Electronics curriculum

A major theme of this site is the exploration of foundational concepts in analog and digital electronics. I try to write for the inquiring mind: I develop concepts from first principles and explain them in a way that doesn’t require advanced knowledge of physics or math.

The following list of articles covers the essentials you should probably know about before designing your own analog circuits. The articles are organized in the recommended reading order.

Core knowledge

Setting up an electronics workshop

But good sir, what is electricity?

How do transistors work, anyway?

Primer: core concepts in electronic circuits

Signal reflections in electronic circuits

Radios, how do they work?

The basics of signal amplification

The 101 of analog signal filtering

Building a decent microphone amplifier

Things you can do with diodes

It's hard to build an oscillator

The basics of decoupling capacitors

DACs and ADCs, or there and back again

The magic of DC-DC voltage conversion

Choosing a microcontroller

Choosing an op-amp for your project

Designing your own PCBs

Supplemental reading

Why do lemon batteries work?

What's the deal with magnetic fields?

Core concepts #2: impedance is complex

Analog filters, part 2: let it ring

What's inside an op-amp?

Clocks in digital circuits

Real MLCCs (and inductors) have curves

Understanding root-mean-square voltage

Cursed circuits #3: true mathematics

Cursed circuits #4: PLL frequency multiplier

Resistors, Johnson-Nyquist, nV/√Hz

Cursed circuits #2: switched capacitor lowpass

PCBs, ground planes, and you

This is just a subset of all articles; for a complete list, including project-related posts, check out this page. If you have suggestions or other feedback, please let me know! You can reach me at lcamtuf@coredump.cx.