OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER A voltage amplifier that amplifies the differential voltage between a pair of input nodes.

For an ideal operational amplifier (also called an op amp), the amplification or gain is infinite. Most existing operational amplifiers are produced on a single semiconductor substrate as an integrated circuit. These integrated circuits are used as building blocks in a wide variety of applications. SCHMITT TRIGGER In electronics, Schmitt trigger is a generic name of threshold circuits with positive feedback having a loop gain > 1. The circuit is named "trigger" because the output retains its value until the input changes sufficiently to trigger a change: in the non-inverting configuration, when the input is higher than a certain chosen threshold, the output is high; when the input is below a different (lower) chosen threshold, the output is low; when the input is between the two, the output retains its value. This dual threshold action is called hysteresis and implies that the Schmitt trigger possesses memory and can act as a bistable circuit (latch). There is a close relation between the two kinds of circuits: a Schmitt trigger can be converted into a latch and a latch can be converted into a Schmitt trigger. MULTIVIBRATOR A form of electronic circuit that employs positive feedback to cross-couple two devices so that two distinct states are possible, for example, one device ON and the other device OFF, and in which the states of the two devices can be interchanged either by use of external pulses or by internal capacitance coupling. When the circuit is switched between states, transition times are normally very short compared to the ON and OFF periods. Hence, the output waveforms are essentially rectangular in form. Multivibrators may be classified as bistable, monostable, or astable. A bistable multivibrator, often referred to as a flip-flop, has two possible stable states, each with one device ON and the other OFF, and the states of the two devices can be interchanged only by the application of external pulses. A monostable multivibrator, sometimes referred to as a one-shot, also has two possible states, only one of which is stable. If it is forced to the opposite state by an externally applied trigger, it will recover to the stable state in a period of time usually controlled by a resistance-capacitance (RC) coupling circuit. An astable multivibrator has two possible states, neither of which is stable, and switches between the two states, usually controlled by two RC coupling time constants. The astable circuit is one form of relaxation oscillator, which generates recurrent waveforms at a controllable rate. OSCILLATOR An electronic circuit that converts energy from a direct-current source to a periodically varying electric output. An electronic circuit that generates a periodic output, often a sinusoid or a square wave. Oscillators have a wide range of applications in electronic circuits: they are used, for example, to produce the so-called clock signals that synchronize the internal operations of all computers; they produce and decode radio signals; they produce

the scanning signals for television tubes; they keep time in electronic wristwatches; and they can be used to convert signals from transducers into a readily transmitted form.

SUPERHETERODYNE PRINCIPLE For information (voice, music, television) to be transmitted, it must be attached to a radiofrequency carrier wave, which is then transmitted in a given frequency channel. The carrier wave and information can be picked up by a receiver tuned to this channel. The process by which the information is attached to the carrier wave is modulation. Modulated carriers are isolated in their separate slots or channels; if transmitters are geographically close to each other, they must not use the same channel or overlap each others channels. If such overlap occurs, serious interference resultstwo radio programs may be heard simultaneously or one may form a distorted background to the other. In most modern radio receivers, reception is based on the super heterodyne principle. The incoming radio frequency is mixed (heterodyned) with the output of an oscillator the frequency of which is adjusted so that the difference between it and the incoming signal is constant; the result is the intermediate frequency. Amplification is thereafter carried out at this intermediate frequency. Both preliminary selection of the incoming frequency and adjustment of the local oscillator frequency are accomplished by variable tuned circuits consisting of inductance and capacitance. Tuning may be accomplished by varying the capacitance, which consists of interleaved metal plates separated by air spaces with one set of plates movable. Another method of tuning involves varying the inductance by insertion or withdrawal of an iron dust or ferrite core in a cylindrical coil of copper wire. To simplify the tuning procedure, the variable elements of all stages requiring tuning are ganged together and coupled to a tuning knob. The intermediate-frequency amplifier stages always operate at the same frequency and so require tuning only when the receiver is manufactured or serviced. The intermediate frequency is usually around 455 kilohertz for AM receivers, 10.7 megahertz for FM receivers and 38 megahertz for television receivers. Most of the amplification in a radio receiver is carried out in the intermediate-frequency stages, and most of the selectivity (ability to separate adjacent stations) is obtained in these stages.

CAPACITOR Applications The difference between a capacitor and a battery is that a capacitor can dump its entire charge in a tiny fraction of a second, where a battery would take minutes to completely discharge. That's why the electronic flash on a camera uses a capacitor -- the battery charges up the flash's capacitor over several seconds, and then the capacitor dumps the full charge into the flash tube almost instantly. This can make a large, charged capacitor extremely dangerous -- flash units and TVs have warnings about opening them up for this reason. They contain big capacitors that can, potentially, kill you with the charge they contain. Capacitors are used in several different ways in electronic circuits: Sometimes, capacitors are used to store charge for high-speed use. That's what a flash does. Big lasers use this technique as well to get very bright, instantaneous flashes. Capacitors can also eliminate ripples. If a line carrying DC voltage has ripples or spikes in it, a big capacitor can even out the voltage by absorbing the peaks and filling in the valleys. A capacitor can block DC voltage. If you hook a small capacitor to a battery, then no current will flow between the poles of the battery once the capacitor charges. However, any alternating current (AC) signal flows through a capacitor unimpeded. That's because the capacitor will charge and discharge as the alternating current fluctuates, making it appear that the alternating current is flowing.

FANOUT The technology used to implement logic gates usually allows a certain number of gate inputs to be wired directly together without additional interfacing circuitry. The maximum fan-out of an output measures its load-driving capability: it is the greatest number of inputs of gates of the same type to which the output can be safely connected. SHIFT REGISTER The Shift Register is another type of sequential logic circuit that is used for the storage or transfer of data in the form of binary numbers and then "shifts" the data out once every clock cycle, hence the name "shift register". It basically consists of several single bits "D-Type Data Latches", one for each bit (0 or 1) connected together in a serial or daisy-chain arrangement so that the output from one data latch becomes the input of the next latch and so on. The data bits may be fed in or out of the register serially, i.e. one after the other from either the left or the right direction, or in parallel, i.e. all together. The number of individual data latches required to make up a single Shift Register is determined by the number of bits to be stored with the most common being 8-bits wide, i.e. eight individual data latches. The Shift Register is used for data storage or data movement and are used in calculators or computers to store data such as two binary numbers before they are added together, or to

convert the data from either a serial to parallel or parallel to serial format. The individual data latches that make up a single shift register are all driven by a common clock (Clk) signal making them synchronous devices. Shift register IC's are generally provided with a clear or reset connection so that they can be "SET" or "RESET" as required. Generally, shift registers operate in one of four different modes with the basic movement of data through a shift register being:

Serial-in to Parallel-out (SIPO) - the register is loaded with serial data, one bit at a time, with the stored data being available in parallel form. Serial-in to Serial-out (SISO) - the data is shifted serially "IN" and "OUT" of the register, one bit at a time in either a left or right direction under clock control. Parallel-in to Serial-out (PISO) - the parallel data is loaded into the register simultaneously and is shifted out of the register serially one bit at a time under clock control. Parallel-in to parallel-out (PIPO) - the parallel data is loaded simultaneously into the register, and transferred together to their respective outputs by the same clock pulse. RING COUNTER If we were to connect the output of this shift register back to its input so that the output from the last flip-flop, QD becomes the input of the first flip-flop, DA. We would then have a closed loop circuit that "recirculates" the DATA around a continuous loop for every state of its sequence, and this is the principal operation of a Ring Counter. Then by looping the output back to the input, we can convert a standard shift register into a ring counter. Consider the circuit below. 4-bit Ring Counter

The synchronous Ring Counter example above is preset so that exactly one data bit in the register is set to logic "1" with all the other bits reset to "0". To achieve this, a "CLEAR" signal is firstly applied to all the flip-flops together in order to "RESET" their outputs to a logic "0" level and then a "PRESET" pulse is applied to the input of the first flip-flop (FFA) before the clock pulses are applied. This then places a single logic "1" value into the circuit of the ring

counter. On each successive clock pulse, the counter circulates the same data bit between the four flip-flops over and over again around the "ring" every fourth clock cycle. But in order to cycle the data correctly around the counter we must first "load" the counter with a suitable data pattern as all logic "0"'s or all logic "1"'s outputted at each clock cycle would make the ring counter invalid. JOHNSON RING COUNTER The Johnson Ring Counter or "Twisted Ring Counters", is another shift register with feedback exactly the same as the standard Ring Counter above, except that this time the inverted output Q of the last flip-flop is now connected back to the input D of the first flip-flop as shown below. The main advantage of this type of ring counter is that it only needs half the number of flip-flops compared to the standard ring counter then its modulo number is halved. So a "n-stage" Johnson counter will circulate a single data bit giving sequence of 2n different states and can therefore be considered as a "mod-2n counter". 4-bit Johnson Ring Counter

This inversion of Q before it is fed back to input D causes the counter to "count" in a different way. Instead of counting through a fixed set of patterns like the normal ring counter such as for a 4-bit counter, "0001"(1), "0010"(2), "0100"(4), "1000"(8) and repeat, the Johnson counter counts up and then down as the initial logic "1" passes through it to the right replacing the preceding logic "0". A 4-bit Johnson ring counter passes blocks of four logic "0" and then four logic "1" thereby producing an 8-bit pattern. As the inverted output Q is connected to the input D this 8-bit pattern continually repeats. For example, "1000", "1100", "1110", "1111", "0111", "0011", "0001", "0000" and this is demonstrated in the following table below.

Truth Table for a 4-bit Johnson Ring Counter Clock Pulse No 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S R FLIP-FLOP The Logic gates can be combined to create a two-state element. Where both the states are stable and the element can remain in any of the state for infinite time, ideally. This two-state element is called flip-flop. A basic flip-flop and its symbol is shown in the figure below. The flip-flop shown is created with 2 NOR gates, although NAND gates can also be used. The two states being discussed are "set and "reset" states. Voltage value at Q shows flip-flop's state, 5V means "set", and 0V means "reset". Input pins R and S are used to switch flip-flop from one state to another. Because of this property of flip-flop to latch 5V or 0V on Q, it is used as memory element, which can hold 1 bit (5V or 0V). With circuit shown below, lets understand working of the basic flip-flop first... FFA 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 FFB 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 FFC 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 FFD 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

The circuit shown above is SR flip-flop, this is simplest one, and some people also call this SR latch. Assume initially that at power-up both the inputs(R/S) are '0', Qb is 1, and Qa is 0 (both the output (Qa/Qb) can't be '0', since they are complementary). Note that Qb will be always inverted as compared to Qa, and will change simultaneously along with Qa. Now, output Qa can be set/changed by simply applying '1' (5V) at input 'S' momentarily, due to this the flip-flop will change its stage to "set", Qa will become '1' and Qb will become '0' (complementary). When the flip-flop is in "set" state any input on 'S' will be ignored, and flipflop will remain in "set" state. The only action which can switch flip-flop to "reset" state is by

applying '1' (5V) momentarily at the input 'R'. When '1' is applied on 'R' momentarily, the flip-flops switch to "reset" state. In this state output Qa becomes '0', and Qb becomes '1' (complementary). When the flip-flop is in "reset" state any input on 'R' will be ignored, and flip-flop will remain in "reset" state. The table below show flip-flop's output for various inputs..

S 0 0 1 1

R 0 1 0 1

Qa Qb No change No change 0 1 1 0 Invalid Invalid

"INVALID" means for these inputs flip-flop output will be unpredictable, hence these are not allowed.