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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Eelctronics History


Electronics:
Elctronics refers to the flow of charge (moving electrons) through nonmetal conductors (mainly semiconductors), whereas electrical refers to the flow of charge through metal conductors. For example, flow of charge through silicon, which is not a metal, would come under electronics; whereas flow of charge through copper, which is a metal, would come under electrical. This distinction started around 1906 with the invention by Lee De Forest of the triode. Until 1950 this field was called "Radio techniques" because its principal application was the design and theory of radio transmitters, receivers and vacuum tubes.

The study of semiconductor devices and related technology is considered a branch of physics whereas the design and construction of electronic circuits to solve practical problems comes under electronics engineering. This article focuses on engineering aspects.

Terminology (Elecrical Engineering):
The name electrical engineering is still used to cover electronic engineering amongst some of the older (notably American) universities and graduates there are called electrical engineers. The distinction between electronic and electrical engineers is becoming more and more distinct. While electrical engineers utilize voltage and current to deliver power, electronic engineers utilize voltage and current to deliver information.
Some people believe the term electrical engineer should be reserved for those having specialised in power and heavy current or high voltage engineering, while others believe that power is just one subset of electrical engineering (and indeed the term power engineering is used in that industry). Again, in recent years there has been a growth of new separate-entry degree courses such as information and communication engineering, often followed by academic departments of similar name.
Most of the European universities now refer electrical engineering as power engineers and make distinction between both Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Beginning in the 1980s, the term computer engineer was often used to refer to electronic or information engineers; however, computer engineering is now considered more a subset of electronic engineering and the term is becoming archaic

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