This section provides basic information about the most important devices of the 4000 CMOS Series. The information is comprised, in order of appearance, of the following:

Device Name - This is the number 4XXX. The letters and numbers identifying the manufacturer are omitted.

Description - This tells what the device is, the number of independent circuits, and what it makes.

Functional diagram or/ and package - This is the functional diagram of the device using logic symbols, and in some cases, how basic external components are plugged. Also the pinout is shown, which is important information for any new project.

Pin Names - These are the meaning of each abbreviation used to design the pins of the device.

Truth Table or Waveform - If a component has a logic table to represent operation states, it will be given in this item.

When there is no truth table, the logic waveforms - or how the signals appear in the output as function of an input signal - appears.operation Mode [How to Use] - Basic information about the use and application of the device, as well as logic levels that can be applied to the input during normal operation is provided in this item.

Electrical Characteristics - Voltages, currents, and frequencies are important information for the designers. This item lists only the most important of the characteristics. The values are a typical average because they can change from manufacturer to manufacturer. With averaged values the reader can have an idea if the device can or cannot be used in a determined application.

In this section we will present curiosities of the technology world, mainly electronics with facts collected by us and even observed by us and which deserve some attention. If the web surfer has something interesting that has happened in his/her life as a student or professional of the electronics and wishes to disclose it, send us.

This section is about electricity applied to domestic, industrial and comercial installations. Since today many electronic circuits are found in these installations, our articles are dedicated to technicians or elecrtricians who want to know more about electronics and its applications in these installations. The first article, part of my book Electronics for Electricians explains the differences between electrcity and electronics (EL001E).

A new section is being included on our website. In it we will deal with projects, articles and news related to the Internet of Things, abbreviated to IoT.

This new issue of technology is taking shape, with the inclusion of resources of the access to the internet in an endless amount of things, such as objects of daily use, clothing (wearable), shoes and everything else imaginable.

In fact, the branches of technology are being created at a very fast rate and in an interlaced way that sometimes makes it difficult to tell which one fits a particular application.

For example, not all wearable that are created we can find internet and therefore they do not fit at the IoT. Similarly to what we have in the embedded that are electronic resources applied to home appliances, vehicles, etc., that if they have internet access they already fit into the IoT products.

This also means that a wearable that has “embedded” automation features without access to the internet (an outfit that monitors the body temperature) would be a wearable or an embedded?

Anyway, in this section, whereas the IoT also has its ramifications, we will also include news, projects and everything that refers to the embedded and wearable.

There is no limit to what we can do with the IoT involving not only the internet, but also Bluetooth or Wi-Fi communication between applications.

Even without necessarily passing through the Internet, but since it has a communication between devices, whether it is wireless or wired, we can include this in the IoT.

We can give as an example our first article where we have a toothbrush that through wireless connection sends to your cell phone the image of the points being brushed.

Finally, in this section the readers will have many ideas to create their projects, joining with the articles of our section of microcontrollers and thousands of practical circuits that can be used as shields or breakout boards.

The author, who has himself designed multitudes of projects and circuits during his life, publishing many books and hundreds of articles in electronics magazines and teaching electronics, has collected a large assortment of all basic information necessary for calculations needed when designing new projects or solving a problem.

These formulas and calculations are now in this site.

When starting a project or solving a problem, the principal difficulty the designer or student founds is how to locate the desired information. This information is normally spread over a large number of resources, such as books, handbooks, the internet and magazine articles.

Although many of us who are experienced in electronics have in mind the principal formulas, we sometimes have trouble with the forgotten constant, multiplication factor or exponent. Finding these values is sometimes difficult depending of the circumstances, such as where yor are at the time, or the amount of resources at your disposal.

By putting the principal formulas and tables in a unique place, a designer can find the desired information easier, and, more importantly, can take this information wherever he goes.

And with the aid of the new technologies, the information can be accessed by a tablet, Smartphone or a laptop, where you are. This is the aim of this section.

But formulas and calculations are not useful only when designing a new configuration. They are necessary when we need to know what happen when a specific working circuit is altered, for the electronic student doing homework or the researchers in other fields who work with electronic equipment.

Finally, we have laws and theorems describing the properties of circuits and devices, and procedures to be used in calculations, which are very important when doing practical works.

Most of the formulas and tables are accompanied by application examples. They are very important to show the reader how the calculations are made when using the given information. To avoid problems with incorrect results, in all formulas and applications the units to be used are indicated.

The formulas range from the simplest, where elementary arithmetic operations such as sum, subtraction, multiplication and division, are used, to the more complex that require some good working knowledge of algebraic and trigonometric functions, or even differential and integral calculus.

Although mathematics is an exact science, when some calculations are applied to other sciences and in “real-life” electronics, the results can be different from the expected. When making calculations involving electronic circuits, it is often said that “When working with electronics, practice and theory often disagree.”

This means that in many cases the results found in calculations will need some “adjustments” when applied to an actual application.

This fact is applicable even to the tolerances of the electronic components used in practical applications, plus the fact that many formulas are not exact, but empirical.

But why use an exact formula, including complex logarithms, trigonometric functions or differential equations, if we can get results good enorgh to make a circuit work by using a reduced formula?

In many stages of the design process, the results will depend on the tolerance of the components used.

This explains why in many cases we´ll not give the exact formula but an empirical formula, where the “complex part” of the calculations will be reduced to a constant, or even eliminated.

About the units – the preference is the use of the decimal system or International Units System (SI - Système International d´Unités). Only in the cases where conversion formulas and tables are given will other units appear. The notations will be that recommended by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), but in some cases, to make easier the use by reader less experienced with calculations, some “nonconventional” notations can be found.

Althorgh the preferred symbol to indicate multiplication operation is “x”, in some cases we also use the bullet (*) or even the point (.).

The tables were obtained from different sources – physics handbooks, engineering books, manufacturers and technical documentation were consulted. As for composition of materials, the calculation procedures can change from one manufacturer to another, so small differences in the tabulated values will be found if comparing to other resources.

Many tables were calculated by the author using software created to the task.

The most important point of this introduction is that the formulas in this section can become an important tool for everyone who works with electricity and electronics – from students and hobbyists for researchers, teachers and engineers. Anyone in need of practical information o formulas and calculations as applied to electricity and electronics will find this section indispensable.

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The purpose of this section is to explain the basics of robotics, mechatronics, and artificial intelligence and to describe how to make practical projects using basic building blocks, complete projects, tutorials and important informations.

With an understanding of how robots, automatic systems, mechatronics projects, and intelligent machines are built, the reader can assemble a customized system, creating a functional project that can be used for practical purposes, experimentation, education, public exhibitions, or just as an exercise of the imagination.

This section explores the practical aspects of electronic circuits used in robotics and mechatronics, ando also deep theory to more advanced projects.

Herein the reader will not find much in the way of mathematical theory or discussions of the physics of how a chosen project will operate after assembly.

Instead we focus on building blocks and basic projects from which the reader can develop a practical, and sometimes empirical, project.

Of course, advanced projects using microprocessors and even DSPs can be found, helping the reader who wants an idea for the final work in its engeneering course or college.

Projects using Arduino, MSP430, PIC and others will be inserted in the section as soon as we have them prepared.

Many of the correct values for components and mechanical parts can be derived from experience.

One of the purposes of this sections is to give the reader basic information for repair and troubleshoothing of electronic circuits. This section will include articles about test procedures, use of instruments and commercial equipment. The tests will include basically the use of the multimeter and other basic instruments for every reader who wants repair is own equipment  and the ones who want to open a repair shop.

In this section you Will find articles about this subject and all directly related subjects such as radiocommunications, telephony, fiber optics, networks (cable and wireless), etc,

The articles range from the simplest with basic theory, tutorials and experimental projects to the advanced includind heavy theory and projects using embeded tecnology, microcontrolers and microprocessors.

Many of the articles where originally written in Portuguese and published in brazilian magazines and translated to English or adapted to be part of the author´s books in USA.

This section gives practical information of tubes (electronic valves) and circuits. Although tubes are not used today in common applications there are many old equipments in operations using these devices and even persons who think that the sound of tube amplifiers are better than the modern equivalent using transistors or IC.