Physics 327  -  Electronics  -  Spring 2006

Textbook: 

    The course textbook is Diefenderfer, Principles of Electronic Instrumentation, 3rd ed. 

On reserve in the Physical Science Library: 

An introduction to modern electronics, by William L. Faissler
(This is similar to our textbook in content and level.)

The art of electronics, 2nd ed., by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill
(This is more advanced, and too concise for beginners.  A third edition will come out in mid 2007.)

Microelectronic circuits, by Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith
(A standard textbook used in EE departments.)

Comments on some texts: 

    Horowitz and Hill, Art of Electronics, is available in the Physical Sciences library in Currens Hall, in first and second edition.  I do not recommend buying this for this course since it is too advanced, but you may want to buy it in the future if you do much work in electronics.  It is a good reference for the times you need to learn something quickly and throw together a lab project (as a grad student, for example).  A new edition is planned for June 2007, so you might hold off and get the new edition when it comes out. (This date has been repeatedly delayed, so maybe you should just buy it if you want it.)  You should at least look at the copy on reserve and make a mental note of this very popular book.  There is also a lab manual to accompany this text;  we have a few copies in the Dept. (ask me about this if you are interested in some independent study). 

    Nilsson and Riedel, Electric Circuits, 7th ed. is a standard first-year text for EE majors, and covers circuits in exhaustive (and exhausting) detail.  The older editions are just fine for reference, since this is all standard material (like first year Physics books, any one will do for reference once you know a little), and there is also a one-semester version called Introduction to Electric Circuits.  There are similar, lower level books by Floyd, Electric Circuits Fundamentals (Malpass library) and Grob, Basic electronics (Malpass library). 

    Sedra and Smith, Microelectronic Circuits, 5th ed. is a standard second-year text for EE majors, and covers a huge amount of material.  This might be useful to learn details about a particular area.  (I put the 4th ed. on reserve, it is basically the same as the 5th ed.) 

    The design of circuits is often supplemented by the simulation of circuits by computer.  PSpice is a version of SPICE, a simulation program for circuits.  A free demonstration version of PSpice is available, and will run circuits with a limited number of components, like many of those in our homework problems.