Chapter 4 – Active Components

In this chapter we shall concentrate on discrete semiconductor components that are in wide use throughout electronics design. Although there is a continuing trend toward “gathering up” discrete semiconductors into application-specific ICs, and a parallel trend toward replacing as many analog functions as possible by digital signal processing, discrete analog circuits are still needed when these solutions are impossible or uneconomical. It is as well to be familiar with the characteristics of practical components as even when integrated they show the same fundamental properties.