Engineering

[Admin]

ECE231H1 S
Introductory Electronics - Winter 2015

The course material covered from operational amplifiers (Op Amps) to transistors. First, we talked about the general models for amplifiers and the frequency response (transfer functions and Bode plots). Regarding the transfer functions and Bode plots, I haven’t studied them in Brazil. At UofT, the students have seen it in another course before; as a result, the professors only reviewed these topics. Therefore, if you have not seen them before, it is good to take a look at these topics or ask the professor for more explanation, but it is something that you can manage. The students have also seen Op Amp circuits before, but this topic is covered with much more details in ECE231. So, we studied the Op Amps and all details about this device: ideal op amps, different kinds of configurations, DC and AC imperfections. The next topic was diodes: different models, DC and AC operations (small signal), rectifier, limiting and clamping circuits. After that, we learned about semiconductor physics with the goal of understanding how the pn junction works. The last topic was transistors, more specifically MOSFET and BJT: Regions of operations, all characteristics of the devices, DC circuit analysis and AC circuit analysis (transistors as amplifier - small signal models and operations), differences and similarities between each configuration. Regarding the evaluation, we had one midterm (30%), a quiz (10 %), and the final exam, that normally would be (45%); we also had labs (one in each 2 weeks), summing 15% of the grade. For each lab we had to do the pre-labs, which were some exercises and simulations on Multisim, all pre-labs were graded.
The prerequisite would be circuit analysis 1 (DC and AC monophasic circuit analysis with resistors, capacitor and inductors) and a background in frequency response/Bode plots would be great.

[Admin]

This course is designed to complement what is seen at ECE231. You will see that when designing an amplifier there are many trade-offs to be considered and many ways to implement your circuit based on your final goal. Thus, you will study different ways of using MOSFETs to get the desired output. BJTs were also covered, but much less than MOSFET during the winter term 2015. We have seen a review of MOS Transistors and BJT, cascade, folded cascade and current mirrors, differential amplifier, frequency response and feedback amplifiers. The coverage is something that heavily relies on the professor and may, therefore, differ from other terms.

On the Skule website you can have access to previous exams and see different focus depending upon the professor who is teaching the course at that moment. In comparison to other courses, this course does not have many students. Therefore, the forum was rarely used. The labs require preparation which involves calculation and simulation. In the winter term 2015, the final grade was calculated based on two midterms (40%), laboratory (10%) and final (50%). There is a weekly tutorial of one hour and there are 5 lab experiments divided along the term (usually it happensonce every two weeks). Sedra/Smith’sMicroelectronic Circuits, 7th edition.

[Admin]

This course is very broad. At the end of the course you may have a broad idea of power system.
The professor goes through the book’s chapters very fast, so it is important to be always studying in order to follow what is being taught. There are some labs spread over the term and it sums 20% of the final grade. The other 80% was divided equality between: two midterms (40%) and final exam (40%). The course textbook was Power System Analysis and Design, Fifth Edition, by Glover, Sarma, and Overbye.

The labs were all done in computer labs and they were based on computer simulations. There
were some preparation for the labs, but they did not take much time. Almost all the work was
done during the lab. Past exams can also be found on the Skule website and they are very useful on guiding your studies since there are many chapters to study and a small amount of exercises available for you to solve.

[Admin]

This course was a really good one, but I have a warning: although the course description doesn't make it clear, it covers a great deal of quantum physics, so I would think twice before taking this course in case you haven’t seen quantum physics before. Other than that, it covers lots of topics on electrical, thermal and magnetic properties of materials, basically everything that is listed in the course description. Another warning: study every week and make sure that you understand the topics right after the class, because if you let material accumulate it will be very harsh to catch up later on. This is not the kind of course that you can study on the day before tests. The textbook we've used was "Principles of Electronic Materials” by S.O. Kassap, it is a very expensive book so I recommend borrowing it from the library. Our grading breaking down was: 2 Term tests (33%, 16.5% each) + Tutorial Problem Sets (12%) + Final Exam (55%). During every tutorial our TA would give us a Problem Set to solve within the 1 hour, and we had to do it individually with free consultation to anything (book, notes, slides, internet, etc.). The Term Tests were not as difficult as I thought they would be, but both of them cover a lot of material, so you better be prepared. The professor shared with us previous Final Exams, and the format was very similar: very long but not that difficult.

[Admin]

I enjoyed this course! We covered pretty much everything that was on the course description, so there were no “surprises”. The pace was not that hard to follow and the professor is quite good, he divided the material into two portions, one for Diffusion and one for Kinetics. Our grading breakdown was: 3 Term Tests (30%, 10% each) + Assignment Quizzes (10%) + Term Project (5%) + Final Exam (55%). Our Term Project was to design and answer 3 unique questions on Diffusion and 3 on Kinetics, and the professor would choose one question from one person’s project to be on the Final Exam. So, if you do a great Term Project, you get 5% of the grade and also have the chance to know the answer of one question of the final. The Assignment Quizzes were done during the tutorial sessions, usually just one simple question with no consultation allowed. We didn’t use any textbook for the Diffusion portion, but for the Kinetics portion we used a booklet that the professor wrote that you can buy at the BookStore (~30$).

[Sponsored content]