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A bipolar transistor consists of a three-layer “sandwich” of doped (extrinsic) semiconductor materials, either P-N-P in Figure below(b) or N-P-N at (d). Each layer forming the transistor has a specific name, and each layer is provided with a wire contact for connection to a circuit. The schematic symbols are shown in Figure below(a) and (d). The functional … Read more

The circuits in Figure below are known as clampers or DC restorers. The corresponding netlist is in Figure below. These circuits clamp a peak of a waveform to a specific DC level compared with a capacitively coupled signal which swings about its average DC level (usually 0V). If the diode is removed from the clamper, … Read more

Insulation resistance test is one of the most important checks Electrical Engineers should perform before energizing the circuit. The insulation resistance also known as the IR test measures the total resistance that exists between any two points that are separated by electrical insulation. The IR test determines how effective or how efficient is the dielectric … Read more

A circuit which removes the peak of a waveform is known as a clipper. A negative clipper is shown in Figure below. This schematic diagram was produced with Xcircuit schematic capture program. Xcircuit produced the SPICE net list Figure below, except for the second, and next to the last pair of lines which were inserted with a text editor. … Read more

A peak detector is a series connection of a diode and a capacitor outputting a DC voltage equal to the peak value of the applied AC signal. The circuit is shown in Figure below with the corresponding SPICE net list. An AC voltage source applied to the peak detector, charges the capacitor to the peak of the input. The diode … Read more

Now we come to the most popular application of the diode: rectification. Simply defined, rectification is the conversion of alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC). This involves a device that only allows one-way flow of electrons. As we have seen, this is exactly what a semiconductor diode does. Half Wave Diode Rectifier Circtuit The simplest … Read more

A diode has different parameters and definitions associated with it. In this post you’ll learn top 14 Diode definition and parameters. Semiconductor manufacturers provide detailed specifications on their products — diodes included — in publications known as datasheets. Datasheets for a wide variety of semiconductor components may be found in reference books and on the internet. … Read more

The sun is the primary source of energy for our earth. Infact earth receives thousands of terawatts from sun daily. A solar panel is used to obtain energy from sun. But how do Solar Panels work. The tutorial below illustrates working of solar panels. You might also like: ElectricalEngineering.XYZ series on Electrical Power Engineering Also … Read more

Attenuators are passive devices. It is convenient to discuss them along with decibels. Attenuators weaken or attenuate the high-level output of a signal generator, for example, to provide a lower level signal for something like the antenna input of a sensitive radio receiver. (Figure below) The attenuator could be built into the signal generator, or be a stand-alone … Read more