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Wikipedia / Electronic component

An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fieldss. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not to be confused with electrical elements, which are conceptual abstractions representing idealized electronic components and elements. A datasheet for an electronic component is a technical document that provides detailed information about the component's specifications, characteristics, and performance. Discrete circuits are made of individual electronic components that only perform one function each as packaged, which are known as discrete components, although strictly the term discrete component refers to such a component with semiconductor material such as individual transistors.

Electronic components have a number of electrical terminalss or leadss. These leads connect to other electrical components, often over wire, to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example an amplifier, radio receiver, or oscillator). Basic electronic components may be packaged discretely, as arrays or networks of like components, or integrated inside of packages such as semiconductor integrated circuits, hybrid integrated circuits, or thick film devices. The following list of electronic components focuses on the discrete version of these components, treating such packages as components in their own right.

Classification

Components can be classified as passive, active, or electromechanical. The strict physics definition treats passive components as ones that cannot supply energy themselves, whereas a battery would be seen as an active component since it truly acts as a source of energy.

However, electronic engineers who perform circuit analysis use a more restrictive definition of passivity. When only concerned with the energy of signalss, it is convenient to ignore the so-called DC circuit and pretend that the power supplying components such as transistors or integrated circuits is absent (as if each such component had its own battery built in), though it may in reality be supplied by the DC circuit. Then, the analysis only concerns the AC circuit, an abstraction that ignores DC voltages and currents (and the power associated with them) present in the real-life circuit. This fiction, for instance, lets us view an oscillator as "producing energy" even though in reality the oscillator consumes even more energy from a DC power supply, which we have chosen to ignore. Under that restriction, we define the terms as used in circuit analysis as:

  • Active components rely on a source of energy (usually from the DC circuit, which we have chosen to ignore) and usually can inject power into a circuit, though this is not part of the definition. Active components include amplifying components such as transistors, triode vacuum tubes (valves), and tunnel diodes.

  • Passive components cannot introduce net energy into the circuit. They also cannot rely on a source of power, except for what is available from the (AC) circuit they are connected to. As a consequence, they cannot amplify (increase the power of a signal), although they may increase a voltage or current (such as is done by a transformer or resonant circuit). Passive components include two-terminal components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transformers.

  • Electromechanical components can carry out electrical operations by using moving parts or by using electrical connections.

Most passive components with more than two terminals can be described in terms of two-port parameters that satisfy the principle of reciprocity—though there are rare exceptions. In contrast, active components (with more than two terminals) generally lack that property.

Active components

Semiconductors

Transistors

Transistors were considered the invention of the twentieth century that changed electronic circuits forever. A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electrical power.

Field-effect transistors (FET)

MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor FET) – by far the most widely manufactured electronic component (also known as MOS transistor)

Power MOSFET

  • LDMOS (lateral diffused MOSFET)

MuGFET (multi-gate field-effect transistor)

JFET (junction field-effect transistor) – N-channel or P-channel

Composite transistors

Other transistors

Bipolar junction transistor (BJT, or simply "transistor") – NPN or PNP

Darlington transistor – NPN or PNP

Thyristors

Diodes

Conduct electricity easily in one direction, among more specific behaviors.

Photodiode – passes current in proportion to incident light

Integrated circuits

Integrated Circuits can serve a variety of purposes, including acting as a timer, performing digital to analog conversion, performing amplification, or being used for logical operations.

Integrated circuit (IC)

Digital electronics

Analog circuit

Programmable devices

Programmable logic device

Optoelectronic devices

Opto-electronics

Display technologies

Current:

Obsolete:

Vacuum tubes (valves)

A vacuum tube is based on current conduction through a vacuum (see Vacuum tube).

Amplification

Oscillation

Optical detectors or emitters

Discharge devices

Obsolete:

Power sources

Sources of electrical power:

Passive components

Components incapable of controlling current by means of another electrical signal are called passive devices. Resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transformers are all considered passive devices.

Resistors

Pass current in proportion to voltage (Ohm's law) and oppose current.

Resistor – fixed value

  • Power resistor – larger to safely dissipate heat generated

  • SIP or DIP resistor network – array of resistors in one package

Variable resistor

Capacitors

Capacitors store and release electrical charge. They are used for filtering power supply lines, tuning resonant circuits, and for blocking DC voltages while passing AC signals, among numerous other uses.

Capacitor

Integrated capacitors

Fixed capacitors

Electrolytic capacitor

Supercapacitor (Electric double-layer capacitor)

Variable capacitor – adjustable capacitance

Capacitors for special applications

Integrated passive devices

Integrated passive devices are passive devices integrated within one distinct package. They take up less space than equivalent combinations of discrete components.

Magnetic (inductive) devices

Electrical components that use magnetism in the storage and release of electrical charge through current:

Memristor

Electrical components that pass charge in proportion to magnetism or magnetic flux, and have the ability to retain a previous resistive state, hence the name of Memory plus Resistor.

Networks

Components that use more than one type of passive component:

Transducers, sensors, detectors

  1. Transducers generate physical effects when driven by an electrical signal, or vice versa.

  2. Sensors (detectors) are transducers that react to environmental conditions by changing their electrical properties or generating an electrical signal.

  3. The transducers listed here are single electronic components (as opposed to complete assemblies), and are passive (see Semiconductors and Tubes for active ones). Only the most common ones are listed here.

Audio

Position, motion

Force, torque

  • Strain gauge – Piezoelectric or resistive – detects squeezing, stretching, twisting

  • Accelerometer – Piezoelectric – detects acceleration, gravity

Thermal

Magnetic field (see also Hall Effect in semiconductors)

Humidity

Electromagnetic, light

Antennas

Antennass transmit or receive radio waves

Assemblies, modules

Multiple electronic components assembled in a device that is in itself used as a component

Display devices

Prototyping aids

Electromechanical devices

Piezoelectric devices, crystals, resonators

Passive components that use piezoelectric effect:

Components that use the effect to generate or filter high frequencies

  • Crystal – a ceramic crystal used to generate precise frequencies (See the Modules class below for complete oscillators)

  • Ceramic resonator – Is a ceramic crystal used to generate semi-precise frequencies

  • Ceramic filter – Is a ceramic crystal used to filter a band of frequencies such as in radio receivers

  • surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters

Components that use the effect as mechanical transducers.

Microelectromechanical systems

Microelectromechanical systems

Terminals and connectors

Devices to make electrical connection

Connector

Cable assemblies

Electrical cables with connectors or terminals at their ends

Switches

Components that can pass current ("closed") or break the current ("open"):

Switch – Manually operated switch

  • Electrical description: SPST, SPDT, DPST, DPDT, NPNT (general)

  • Technology: slide switches, toggle switches, rocker switches, rotary switches, pushbutton switches

    Cam timer (Drum sequencer) – Electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events

  • Keypad – Array of pushbutton switches

  • DIP switch – Small array of switches for internal configuration settings

  • Footswitch – Foot-operated switch

  • Knife switch – Switch with unenclosed conductors

  • Micro switch – Mechanically activated switch with snap action

  • Limit switch – Mechanically activated switch to sense limit of motion

  • Mercury switch – Switch sensing tilt

  • Centrifugal switch – Switch sensing centrifugal force due to rate of rotation

  • Relay or contactor – Electro-mechanically operated switch (see also solid state relay above)

  • Reed switch – Magnetically activated switch

  • Thermostat – Thermally activated switch

  • Humidistat – Humidity activated switch

  • Circuit breaker – Switch opened in response to excessive current: a resettable fuse

  • Disconnector – Switch used in high- and medium-voltage applications for maintenance of other devices or isolation of circuits

  • Transfer switch – Switch that toggles a load between two sources

Protection devices

Passive components that protect circuits from excessive currents or voltages:

Mechanical accessories

Other

Obsolete

Standard symbols

On a circuit diagram, electronic devices are represented by conventional symbols. Reference designators are applied to the symbols to identify the components.

See also

References