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Digital electronics

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HitachiJ100A

An industrial digital controller

Digital electronics or digital (electronic) circuits are electronics that handle digital signals (discrete bands of analog levels) rather than by continuous ranges as used in analog electronics. All levels within a band of values represent the same information state. Because of this discretization, relatively small changes to the analog signal levels due to manufacturing tolerance, signal attenuation or noise do not leave the discrete envelope, and as a result are ignored by signal state sensing circuitry.

In most cases, the number of these states is two, and they are represented by two voltage bands: one near a reference value (typically termed as "ground" or zero volts), and the other a value near the supply voltage. These correspond to the false and true values of the Boolean domain respectively. Digital techniques are useful because it is easier to get an electronic device to switch into one of a number of known states than to accurately reproduce a continuous range of values.

Digital electronic circuits are usually made from large assemblies of logic gates, simple electronic representations of Boolean logic functions.[1]

History[]

Theoretical foundations[]

Akira Nakashima

Akira Nakashima invented switching circuit theory in 1934, laying the theoretical foundations for digital electronics.

The binary number system dates back to ancient times. The method used for ancient Egyptian multiplication is closely related to binary numbers. This method can be seen in use, for instance, in the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which dates to around 1650 BC.[2] The I Ching dates from the 9th century BC in China.[3] The binary notation in the I Ching is used to interpret its quaternary divination technique.[4] The Song dynasty scholar Shao Yong (1011–1077 CE) rearranged the hexagrams in a format that resembles modern binary numbers, although he did not intend his arrangement to be used mathematically.[4]

The binary number system was later refined by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (published in 1705), influenced by the ancient I Ching's binary system.[5][6] Leibniz established that, by using the binary system, the principles of arithmetic and logic could be combined. Digital logic as we know it was the brain-child of George Boole, in the mid 19th century.

From 1934 to 1936, NEC engineer Akira Nakashima introduced switching circuit theory in a series of papers showing that two-valued Boolean algebra, which he discovered independently, can describe the operation of switching circuits.[7][8][9][10] Switching circuit theory provided the mathematical foundations and tools for digital system design in almost all areas of modern technology.[10]

Technological foundations[]

Mechanical analog computers appeared in the Middle Ages and were used for astronomical calculations. In 1206, Arab engineer Al-Jazari invented the castle clock, the first programmable analog computer.[11]

In World War II, mechanical analog computers were used for specialized military applications such as calculating torpedo aiming. During this time, the first electronic digital computers were developed. Originally they were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).[12] The Z3 was an electromechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse. Finished in 1941, it was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer.[13] Its operation was facilitated by the invention of the vacuum tube in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming.

Purely electronic circuit elements soon replaced their mechanical and electro-mechanical equivalents. John Bardeen and Walter Brattain invented the point-contact transistor at Bell Labs in 1947, followed by William Shockley inventing the bipolar junction transistor at Bell Labs in 1948.[14][15]

At the University of Manchester, a team under the leadership of Tom Kilburn designed and built a machine using the newly developed transistors instead of vacuum tubes.[16] They built the first transistorised computer, which was operational by 1953, and a second version was completed there in April 1955. From 1955 onwards, transistors replaced vacuum tubes in computer designs, giving rise to the "second generation" of computers. Compared to vacuum tubes, transistors were smaller, more reliable, had indefinite lifespans, and required less power than vacuum tubes - thereby giving off less heat, and allowing much denser concentrations of circuits, up to tens of thousands in a relatively compact space.

In 1959, Fairchild Semiconductor engineer Robert Noyce invented the silicon integrated circuit (IC) chip. The basis for Noyce's silicon IC was the planar process, developed in early 1959 by Jean Hoerni, who was in turn building on Mohamed Atalla's silicon surface passivation method developed in 1957.[17] This new technique, the integrated circuit, allowed for quick, low-cost fabrication of complex circuits by having a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, typically silicon.

Digital Revolution and Digital Age[]

Further information: Digital Revolution and Digital Age
See also: MOS revolution, Silicon Age, and Wireless revolution
Atalla1963

Mohamed M. Atalla invented the MOS transistor in 1959 and MOS integrated circuit chip in 1960. These inventions are fundamental to the MOS revolution, Digital Revolution and Digital Age.

Dawon Kahng

Dawon Kahng co-invented the MOS transistor with Mohamed M. Atalla in 1959.

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), also known as the MOS transistor, was invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959.[18][19][20] The MOSFET's advantages include high scalability,[21] affordability,[22] low power consumption, and high transistor density.[23] Its rapid on–off electronic switching speed also makes it ideal for generating pulse trains,[24] the basis for electronic digital signals,[25][26] in contrast to BJTs which more slowly generate analog signals resembling sine waves.[24] These factors make the MOSFET an important switching device for digital circuits.[27]

Mohamed Atalla realised that the main advantage of the MOS transistor was its ease of fabrication, particularly suiting it for use in the recently invented integrated circuits. He first proposed the MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chip in 1960.[28] MOS IC technology led to the development of large-scale integration (LSI) and then very large-scale integration (VLSI).[27] The MOSFET revolutionized the electronics industry,[29][30] and is the most common semiconductor device.[19][31] MOSFETs are the fundamental building blocks of digital electronics, during the Digital Revolution of the late 20th to early 21st centuries.[20][32][33] This paved the way for the Digital Age of the early 21st century.[20]

In the early days of integrated circuits, each chip was limited to only a few transistors, and the low degree of integration meant the design process was relatively simple. Manufacturing yields were also quite low by today's standards. The wide adoption of the MOS integrated circuit by the early 1970s led to the first large-scale integration (LSI) chips with more than 10,000 transistors on a single chip.[34] Following the wide adoption of CMOS, a type of MOSFET logic, by the 1980s, millions and then billions of MOSFETs could be placed on one chip as the technology progressed,[35] and good designs required thorough planning, giving rise to new design methods. As of 2013, billions of MOSFETs are manufactured every day.[19]

Discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding, a data compression technique first proposed by Nasir Ahmed in 1972,[36] enabled practical digital media transmission,[37][38][39] with image compression formats such as JPEG (1992), video coding formats such as H.26x (1988 onwards) and MPEG (1993 onwards),[40] audio coding standards such as Dolby Digital (1991)[41][42] and MP3 (1994),[40] and digital TV standards such as video-on-demand (VOD)[37] and high-definition television (HDTV).[43]

The wireless revolution, the introduction and proliferation of wireless networks, began in the 1990s and was enabled by the wide adoption of MOSFET-based RF power amplifiers (power MOSFET and LDMOS) and RF circuits (RF CMOS).[44][45][46] Wireless networks allowed for public digital transmission without the need for cables, leading to digital television (digital TV), GPS, satellite radio, wireless Internet and mobile phones through the 1990s–2000s.

Internet video was popularized by YouTube, an online video platform founded by Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim and Steve Chen in 2005, which enabled the video streaming of MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) user-generated content from anywhere on the World Wide Web.[47]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ Null, Linda; Lobur, Julia (2006). The essentials of computer organization and architecture. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 121. ISBN 0-7637-3769-0. We can build logic diagrams (which in turn lead to digital circuits) for any Boolean expression...
  2. ↑ Rudman, Peter Strom (2007), How Mathematics Happened: The First 50,000 Years, Prometheus Books, pp. 135–136, ISBN 9781615921768.
  3. ↑ Edward Hacker; Steve Moore; Lorraine Patsco (2002). I Ching: An Annotated Bibliography. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-415-93969-0.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Redmond, Geoffrey; Hon, Tze-Ki (2014). Teaching the I Ching. Oxford University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-19-976681-9.
  5. ↑ Nylan, Michael (2001). The Five "Confucian" Classics. Yale University Press. pp. 204–206. ISBN 978-0-300-08185-5. Retrieved 8 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Perkins, Franklin. Leibniz and China: A Commerce of Light. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. p 117. Print.
  7. ↑ History of Research on Switching Theory in Japan, IEEJ Transactions on Fundamentals and Materials, Vol. 124 (2004) No. 8, pp. 720-726, Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan
  8. ↑ Switching Theory/Relay Circuit Network Theory/Theory of Logical Mathematics, IPSJ Computer Museum, Information Processing Society of Japan
  9. ↑ Radomir S. Stanković (University of Niš), Jaakko T. Astola (Tampere University of Technology), Mark G. Karpovsky (Boston University), Some Historical Remarks on Switching Theory, 2007, DOI 10.1.1.66.1248
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Radomir S. Stanković, Jaakko Astola (2008), Reprints from the Early Days of Information Sciences: TICSP Series On the Contributions of Akira Nakashima to Switching Theory, TICSP Series #40, Tampere International Center for Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology
  11. ↑ Ancient Discoveries, Episode 11: Ancient Robots, History Channel, retrieved 2008-09-06
  12. ↑ In 1946, ENIAC required an estimated 174 kW. By comparison, a modern laptop computer may use around 30 W; nearly six thousand times less. "Approximate Desktop & Notebook Power Usage". University of Pennsylvania. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
  13. ↑ "A Computer Pioneer Rediscovered, 50 Years On". The New York Times. April 20, 1994.
  14. ↑ Lee, Thomas H. (2003). The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits (PDF). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139643771.
  15. ↑ Puers, Robert; Baldi, Livio; Voorde, Marcel Van de; Nooten, Sebastiaan E. van (2017). Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Applications, 2 Volumes. John Wiley & Sons. p. 14. ISBN 9783527340538.
  16. ↑ Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2 ed.), Swindon: The British Computer Society, pp. 34–35
  17. ↑ Bassett, Ross Knox (2007). To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 46. ISBN 9780801886393.
  18. ↑ "1960 - Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated". The Silicon Engine. Computer History Museum.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Who Invented the Transistor?". Computer History Museum. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 "Triumph of the MOS Transistor". YouTube. Computer History Museum. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  21. ↑ Motoyoshi, M. (2009). "Through-Silicon Via (TSV)" (PDF). Proceedings of the IEEE. 97 (1): 43–48. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2008.2007462. ISSN 0018-9219.
  22. ↑ "Tortoise of Transistors Wins the Race - CHM Revolution". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  23. ↑ "Transistors Keep Moore's Law Alive". EETimes. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Applying MOSFETs to Today's Power-Switching Designs". Electronic Design. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  25. ↑ B. SOMANATHAN NAIR (2002). Digital electronics and logic design. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. p. 289. ISBN 9788120319561. Digital signals are fixed-width pulses, which occupy only one of two levels of amplitude.
  26. ↑ Joseph Migga Kizza (2005). Computer Network Security. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9780387204734.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 2000 Solved Problems in Digital Electronics. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2005. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-07-058831-8.
  28. ↑ Moskowitz, Sanford L. (2016). Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st century. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 165–167. ISBN 9780470508923.
  29. ↑ Chan, Yi-Jen (1992). Studies of InAIAs/InGaAs and GaInP/GaAs heterostructure FET's for high speed applications. University of Michigan. p. 1. The Si MOSFET has revolutionized the electronics industry and as a result impacts our daily lives in almost every conceivable way.
  30. ↑ Grant, Duncan Andrew; Gowar, John (1989). Power MOSFETS: theory and applications. Wiley. p. 1. ISBN 9780471828679. The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is the most commonly used active device in the very large-scale integration of digital integrated circuits (VLSI). During the 1970s these components revolutionized electronic signal processing, control systems and computers.
  31. ↑ Golio, Mike; Golio, Janet (2018). RF and Microwave Passive and Active Technologies. CRC Press. p. 18–2. ISBN 9781420006728.
  32. ↑ Raymer, Michael G. (2009). The Silicon Web: Physics for the Internet Age. CRC Press. p. 365. ISBN 9781439803127.
  33. ↑ Wong, Kit Po (2009). Electrical Engineering - Volume II. EOLSS Publications. p. 7. ISBN 9781905839780.
  34. ↑ Hittinger, William C. (1973). "Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Technology". Scientific American. 229 (2): 48–59. Bibcode:1973SciAm.229b..48H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0873-48. ISSN 0036-8733. JSTOR 24923169.
  35. ↑ Peter Clarke (14 October 2005). "Intel enters billion-transistor processor era". EE Times.
  36. ↑ Ahmed, Nasir (January 1991). "How I Came Up With the Discrete Cosine Transform". Digital Signal Processing. 1 (1): 4–5. doi:10.1016/1051-2004(91)90086-Z.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Lea, William (1994). Video on demand: Research Paper 94/68. 9 May 1994: House of Commons Library. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  38. ↑ Frolov, Artem; Primechaev, S. (2006). "Compressed Domain Image Retrievals Based On DCT-Processing". Semantic Scholar. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  39. ↑ Lee, Ruby Bei-Loh; Beck, John P.; Lamb, Joel; Severson, Kenneth E. (April 1995). "Real-time software MPEG video decoder on multimedia-enhanced PA 7100LC processors" (PDF). Hewlett-Packard Journal. 46 (2). ISSN 0018-1153.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Stanković, Radomir S.; Astola, Jaakko T. (2012). "Reminiscences of the Early Work in DCT: Interview with K.R. Rao" (PDF). Reprints from the Early Days of Information Sciences. 60. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  41. ↑ Luo, Fa-Long (2008). Mobile Multimedia Broadcasting Standards: Technology and Practice. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 590. ISBN 9780387782638.
  42. ↑ Britanak, V. (2011). "On Properties, Relations, and Simplified Implementation of Filter Banks in the Dolby Digital (Plus) AC-3 Audio Coding Standards". IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing. 19 (5): 1231–1241. doi:10.1109/TASL.2010.2087755.
  43. ↑ Shishikui, Yoshiaki; Nakanishi, Hiroshi; Imaizumi, Hiroyuki (October 26–28, 1993). "An HDTV Coding Scheme using Adaptive-Dimension DCT". Signal Processing of HDTV: Proceedings of the International Workshop on HDTV '93, Ottawa, Canada. Elsevier: 611–618. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-81844-7.50072-3. ISBN 9781483298511.
  44. ↑ Golio, Mike; Golio, Janet (2018). RF and Microwave Passive and Active Technologies. CRC Press. pp. ix, I-1, 18–2. ISBN 9781420006728.
  45. ↑ Rappaport, T. S. (November 1991). "The wireless revolution". IEEE Communications Magazine. 29 (11): 52–71. doi:10.1109/35.109666.
  46. ↑ "The wireless revolution". The Economist. January 21, 1999. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  47. ↑ Matthew, Crick (2016). Power, Surveillance, and Culture in YouTube™'s Digital Sphere. IGI Global. pp. 36–7. ISBN 9781466698567.

References[]

  • Douglas Lewin,Logical Design of Switching Circuits,Nelson,1974.
  • R. H. Katz, Contemporary Logic Design, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, 1994.
  • P. K. Lala, Practical Digital Logic Design and Testing, Prentice Hall, 1996.
  • Y. K. Chan and S. Y. Lim, Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, Vol. 1, 269–290, 2008,"Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Signal Generation, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Multimedia University, Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama, Bukit Beruang, Melaka 75450, Malaysia

External links[]

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