This entertaining and readable book provides a solid, comprehensive introduction to contemporary electronics. It's not a "how-to-do" electronics book, but rather an in-depth explanation of how today's integrated circuits work, how they are designed and manufactured, and how they are put together into powerful and sophisticated electronic systems. In addition to the technical details, it's packed with practical information of interest and use to engineers and support personnel in the electronics industry. It even tells how to pronounce the alphabet soup of acronyms that runs rampant in the industry.<br>CONTENTS:<br>Section 1: Fundamentals<br>Chapter 1 Analog versus Digital <br>Chapter 2 Atoms, Molecules, and Crystals <br>Chapter 3 Conductors, Insulators, and Other Stuff <br>Chapter 4 Semiconductors (Diodes and Transistors) <br>Chapter 5 Primitive Logic Functions <br>Chapter 6 Using Transistors to Build Logic Gates <br>Chapter 7 Alternative Numbering Systems <br>Chapter 8 Binary Arithmetic <br>Chapter 9 Boolean Algebra <br>Chapter 10 Karnaugh Maps <br>Chapter 11 Slightly More Complex Functions <br>Chapter 12 State Machines <br>Chapter 13 Analog-to-Digital and Vice Versa<br>Section 2: Components and Processes<br>Chapter 14 Integrated Circuits (ICs) <br>Chapter 15 Memory ICs <br>Chapter 16 Programmable ICs <br>Chapter 17 Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) <br>Chapter 18 Circuit Boards <br>Chapter 19 Hybrids <br>Chapter 20 System-in-Package (Sip) and Friends<br>Chapter 21 Alternative and Future Technologies Section 3: Design Tools and Stuff<br>Chapter 22 General Concepts <br>Chapter 23 Design and Verification Tools <br><br>Appendix A Assertion-Level Logic <br>Appendix B Positive Logic versus Negative Logic <br>Appendix C Reed-Müller Logic <br>Appendix D Gray Codes <br>Appendix E Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) <br>Appendix F Pass-Transistor Logic <br>Appendix G More on Semiconductors <br>Appendix H Rounding Algorithms 101 <br>Appendix I Pass-Transistor Logic <br>Appendix J An Interesting Conundrum <br>Abbreviations and Acronyms <br>Glossary <br>Index<br><br>*Written in conversational, fun style that has generated a strong following for the author and sales of over 14,000 copies for the first two editions *The Third Edition is even bigger and better, with lots of new material, illustrations, and an expanded glossary <br>*Ideal for training incoming engineers and technicians, and for people in marketing or other related fields or anyone else who needs to familiarize themselves with electronics terms and technology