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The laboratory activities provided on this wiki are considered open source and available for free use in non-commercial educational and academic settings. The only requirement is that they continue to retain the attribution to Analog Devices Inc. Supplying them on the ADI wiki allows registered users to contribute to the materials posted here improving the content and keeping them up to date.
Basic information and material on circuit simulation, including tool links and usage information.
Most of the labs are populated with LTspice resource files which contain the schematics of the circuits discussed at a specific topic. A file containing the ADALM2000 connections for the schematics can be found here: m2k_conn_ltspice.
Course | ADALM1000 (M1K) | ADALM2000 (M2K) |
---|---|---|
Electronics I | schematic files | schematic files |
Electronics II | schematic files | schematic files |
These labs can be performed using the ADALM1000 (M1K) entry level Active Learning Module or the ADALM2000 (M2K) more advanced level Active Learning Module. This document outlines how labs might be altered for use with either M1K or M2K.
The labs are generally written to be performed using just the components provided in the Analog Parts Kit, ADALP2000, supplied through ADI and our authorized distribution channels, however additional devices are sometimes needed.
The assumption is made that the reader has some familiarity with the ADALM2000 Lab hardware and Scopy software system before starting these lab activities. It is also assumed that for the data presented here, the measurement data waveforms from the lab hardware were saved to disk and manipulated and plotted in Microsoft Excel.
First, here are a few words about components that might be suitable for use in these lab experiments. Transistors that can be used are general purpose NPN types like 2SC1815 and the 2SA1015 PNP complement. Similar type devices can be used such as the popular 2N3904 NPN and 2N3906 PNP devices which are also considered comparable complements of each other. A supply of various diodes, resistors, capacitors and inductors should also be available. Another potential source of transistors for use in these lab exercises are transistor arrays such as the LM3045 / LM3046 / LM3086 NPN Arrays from National Semiconductor. Similar NPN arrays from Intersil are, CA3045 / CA3046 / CA3083. Arrays of two or four 2N2222, 2N3904, 2N3906 and other types are available from some manufacturers like Fairchild and ON Semiconductor. A readily available enhancement mode NMOS transistor is the 2N7000. Advanced Linear Devices Inc. offers dual and quad N and P channel MOS arrays (ALD1106 and ALD1107) as well. The CD4007C CMOS logic package consists of three complementary pairs of N and P-channel enhancement mode MOS transistors. The N and P type pairs share either a common gate or common drain terminal which limits their use as six individual devices but these devices can still be useful for Lab experiments.
Remember, not all transistors share the same terminal designations, or pinouts, even if they share the same physical appearance. The order of some types is CBE (base is center lead) and BCE (collector is center lead) for others. This is very important when you connect the transistors together and to other components. Be careful to check the manufacturer's specifications (component datasheet). These can be easily found on various websites. Double-checking pin identities with a multi-meter's “diode check” function is highly recommended.
Learning to mathematically analyze circuits requires much study and practice. Typically, students practice by working through lots of sample problems and checking their answers against those provided by the textbook or the instructor. While this is good, there is a much better way. You will learn much more by actually building and analyzing real circuits, letting your test equipment provide the “answers” instead of a book or another person. For successful circuit-building exercises, follow these steps:
One way you can save time and reduce the possibility of error is to begin with a very simple circuit and incrementally add components to increase its complexity after each analysis, rather than building a whole new circuit for each practice activity. Another time-saving technique is to re-use the same components in a variety of different circuit configurations. This way, you won't have to measure any component's value more than once.
The common convention is that a typical silicon BJT base–emitter diode drop, VBE
, is 0.65V and a standard general purpose silicon diode drop is 0.6V. Other conventions use 0.6V or 0.7V for one or both. These are highly dependent on the manufacturing process used and the physical size of the components. The results you measure in the laboratory will most likely be between these values. Diodes and BJTs implemented on the same integrated circuit (i.e., on the same silicon die) may have equivalent characteristics. That is, the diodes and transistors will be more closely matched. Matched components are convenient to use in many circuit designs. We use discrete elements in most of these activities, and so it is not possible to match components unless they are all fabricated on the same silicon die. In the laboratory, a diode-connected transistor, with its base shorted to its collector may match the base–emitter characteristics of another transistor of the same type better than a simple diode.
Diode drops are strongly temperature dependent. Room-temperature transistors (~27ºC or 300ºK) have base–emitter drops around 0.65V, but as the temperature of the transistors increases, VBE
drops near 0.5V. So temperature matching is just as important as component matching. Internal temperature compensation in bandgap voltage references lets them provide a temperature-independent voltage reference. Their output reference of ∼1.22V is the extrapolated VBE
at absolute zero (i.e., 0ºK or −273.15ºC). It is not a coincidence that the Silicon bandgap (i.e., the energy separating valence and conduction electron bands) is ∼1.22 eV.
Temperature dependence and manufacturing variations (and the Early effect) are always a concern.
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