EdX

Circuits and Electronics 2: Amplification, Speed, and Delay (edX)

Offered by MIT, MITx,
Circuits and Electronics 2: Amplification, Speed, and Delay (edX)

Learn how to speed up digital circuits and build amplifiers in the design of microchips used in smartphones, computers, and the Internet. Want to learn how to construct an amplifier for mobile phones? Wondering how energy storage elements like capacitors and inductors work, or how to make microchips run faster? This free circuit course taught by edX CEO and MIT Professor Anant Agarwal and colleagues is for you.

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This is the second of three online Circuits and Electronics courses and is taken by all MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) majors.

Topics covered include: MOSFET large signal and small signal analysis; amplifiers; energy storage elements like capacitors and inductors; and dynamics of first-order networks and circuit speed. Design and lab exercises are also significant components of the course.
Weekly coursework includes interactive video sequences, readings from the textbook, homework, online laboratories, and optional tutorials. The course will also have a final exam.
This is a self-paced course, so there are no weekly deadlines. However, all assignments are due when the course ends.

What you'll learn:

  • How to build amplifiers using MOSFETs.
  • How to use intuition to describe the approximate time and frequency behavior of first-order circuits containing energy storage elements like capacitors and inductors.
  • The relationship between the mathematical representation of first-order circuit behavior and corresponding real-life effects.
  • How to improve the speed of digital circuits
  • Measurement of circuit variables using tools such as virtual oscilloscopes, virtual multimeters, and virtual signal generators.
  • How to compare the measurements with the behavior predicted by mathematical models and explain the discrepancies.

Course Syllabus

Week 1: Amplifiers, MOSFET large signal analysis, MOSFET small signal analysis
Week 2: Capacitors, first-order RC circuits
Week 3: Inductors, first-order step response, first-order circuit analysis, impulses, digital circuit speed
Week 4: Impulse, step, ramp superposition, digital memory, state, ZIR, ZSR

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