Publisher's Synopsis
Electronics engineering is an electrical engineering discipline which utilizes non-linear and active electrical components (such as semiconductor devices, especially transistors, diodes and integrated circuits) to design electronic circuits, devices, microprocessors, microcontrollers and other systems. The discipline typically also designs passive electrical components, usually based on printed circuit boards. Electronics is a subfield within the wider electrical engineering academic subject but denotes a broad engineering field that covers subfields such as analog electronics, digital electronics, consumer electronics, embedded systems and power electronics. Electronics engineering deals with implementation of applications, principles and algorithms developed within many related fields, for example solid-state physics, radio engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, systems engineering, computer engineering, instrumentation engineering, electric power control, robotics, and many others. Magnetic devices are components for creating, manipulating or detecting magnetic fields. This can include magnetic memories, magnetometers and devices for magneto-optics. Magnetism can also play a central role in spintronic devices. An inductor is a passive two-terminal electrical component which resists changes in electric current passing through it. It consists of a conductor such as a wire, usually wound into a coil. Energy is stored in a magnetic field in the coil as long as current flows. When the current flowing through an inductor changes, the time-varying magnetic field induces a voltage in the conductor, according to Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. According to Lenz's law, the direction of induced electromotive force is always such that it opposes the change in current that created it. As a result, inductors always oppose a change in current, in the same way that a flywheel opposes a change in rotational velocity. Care should be taken not to confuse this with the resistance provided by a resistor. A power supply is an electronic device that supplies electric energy to an electrical load. The primary function of a power supply is to convert one form of electrical energy to another and, as a result, power supplies are sometimes referred to as electric power converters. Some power supplies are discrete, stand-alone devices, whereas others are built into larger devices along with their loads. Examples of the latter include power supplies found in desktop computers and consumer electronics devices.