Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of Massachusetts Amherst

ECE 323: Electronics I

Fall 2010 Syllabus, Version 2.3

Catalog Description:

· Lectures plus four three-hour labs and discussion sections during non-lab weeks

· Principles of the design of simple analog and digital electronic circuits employing nonlinear devices such as diodes, field effect transistors (FETs) and bipolar transistors

· The design projects make use of PSPICE and include diode characteristics, transistor biasing, small signal analysis and modeling, amplifier design, CMOS gate characteristics. The design, simulation, build cycle is emphasized. 4 credits.

Prerequisites:

In order to take ECE 323, students must have received a grade of C or better in each of the courses: ECE 211, ECE 212, ECE 232 and ECE 242 or have a Grade Point Average of 3.100 or better in the set of courses: ECE 211, ECE 212, ECE 232, and ECE 242. Students must be familiar with PSPICE because it is used extensively in laboratory analysis and is required for the reports.

Web Site: All course material (announcements, handouts, assignments and solutions,

grade records) will be available through SPARK:

https://spark.oit.umass.edu/webct/entryPageIns.dowebct

(Note: You must be registered in the course to have SPARK access.)

Instructor: Robert W. Jackson, Marcus 215K, jackson@ecs.umass.edu

Teaching Assistants: (i) Vikram Jegannathan (vjegannathan@ecs.umass.edu)

(ii) Ye Xu (yxu@ecs.umass.edu)

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant: Aline Elad Aline Elad (aelad@student.umass.edu)

Lectures: Section 1: MWF 9:05 - 9:55 am 126 Hasbrouck Lab Add

Laboratories: For all lab sections, see the Course Schedule to determine lab weeks.

Lab Section 1: Tu 2:30 - 5:30 pm Marston 221

Lab Section 2: W 2:30 - 5:30 pm Marston 221

Lab Section 3: Th 2:30 - 5:30 pm Marston 221

Discussion Sections: Discussion will be held on weeks when no lab is scheduled. Please see the Course Schedule to determine non-lab weeks.

Disc. Section 1: M 10:10 - 11:00 am Elab 325

Disc. Section 2: M 1:25 - 2:15 pm Elab 325

Disc. Section 3: M 2:30 - 3:20 pm Elab 325

Office Hours:

Professor Jackson, 215K Marcus, MWF, 12:20-1:20 pm.

T.A.'s, 221Marston Ye Xu:  Tuesday, Thursday 5:30-6:30 

Vikram Jegannathan: Monday, Wednesday 6-7pm

Textbook (Required):

Sedra, A.S., and K.C. Smith, Microelectronic Circuits. Oxford University Press, 5^th edition, 2004. Note that there is a 6^th edition which may be significantly different. The 5^th edition will be used in this course so that students can save money by buying used versions.

References:

R. C. Jaeger and T. N. Blalock, Microelectronic Circuit Design, Second Edition,

McGraw-Hill, 2004.

Comer, David, and Donald Comer, Fundamentals of Electronic Circuit Design. John Wiley & Sons, 2003.

Grading policy:

Four design projects 25% of total grade (See comments below)

Exam I 20% of total grade

Exam II 20% of total grade

Final (Cumulative) 25% of total grade

Homework 10% of total grade

Comments:

(1) Each project will be graded primarily on the preparatory design/simulation ("prelab report"). The prelab reports are due before 2:30pm on the Tuesday of lab weeks, regardless of lab section. The prelab report should be the work of a single student alone. Students who turn in a design that duplicates the design submitted by another student will cause all the students involved to get zero credit.

(2) The prelab report grade will not be recorded (a grade of zero) unless that student completes the laboratory portion of the project. All laboratory results will be certified as complete by the laboratory instructor or T.A.

(3) In order to pass the course, a student must have a passing grade on each of the four design projects.

(4) In order to pass the course, a student must have at least a passing score on the average of the midterms and the final exam.

ECE ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

An Honor Code Policy has been adopted for all ECE students at UMass Amherst, the result of a joint initiative between students in Eta Kappa Nu (the ECE student honor society) and the Faculty of the ECE Department. The purpose of this policy is to emphasize engineering ethics as an important part of your education and career, and to enhance the value of your ECE degree from UMass. Simply put, the policy requires that each ECE student demonstrate high ethical standards by attesting to personal honesty and integrity for each examination taken and laboratory report completed. The policy fits within the framework of the existing Academic Honesty Policy of the University, and is similar to that used by other universities. On the last page of your ECE 323 midterm and final exams, you will be expected to write out and sign your name to the Honor Code Pledge: "On my honor, I have not given nor received aid on this exam." This statement reflects your personal commitment to honesty and ethical practice in the taking of an exam. If you have not written and signed this, you will be contacted by the instructor. Cheating will not be tolerated. A student found cheating on an exam will receive an automatic grade of F on the exam, and likely will fail the course as well.