Futures: Analog Circuits

Electronics is the study of the behavior and movement of electrons in physical components.  Analog Circuit Design is concerned with controlling continuously varying voltage and currents, while Digital Circuit Design controls digital signals represented by two discrete voltage or logic levels.  The evolution from analog to digital design allowed for greater signal speed and storage capabilities and has revolutionized the world of electronics.  Analog electronics forms the base for digital components and Digital Integrated Circuits (ICs), or “chips” control most modern electronic devices, from cellular phones and peripheral “wearables” to computers including CPU and GPUs, appliances, automobiles, and many more!  Additionally, the supply chain shortage experienced during the pandemic, especially in the area of chip production, spotlighted the need to develop on-shore manufacturing capabilities, and significant funding has since been allocated by companies and governments world-wide resulting in explosive job opportunities for Digital Design Engineers. 
 
To work effectively in this field, the Digital Design Engineer or “Chip designer” must have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the requisite math and physics as well as basic electronics concepts to apply them to digital circuit design, and this course provides a focused introduction on analog circuits. Students completing this first course in the Digital Circuit Design series will be prepared for the subsequent courses in the series as well as have a general working knowledge of the foundational math and electronics needed to advance to the digital circuit domain.