Electronics Portfolio
Electronics, the sequel to circuits. Everything that circuits is, but a little more! Amplifiers, transistors, filters, signals, and more! This energetic laboratory facilitates Nathan’s time in an Electronics course. Labs, and projects both.
Homework 2 Project
For our second homework assignment, we had a three-part project in analyzing and simulation a current vs. voltage solution for a resistor-biasing a diode, a voltage amplifier with a capacitor at the input, and a challenge to optimize a biased BJT transistor. There are a lot of intricate details in this document!
Final Project
In the class’s final project, we analyze an expanded operational amplifier, which is created with nine seperate transistors. Walking through the math, and then modeling it in LTSPICE. Those LTSPICE models are then simulated in various amplifier configurations in order to verify that and how this works as an operational amplifier.
Exam 2 Bonus
Through simulation Hybrid-Pi models and other parts of the given biased BJT circuit, we are able to piece together bode plots and explain what parts of the circuit cause each part of the bandwidth to cutoff and amplify respectively.
Lab 1
The purpose of this lab was to re-learn the basic concepts of DC circuit analysis including Mesh-Nodal analysis, circuit creation, circuit measurement, and lab reporting. This lab focused on two main R circuits (Fig. 1 and Fig. 3).
Lab 2
The purpose of this lab was to re-learn the basic concepts of AC and DC circuit analysis including complex mesh-nodal analysis, circuit creation, circuit measurement, oscilloscope operation, and lab reporting. This lab reinforced the concepts of superposition and how AC and DC sources interact with each other. It also reintroduced us to the capacitor and the inductor as passive components in a circuit.
Lab 3
In this lab, we learn about transfer functions, equations that relate the voltage out to the voltage initial in terms of s, or jω (1). This is done to the most basic of high-pass and low-pass filters: RC circuits. We will then test these equations with practical circuits.
Lab 4
In this lab, equations are used to model voltages and currents surrounding bipolar junction transistors (BJTs). These equations are used to predict voltages, conflate currents, and establish a constant know as β. These equations are first used to hand-calculate results, then those hand-calculations are compared to measured values from a practically built circuit. The BJT states were also established and confirmed during this process.
Lab 5
This lab demonstrates the ability of Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) to mimic logic gates. This fact has many applications—most in the vein of computer science, but I’ll save that for conclusions. The way this lab functioned was that we were given a circuit, then tasked with setting it up practically, tested it by measuring cases and voltages with a Digital Multimeter (DMM), then turning the resulting table into a truth table, and then we matched that truth table against logic gate truth tables to find which gate it was.
Lab 6
In this lab, we analyze the drain current response of voltage from the two main types of MOSFET transistors, NMOS and PMOS. The first section will cover NMOS, while the second section will cover PMOS in a similar fashion.
Lab 7
The purpose of this lab is to analyze NMOS and PMOS responses at the drain, gate, and source. We will use these values to figure out which regions the transistor are operating in (Triode, Saturation, or Cutoff).
Lab 8
The goal of this lab is to accurately bias a Common Emitter configuration bipolar junction transistor (CE BJT). The necessary parameter is that Ie must be 1 mA.
Lab 9
Using the biased CE BJT from Lab 8, we will implement an AC and a DC power source in order to understand how this circuit (Fig. 1) responds to both types of current.
Lab 10
In this lab, we analyze and design a single-stage common emitter (CE) BJT amplifier. The goal is to determine a load resistance that produces a desired voltage gain, and to observe how removing the emitter bypass capacitor affects the amplifier’s performance. We will compare calculated values with expected behavior and analyze how emitter degeneration impacts gain.
Lab 11
In this lab, we will be comparing differential amplifiers with common mode amplifiers using BJT transistors. While the setup for them are nearly identical, they are not, and have distinct purposes as well.