PHYS 404 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

Objectives

The objective of PHYS 404 is to provide students with the confidence to work with electronic circuits and test equipment.    There will be considerable circuit fabrication, testing, analysis and some design.  The course will begin with steady state circuit analysis using complex numbers as well as simple time-domain analysis.  There will be two lectures on semiconductor physics, pn junctions and transistors.  After that we will study simple transistor amplifiers, operational amplifiers, regulators, oscillators, feedback and stability.   We will then introduce field effect transistors and digital logic circuits and use an Arduino microcomputer to do some feedback and control.   Electronic noise, analog and digitial filters and phase sensitive detection will be introduced.  The last part of the course will focus on signals, modulation, demoduation, analog to digital conversion, optoelectronic devices and high frequency amplifiers.  if time permits we will examine some aspects of power electronics.   Lecture notes will be posted for each class. 

60% of your grade comes from the lab:  6 hours per week of on-time, mandatory attendance with the TAs present.  You may work after hours in addition to the mandatory 6 hours with the TAs.  It is absolutely necessary that you attend the lab sessions and keep up with the schedule.  You cannot cram for this course at the end of the semester!  

Course Structure

Laboratory

Two 3-hour sessions per week in 6106 Engineering Science Building.  There are three sections that share the laboratory equipment:

The first week will be an introduction to the instruments.  Subsequent labs will be two weeks long. Lab descriptions will be posted ahead of time. Please keep a notebook for a complete, real-time record of all lab activities. It should contain circuit schematics, data and graphs, notes to yourself, etc. You will be asked to demonstrate each circuit to the lab TA. Your lab write-up should be typed and submitted no later than one week after the last lab period. Although you will have access to the P404 lab after hours, you are expected to be there during regular hours with the TA.

Lectures

Two 2-hour lectures per week, Mondays & Wednesdays from 1:00 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.

Problem sets

The will be problem sets roughly every two weeks. Solutions will be available online after the due date.