The Penguin Dictionary of Electronics (Penguin reference) - Softcover

Young, E.; Young, John; Illingworth, Valerie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140511873 ISBN 13: 9780140511871

Publisher: Penguin, 1988

Synopsis

Entries on the microchip, injection laser, graphic equalizer, compact disc, digital recording and DAT are all included in this dictionary. Coverage is given to solid-state devices and circuits, semiconductors and semiconductor technology - TEGFET, TED, microfaceting, lapping, mesa, via - and to new analytical techniques, including electron microprobe, photoelectron spectroscopy, LEED and SXAPS.

About this title

From the Publisher

Some sample entries:

ELECTROLYTE

A substance that conducts electricity when in solution or when molten because of its dissociation into ions. Strong electrolytes are compounds, such as mineral acids, that are completely dissociated into ions when in solution. Weak electrolytes are compounds that are only partially dissociated in solution. Weak solutions of such compounds are better conductors than strong solutions because of their greater degree of dissociation.

THERMAL IMAGING

Syn. thermography. Producing an image of an object by means of the infrared radiation emitted by it. A camera tube with a suitable lens system may be used to produce the image. Thermal imaging does not require any external source of illumination and is used to produce images in the dark, for example at night. It is also used for diagnostic purposes to discover any areas of the body that have an unusual temperature distribution.

RAM

Abbrev. for random-access memory. A solid-state memory device which allows reading and writing of data and to which there is random access to the individual memory locations. The memory is arranged as a rectangular array of memory cells forming rows and columns. Each memory cell in the array forms an intersection between the rows and columns. Any individual cell in the array is defined by the address of one row and one column, since each row and column intersect once only. Each cell can store one bit of information. In order to retrieve information from a particular location, the address codes of the row and column are specified. The output is sampled by suitable sensing devices that are attached to each row and the rows are therefore termed bit lines. The columns are known as word lines.

About the Author

VALERIE ILLINGWORTH worked in reference book publishing before becoming freelance in 1976. She is the editor of several books, including the Collins DICTIONARY OF ASTRONOMY and Oxford's DICTIONARY OF COMPUTING.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140511873
• ISBN 13: 9780140511871
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 688