LESSON 4

Basic Electronic Components

OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

 Explain the importance of learning different electronics

components
 Describe the applications of each element
 Be knowledgeable with how these electronic
components works
Basic Electronic Components

There are numerous basic electronic components that are used for building electronic
circuits. Without these components, circuit designs are never complete or didn’t function well.
These components include resistors, diodes, capacitors, integrated circuits, and so on. Some of
these components consist of two or more terminals that are soldered to circuit boards. Some may
be packaged types like integrated circuits in which different semiconductor devices are integrated.
Electronic components are parts of an electronic device that serves different roles for an
electronic device to function correctly. Think of it as the gears of a clock; inside a clock, it has
many gears to work accurately to tell us the time, so in this lesson, you will learn the different
types of electronic components.
Electronic components are basic discrete devices in any electronic system to use in
electronics otherwise different associated fields. These components are basic elements that are
used to design electrical and electronic circuits. These components have a minimum of two
terminals which are used to connect to the circuit. The classification of electronic components can
be done based on applications either an active components or a passive components.

In designing an electronic circuit following are taken into consideration:

 Basic electronic components: capacitors, resistors, diodes, transistors, etc.

 Power sources: DC power supplies.
 Measurement and analysis instruments: Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO), multimeters, etc.

1. Active Components
These components are used to amplify electrical signals to generate electric
power. The functioning of these components can be done like an AC circuit within
electronic devices to protect from voltage and enhanced power. An active component
executes its functions because it is power-driven through an electricity source. All these
components require some energy source that is normally removed from a DC circuit. Any
quality type of active component will include an oscillator, IC (integrated circuit) &
transistor.

2. Passive Components
These types of components cannot use mesh energy into the electronic circuit
because they don’t rely on a power source, excluding what is accessible from the AC
circuit they are allied to. As a result, they cannot amplify, although they can increase a
current otherwise voltage or current. These components mainly include two-terminals like
resistors, inductors, transformers & capacitors.

The active and passive components are differentiated on various factors like the nature
of the source, its functions, power gain, controlling the flow of current. Various examples of
 the component, nature of the energy, requirement of the external resistance. The Difference
Between Active and Passive Components is given below in the tabulated form.

BASIS ACTIVE COMPONENTS PASSIVE COMPONENTS

Nature of source Active components deliver power Passive elements utilizes power
or energy to the circuit. or energy from the circuit.

Examples Diodes, Transistors, SCR, Diodes, Resistor, Capacitor,

Integrated circuits etc. Inductor etc.

Function of the Devices which produce energy in Devices which stores energy in
component the form of voltage or current. the form of voltage or current.

Power Gain They are capable of providing They are incapable of providing
power gain. power gain.

Flow of current Active components can control the Passive components cannot
flow of current. control the flow of the current.

Requirement of They require an external source They do not require any external
external source for the operations. source for the operations.

Nature of energy Active components are energy Passive components are energy
donor. acceptor.

RESISTORS

A resistor is an electrical device with two or more terminals used in an electronic circuit
to control electrical power flow. It also aims to minimize the current flow and voltage levels in its
general proximity or portion of the circuit. It is somewhat analogous to a valve in a water line. A
resistor is intended to regulate the actual load on the system, which means that it uses and
dissipates electricity as heat, reducing in effect the amount of electricity that flows out of it by
different amounts.
 Different types of resistors exist, and each resistor has various uses, size, and visual.
Resistor works based on the principle of Ohm’s law which states that “voltage applied across the
terminals of a resistor is directly proportional to the current flowing through it”.

Resistor Color Coding

Components and wires are coded with colors to identify their value and function. Resistor
Color Coding uses colored bands to quickly identify a resistors resistive value and its percentage
of tolerance with the physical size of the resistor indicating its wattage rating. Generally, the
resistance value, tolerance, and wattage rating are printed on the body of a resistor as numbers
or letters when the resistors body is big enough to read the print, such as large power resistors.
But when a resistor is smaller (example: 1/4 watt carbon or film type), the print is too small
to read, so the specifications must be shown in another way. The chart below shows how to
determine the resistance and tolerance for resistors. The table can also be used to specify the
color of the bands when the values are known.

Resistor Color Coding Chart

 It is sometimes easier to remember the resistor colour code by using short, easily
remembered sentences in the form of expressions, rhymes, and phrases, called an acrostic,
which have a separate word in the sentence to represent each of the Ten colors.

The resulting mnemonic matches the first letter of each word to each color which makes
up the resistors color code by order of increasing magnitude and there are many different
mnemonic phrases which can be used. However, these sayings are often very crude but never
the less effective for remembering the resistor colors. Here are just a few of the more “cleaner”
versions but many more exist:

Bad Boys Ring Our Young Girls But Vicky Goes Without
Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes Wrong

 Four Band Resistos

The four band color code is the most common variation. These resistors have two
bands for the resistance value, one multiplier and one tolerance band. In the example shown
here, the 4 bands are green, blue, red and gold. By using the color code chart, one finds that
green stands for 5 and blue for 6. The third band is the multiplier, with red representing a
multiplier value of 2 (102). Therefore, the value of this resistor is 56 · 102 = 56 · 100 = 5600 Ω.
The gold band means that the resistor has a tolerance of 5%. The resistance value lies
therefore between 5320 and 5880 Ω (5560 ± 5%). If the tolerance band is left blank, the result
is a 3 band resistor. This means that the resistance value remains the same, but the tolerance
is 20%.

 Five Band Resistos

Resistors with high precision have an extra band to indicate a third significant digit.
Therefore, the first three bands indicate the significant digits, the fourth band is the
multiplication factor, and the fifth band represents the tolerance. For the example shown here:
brown (1), yellow (4), violet (7), black (x 100 = x1), green (0.5%) represents a 147 Ω resistor
with a 0.5% tolerance.

 Six Band Resistos

Resistors with 6 bands are usually for high precision resistors that have an additional
band to specify the temperature coefficient (ppm/˚C = ppm/K). The most common color for the
sixth band is brown (100 ppm/˚C). This means that for a temperature change of 10 ˚C, the
resistance value can change 1000 ppm = 0.1%. For the 6-band resistor example shown
below: orange (3), red (2), brown (1), brown (x10), green (1%), red (50 ppm/°C) represents a
3.21 kΩ resistor with a 1% tolerance and a 50 ppm/°C temperature coefficient.
Capacitors
Capacitors are widely used to build different types of electronic circuits. A capacitor is a
passive two-terminal electrical component that can store energy in an electric field
electrostatically. In simple terms, it works as a small rechargeable battery that stores electricity.
However, unlike a battery, it can charge and discharge in the split of a second.
Capacitors come in all shapes and sizes, but they usually have the same primary
components. There are two electrical conductors or plates separated by a dielectric or insulator
stacked between them. Plates are composed of conducting material such as thin films of metal
or aluminum foil. A dielectric, on the other hand, is a non-conducting material such as glass,
ceramic, plastic film, air, paper, or mica. You can insert the two electrical connections protruding
from the plates to fix the capacitor in a circuit.

When you apply a voltage over the two plates or connect them to a source, an electric
field develops across the insulator, causing one plate to accumulate positive charge while
negative charge gets collected on the other. The capacitor continues to hold its charge even if
you disconnect it from the source. The moment you connect it to a load, the stored energy will
flow from the capacitor to the load.

Capacitance is the amount of energy stored in a capacitor. The higher the capacitance,
the more energy it can store. You can increase the capacitance by moving the plates closer to
each other or increasing their size. Alternatively, you can also enhance the insulation qualities to
increase the capacitance.

Though capacitors look like batteries, they can perform different types of functions in a
circuit such as blocking direct current while allowing alternating current to pass or smooth the
output from a power supply. They are also used in electric power transmission systems to stabilize
voltage and power flow. One of the most significant functions of a capacitor in the AC systems is
power factor correction, without which you can’t provide sufficient amount of starting torque to
single phase motors.
Read Capacitance Values on a Capacitor
If there’s enough room on the capacitor, most manufacturers of electronics components
print the capacitance directly on the capacitor along with other information such as the working
voltage and perhaps the tolerance. However, small capacitors don’t have enough room for all
that. Many capacitor manufacturers use a shorthand notation to indicate capacitance on small
caps.

If you have a capacitor that has nothing other than a three-digit number printed on it, the
third digit represents the number of zeros to add to the end of the first two digits. The resulting
number is the capacitance in pF. For example, 101 represents 100 pF: the digits 10 followed by
one additional zero. If there are only two digits listed, the number is simply the capacitance in pF.
Thus, the digits 22 indicate a 22 pF capacitor. See more sample on this table.

Marking Capacitance (pF)

101 100
222 2,200
473 47,000
214 210,000
355 3,500,000

Diodes

A diode is a two-terminal device that allows electric current to flow in only one direction.
Thus, it is the electronic equivalent of a check valve or a one-way street. Diodes have polarity,
determined by an anode (positive lead) and cathode (negative lead). Most diodes allow current
to flow only when positive voltage is applied to the anode. The photo below is the symbol of a
diode.
 When a diode allows current flow, it is forward-biased. When a diode is reverse-biased, it
acts as an insulator and does not permit current to flow. It is made either of a semiconductor
material (semiconductor diode) or vacuum tube (vacuum tube diode). Today, however, most
diodes are made from semiconductor material, particularly silicon.

Though diodes are one of the simplest components in an electronic circuit, they have
unique applications across industries.

1. AC to DC Conversion
The most common and important application of a diode is the rectification of AC power
to DC power. Usually, a half-wave (single diode) or a full-wave (four diodes) rectifier is used
to convert AC power into DC power, particularly in household power supply. When you pass
AC power supply through a diode, only half the AC waveform passes through it. As this voltage
pulse is used to charge the capacitor, it produces steady and continuous DC currents without
any ripples. Different combinations of diodes and capacitors are also used to build various
types of voltage multipliers to multiply a small AC voltage into high DC outputs.

2. Bypass Diodes
Bypass diodes are often used to protect solar panels. When the current from the rest
of the cells passes through a damaged or dusty solar cell, it causes overheating. As a result,
the overall output power decreases, creating hot spots. The diodes are connected parallel to
the solar cells to protect them against this overheating problem. This simple arrangement
limits the voltage across the bad solar cell while allowing the current to pass through
undamaged cells to the external circuit.

3. Voltage Spike Protection

When the power supply is suddenly interrupted, it produces a high voltage in most
inductive loads. This unexpected voltage spike can damage the loads. However, you can
protect expensive equipment by connecting a diode across the inductive loads. Depending on
the type of security, these diodes are known by many names including snubber diode, flyback
diode, suppression diode, and freewheeling diode, among others.

4. Signal Demodulation
They are also used in the process of signal modulation because diodes can remove
the negative element of an AC signal efficiently. The diode rectifies the carrier wave, turning
it into DC. The audio signal is retrieved from the carrier wave, a process called audio-
frequency modulation. You can hear the audio after some filtering and amplification. Hence,
diodes are commonly found in radios to extract the signal from the carrier wave.
 5. Reverse Current Protection
Reversing polarities of a DC supply or incorrectly connecting the battery can cause a
substantial current to flow through a circuit. Such a reverse connection can damage the
connected load. That’s why a protective diode is connected in series with the positive side of
the battery terminal. The diode becomes forward-biased in the case of correct polarity and the
current flows through the circuit. However, in the event of a wrong connection, it becomes
reverse-biased, blocking the current. Thus, it can protect your equipment from potential
damage.

Transistors
One of the most crucial components of an electronic circuit, transistors have revolutionized
the field of electronics. These tiny semiconductor devices with three terminals have been around
for more than five decades now. They are often used as amplifiers and switching devices. You
can think of them as relays without any moving parts because they can turn something ‘on’ or ‘off’
without any movement.

Transistors function as both, switches and amplifiers in most electronic circuits. Designers
often use a transistor as a switch because unlike a simple switch, it can turn a small current into
a much larger one. Though you can use a simple switch in an ordinary circuit, an advanced circuit
may need varying amounts of currents at different stages.

 Transistors in Hearing Aids

One of the most well-known applications of transistors is the hearing aid. Usually, a
small microphone in the hearing aid picks up the sound waves, converting them into
fluctuating electrical pulses or currents. When these currents pass through a transistor, they
are amplified. The amplified pulses then pass through a speaker, converting them into sound
waves once again. Thus, you can hear a substantially louder version of the surrounding noise.

 Transistors in Computers and Calculators

We all know that computers store and process information using the binary language
of “zero” and “one.” However, most people don’t know that transistors play a critical role in
making something called logic gates, which are the backbones of computer programs.
Transistors are often hooked up with logic gates to build a unique piece of an arrangement
 called a flip-flop. In this system, the transistor remains ‘on’ even if you remove the base
current. It now flips on or off whenever new current passes through it. Thus, a transistor can
store a zero when it’s off or a one when it’s on, which is the working principle of computers.

Inductors
An inductor, also known as a reactor, is a passive component of a circuit having
two terminals. This device stores energy in its magnetic field, returning it to the circuit whenever
required. It was discovered that when two inductors are placed side by side without touching, the
magnetic field created by the first inductor affects the second inductor. It was a crucial
breakthrough that led to the invention of the first transformers.

Inductors is probably the simplest component, comprising just a coil of copper wire. The
inductance is directly proportional to the number of turns in the coil. Sometimes, however, the coil
is wound around a ferromagnetic material such as iron, laminated iron, and powdered iron to
increase the inductance. The shape of this core can also increase the inductance. Toroidal (donut-
shaped) cores provide better inductance compared to solenoidal (rod-shaped) cores for the same
number of turns. Unfortunately, it is difficult to join inductors in an integrated circuit, so they are
usually replaced by resistors.
Whenever the current passes through a wire, it creates a magnetic field. However, the
unique shape of the inductor leads to the creation of a much stronger magnetic field. This powerful
magnetic field, in turn, resists alternating current, but it lets direct current flow through it. This
magnetic field also stores energy.
Take a simple circuit comprising a battery, a switch, and a bulb. The bulb will glow brightly
the moment you turn the switch on. Add an inductor to this circuit. As soon you turn the switch
on, the bulb changes from bright to dim. On the other hand, when the switch is turned off, it
becomes very bright, just for a fraction of a second before turning off completely.
As you turn the switch on, the inductor starts using the electricity to create a magnetic
field, temporarily blocking the current flow. But, only DC current passes through the inductor as
soon as the magnetic field is complete. That’s why the bulb changes from bright to dim. All this
time, the inductor stores some electrical energy in the form of magnetic field. So, when you turn
the switch off, the magnetic field keeps the current in the coil steady. Thus, the bulb burns brightly
for a while before turning off.
Integrated Circuits
Integrated circuits (ICs) are a keystone of modern electronics. They are the heart and
brains of most circuits. They are the ubiquitous little black "chips" you find on just about every
circuit board. An integrated circuit is a special component that is fabricated with thousands of
transistors, resistors, diodes, and other electronic components on a tiny silicon chip. These are
the building blocks of current electronic devices like cell phones, computers, etc. These can be
analog or digital integrated circuits. Mostly used ICs in electronic circuits are Op-amps, timers,
comparators, switches ICs, and so on. These can be classified as linear and nonlinear ICs
depending on its application

ICs are again divided into Analog ICs and Digital ICs. Analog ICs work on Analog Signals
like Temperature, Audio, etc. which are continuously varying in nature. Digital ICs on the other
hand, work on Discrete Signals i.e. zero volts and a non-zero volts (like 5V or 3.3V) that are
represented as Binary 0 and 1.

Inside the IC
When we think integrated circuits, little black chips are what come to mind. But what's
inside that black box?

The guts of an integrated circuit, visible after removing the top.

The real "meat" to an IC is a complex layering of semiconductor wafers, copper, and other
materials, which interconnect to form transistors, resistors or other components in a circuit. The
cut and formed combination of these wafers is called a die.
 An overview of an IC die.
While the IC itself is tiny, the wafers of semiconductor and layers of copper it consists of
are incredibly thin. The connections between the layers are very intricate. Here's a zoomed in
section of the die above:

An IC die is the circuit in its smallest possible form, too small to solder or connect to. To
make our job of connecting to the IC easier, we package the die. The IC package turns the
delicate, tiny die, into the black chip we're all familiar with.

IC Packages
The package is what encapsulates the integrated circuit die and splays it out into a device
we can more easily connect to. Each outer connection on the die is connected via a tiny piece of
gold wire to a pad or pin on the package. Pins are the silver, extruding terminals on an IC, which
go on to connect to other parts of a circuit. These are of utmost importance to us, because they're
what will go on to connect to the rest of the components and wires in a circuit.
There are many different types of packages, each of which has unique dimensions,
mounting-types, and/or pin-counts.

Polarity Marking and Pin Numbering

All ICs are polarized, and every pin is unique in terms of both location and function. This
means the package has to have some way to convey which pin is which. Most ICs will use either
a notch or a dot to indicate which pin is the first pin. (Sometimes both, sometimes one or the
other.)

Once you know where the first pin is, the remaining pin numbers increase sequentially as
you move counter-clockwise around the chip.
Mounting Style
One of the main distinguishing package type characteristics is the way they mount to a
circuit board. All packages fall into one of two mounting types: through-hole (PTH) or surface-
mount (SMD or SMT). Through-hole packages are generally bigger, and much easier to work
with. They're designed to be stuck through one side of a board and soldered to the other side.
Surface-mount packages range in size from small to minuscule. They are all designed to
sit on one side of a circuit board and be soldered to the surface. The pins of a SMD package
either extrude out the side, perpendicular to the chip, or are sometimes arranged in a matrix on
the bottom of the chip. ICs in this form factor are not very "hand-assembly-friendly." They usually
require special tools to aid in the process.

DIP (Dual in-line packages)

DIP, short for dual in-line package, is the most common through-hole IC package you'll encounter.
These little chips have two parallel rows of pins extending perpendicularly out of a rectangular,
black, plastic housing.

Each of the pins on a DIP IC are spaced by 0.1" (2.54mm), which is a standard spacing
and perfect for fitting into breadboards and other prototyping boards. The overall dimensions of a
DIP package depend on its pin count, which may be anywhere from four to 64.
The area between each row of pins is perfectly spaced to allow DIP ICs to straddle the
center area of a breadboard. This provides each of the pins its own row in the board, and it makes
sure they don't short to each other.

Aside from being used in breadboards, DIP ICs can also be soldered into PCBs. They're
inserted into one side of the board and soldered into place on the other side. Sometimes, instead
of soldering directly to the IC, it's a good idea to socket the chip. Using sockets allows for a DIP
IC to be removed and swapped out, if it happens to "let its blue smoke out."
 A regular DIP socket (top) and a ZIF socket with and without an IC.

Surface-Mount (SMD/SMT) Packages

There is a huge variety of surface-mount package types these days. In order to work with
surface-mount packaged ICs, you usually need a custom printed circuit board (PCB) made for
them, which has a matching pattern of copper on which they're soldered.
Here are a few of the more common SMD package types out there, ranging in hand-
solderability from "doable" to "doable, but only with special tools" to "doable only with very special,
usually automated tools".
Small-Outline (SOP)
Small-outline IC (SOIC) packages are the surface-mount cousin of the DIP. It's what you'd
get if you bent all the pins on a DIP outward, and shrunk it down to size. With a steady hand, and
a close eye, these packages are among the easiest SMD parts to hand solder. On SOIC
packages, each pin is usually spaced by about 0.05" (1.27mm) from the next.
The SSOP (shrink small-outline package) is an even smaller version of SOIC packages.
Other, similar IC packages include TSOP (thin small-outline package) and TSSOP (thin-shrink
small-outline package).

Quad Flat Packages

Splaying IC pins out in all four directions gets you something that might look like a quad
flat package (QFP). QFP ICs might have anywhere from eight pins per side (32 total) to upwards
of seventy (300+ total). The pins on a QFP IC are usually spaced by anywhere from 0.4mm to
1mm. Smaller variants of the standard QFP package include thin (TQFP), very thin (VQFP), and
low-profile (LQFP) packages.
 If you sanded the legs off a QFP IC, you get something that might look like a quad-flat
no-leads (QFN) package. The connections on QFN packages are tiny, exposed pads on the
bottom corner edges of the IC. Sometimes they wrap around, and are exposed on both the side
and bottom, other packages only expose the pad on the bottom of the chip.

Many microprocessors, sensors, and other modern ICs come in QFP or QFN packages.
The popular ATmega328 microcontroller is offered in both a TQFP package and a QFN-type
(MLF) form, while a tiny accelerometer/gyroscope like the MPU-6050 comes in a miniscule QFN
form.
Ball Grid Arrays
Finally, for really advanced ICs, there are ball grid array (BGA) packages. These are
amazingly intricate little packages where little balls of solder are arranged in a 2-D grid on the
bottom of the IC. Sometimes the solder balls are attached directly to the die!

BGA packages are usually reserved for advanced microprocessors, like those on
the pcDuino or Raspberry Pi.
If you can hand solder a BGA-packaged IC, consider yourself a master solderer. Usually,
to put these packages onto a PCB requires an automated procedure involving pick-and-place
machines and reflow ovens.