Sunday, March 6, 2016

Revision of Circuits and Electronics - Capacitors and First-Order Systems (Lecture 12)

Video:- http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-002-circuits-and-electronics-spring-2007/video-lectures/lecture-12/

Lecture Notes:- http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-002-circuits-and-electronics-spring-2007/lecture-notes/

From a pair of inverters, the output was not as expected. There was some delay in the final output.

 Taking a look at the n-channel MOSFET  - first, it is made up of silicon   which is doped with a p-type material to become a semiconductor.  Then put a thin layer of  oxide (silicon dioxide) which is an insulator. .

Then another layer is put on the oxide. This layer can be many things.  It could be a metal or something called polysilicon - a conductive form  of silicon. So that layer is the gate. One can see that it is  starting to resemble a capacitor-which has an insulator between two metal plates.

Next, two parts of the the p type are doped  with n- type material. It is doped heavily with n type so it becomes a better conductor than the bulk which was reasonably doped.

 A positive voltage is applied to the metal in relation to the bulk silicate.   A set of positive charges appear at the  boundary of the metal.

 The positive voltage also attracts negative charges, electrons   from the  n type region which will migrate  into the region close to the oxide, to form a channel.  It can be seen that this resembles a capacitor.

 The n-type regions are the drain and the source. The capacitor is commonly drawn between the gate and the source and it is called C_gs.

 How does the MOSFET really work? If a positive voltage is applied to the drain  with respect to the source, the electrons from the source are attracted to the drain. Current moves in  the opposite direction to the electrons, so a positive current is flowing from the drain to source. The source produces electrons while the drain takes electrons.

The threshold voltage is where  it takes a fair amount of voltage to form a conducting channel.

 It is possible to build a capacitor. First, oxide is deposited on the silicon chip substrate. Then a plate is stuck on top of it. It could be a metal plate or polysilicon.

 Of course, it is possible to build discrete capacitors by taking a pair of plates and having some insulator between them.

Capacitance is given by (e*A)/d where e is the permittivity of the dielectric, A is the area of the plates and d is the  thickness of the dielectric.

When voltage v is applied to the terminals of the capacitor, there is a charge q on the capacitor.
q=Cv  where C is  the capacitance in farads.  It can be considered to be a linear element  and obeys the discrete matter discipline (DMD).

 According to DMD, there is no net charge in my element but it seems that the capacitor does accumulate charge, so what is going on?  If you put a box around the capacitor, it can be seen that the positive charge on one plate is exactly balanced by the negative charge on the other plate so there is no net charge.

 Current is the rate of change of charge -   i = dq/dt .   If we substitute q by Cv, we get i=d(Cv)/dt. Assume that the capacitance is not a function of voltage or time - it has a fixed value and is  constant.
 So i=C(dv/dt).

v can be   expressed in terms of i. v is   the integral of i dt multiplied by 1/C with  the limits between t and  negative infinity.

 Power can also be computed. P=vi= vC(dv/dt). From integration, E=(c*v^2)/2. This is an important equation as it proves that the capacitor is an energy storage device.  This also makes it a memory device. It stores energy and that energy it stores, remembers what had happened before.  The capacitor stores some state.

Capacitors are becoming important in energy storage but it can be harmful.

Capacitor c is connected to a  the current source i(t). The voltage across the capacitor is v(t). The initial voltage of the capacitor is v(t_o).

We need to pick some current-a pulse  which has a height of I for some amount of time T.  We need to find v(t) for this input current.

To do that, we need to use the integral of i dt multiplied by 1/C with  the limits between t and  negative infinity. By splitting the integral into several parts,  the graph  of v(t) versus t can  be drawn.  The height during the time of charging is IT/C.

Circuits with one energy storage element are  called first order  circuits.

 Analyzing RC circuits, it can be seen that the Thevenin's equivalent type of circuit could be used. Applying the node method and rearranging, we will get a first order differential equation  RC (dv_c/dt) +v_c=v_I

The initial conditions of the capacitor is v_c(0)=V_0  and the  input source v_I(t)= V_I. So now we will have a differential equation  RC (dv_c/dt) +v_c=V_I

 The method of  homogeneous and particular  solutions is used to solve the differential equation. The steps are :-

(1)  Find the  particular solution
(2) Find the homogeneous solution
(3)  The total solution is the sum of the particular and homogeneous solution. Use the initial
       conditions to solve for the remaining constants

So v_c(t)= particular + homogeneous solution.

The solution involves guesswork.

To find the particular solution, use trial and error on RC (dv_cp/dt) +v_cp=V_I  where v_cp is a particular solution.  Taking  v_cp=V_I,  then it seems to work.

 The homogeneous solution is one where the drive is set to zero. Trial and error will also  be used on RC (dv_ch/dt) +v_ch=0.  Assume v_ch= Ae^(st)  . Discarding the trivial A=0 solution,  we will eventually get a characteristic equation of  RCs+1=0. Therefore,  s=-1/(RC) or v_ch=Ae^(-t/RC).
RC  is a time constant.

 From the initial conditions, it will be possible to find the value of A.  A= V_0 - V_I

With that we can get the total final solution v_c=V_I+(V_0 - V_I)e^(-t/RC).

We can also get i_c which is equal to  i=d(Cv_c)/dt.   i_c= -(1/R)*(V_0 - V_I)e^(-t/RC).

To graph  the solution, set t=0.  It can be seen that v_c=V_0 when t=0.  Then, when  t  is  set to infinity, v_c= V_I. Assuming that V_I > V_0, then V_I can  be marked on the graph. Between V_0 and V_I, there will be a rising  curve.

 One interesting aspect of this graph is that if we take the slope at the starting point, and look at where it intersects the final voltage value of the capacitor, that value is RC  on the t-axis. Mathematically, this can be proven  by differentiating v_c  with respect to t at time t = 0.

 Another point to note is that the equation v_c can be rewritten   in a form of v_c(t) so that
 v_c(t)=v_c(∞)+(v_c(0) - v_c(∞))e^(-t/RC).  Any of the two forms can be used.

The last point to note is that if V_I < V_0,  the curve would go in the opposite direction.  If V_I=0, there would be an exponential discharge.

Finally,  some examples that relate to the voltage outputs of the pair of inverters.  Take the initial voltage v_c(0)=V_0=0V  and v_I(t)=V_I=5V.  This means that there is no voltage at the capacitor in the beginning and let's say at time t=0 the voltage switches suddenly from 0V to 5V. The curve starts out at 0 and after infinity time it reaches a voltage of 5V.  The current across R decreases over time.
The   equation for this  curve is  v_c= 5 - 5e^(-t/RC)


 In the next scenario, v_c(0)=V_0=5V and  v_I(t)=V_I=0V.  If the input voltage V_I  has been 5V for a long   period of time, the voltage across the capacitor will be 5V. If at  time t=0, V_I becomes 0 suddenly, then the  capacitor will discharge. The curve starts out at 5V and after infinity time it reaches a voltage of 0 V.  There will be an exponential decay. If we  take the slope at time t=0 and see where it intersects the final voltage value, the value is time constant RC on the  t-axis. The   equation for the curve is v_c=  5e^(-t/RC)

 If we combine the two curves,  we will be able to see why the  output of the pair of inverters behave the way they do.

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