronic submissions should be converted to .pdf format , since the acrobat reader is the only utility that allows markup without compromising the original document.

Due dates for electronically submitted homework are the same as for hardcopy homework.

Homework postings: Subject to wholesale changes

1. Single transistor configs by inspection
   
2. Current sources and mirrors
   
3. Coupled pairs and differential amplifiers
   
4. STC frequency domain analysis
   
5. Ideal opamp exercises
   
6. Exercises in non-ideal opamps
   
7. Slew-rate analysis
   
8. CMRR analysis of diffamp circuit
   
9. Feedback and stability
   
10. Sallen-Key biquad
    
11. Tow-Thomas biquad
    
12. Table-defined freq profiles (SPICE/analysis)
    
13. Power amplifier circuits
    
14. DC-DC power converters
    
15. Thermal noise and S/N analysis
    

pSPICE tutorials

If for some reason you do not feel secure with the pSPICE circuit simulation utility you might take a few moments and walk through these tutorials. They are slow and patient, and will help to get you started and into the more important aspects of pSPICE that are needed for expert circuit simulations:

1. Tutorial #1: Getting Started - pSPICE Schematics editor.
   
2. Tutorial #2: Execute pSPICE and invoke the PROBE (output display) window.
   
3. Tutorial #3: Set up parametric sweep option. Example: Maximum power transfer theorem via pSPICE.
4. Tutorial #4: Load MOSIS parameters into generic MOS part. Example: I-V characterstics for short-channel transistor.
   
   

If you do not have a copy of the student version of pSPICE, go get one at the ORCAD/Cadence (updated) site. It should be a straightforward download and install. If for some reason this copy is not friendly (sometimes also called 'vendor improved') then you can obtain an old reliable copy at pspice(olde)

PSPICE lexicon

1. Analysis of differential pairs - Common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) assessment using pSPICE for Emitter-coupled pair (ECP) and for Source-coupled pair (SCP).
   
2. Active-mode Differential pairs - pSPICE assessment of micropower (low current-level) ECP
3. Frequency-domain analysis for electronic circuits - roll-off corners using pSPICE for CE configuration and 2n3904 BJT part and for CS configuration using 2-micron technology MOSIS parameters.
   
4. Class exercise using 2-micron technology MOSIS parameters, for FET cascode circuit.
   
5. Class exercise illustrating R-2R ladder with opamp backend.
6. Homework exercise on CMRR of differential amplifier with non-ideal opamps.
7. Homework exercise on slew rate,, non-ideal opamps.
8. Homework exercise on Sallen-Key biquad with non-ideal opamp
9. Homework exercise on Tow-Thomas biquad and extraction of rolloff in dB/decade.
   
   

Supplemental Information, Synopses and Summaries

1. 'Looking into' transistors (pdf)
   
2. BJT single transistor configurations Professor notes, Chapter 10, techniques of circuit analysis by inspection.
   
3. Single transistor configurations: -> Approximated relationships for circuit design (pdf)
   
4. Current mirror summaries (pdf)
   
5. Opamps: Quiz cover sheet (pdf)
   
6. Stability analysis and freq profiling (pdf): Caution: The font size on this document has been made *very* small in order to accommodate the RLC ladder tables in a single-page format.
7. Power electronics: summaries
8. Noise characteristics of selected opamps
   

1. Power electronics. Professor's notes on power amplifiers and power converters.
2. Professor's notes on noise and dynamic range (DR) . This material has lain dormant under glass for several semesters, but it appears that a re-awakening is necessary
3. Techniques of feedback and frequency profiling. Professor's notes on the link between stability and higher-order frequency profiles.
   

ECE3254 Laboratory