Welcome to the electronics glossary in our library!

The following glossary entries were abstracted from the book, Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics), with the kind permission of LLH Technology Publishing, Eagle Rock, VA, USA                          ( to return to the main glossary.)

Unit qualifier (symbol = n) representing one thousandth of one millionth, or 10^-9. For example, 3nS stands for 3 x 10^-9 Seconds.

A molecular-sized robot (see Nanotechnology below)

A form of matter which was only recently discovered, in which small clusters of atoms form the building blocks of a larger structure. These structures differ from those of naturally occurring crystals, in which individual atoms arrange themselves into a lattice.

Nanotechnology is an elusive term that is used by different research-and-development teams to refer to whatever it is that they're working on at the time. However, irrespective of their particular area of interest, nanotechnology always refers to something extremely small. One of the more exciting branches of nanotechnology that has been suggested as having potential in the future is that of micro-miniature electronic products that assemble themselves.

Negative-Edge

A transition from a logic 1 to a logic 0. Also known as a falling edge.

An atom or group of atoms with an extra electron.

A convention which dictates the relationship between logical values and the physical voltages used to represent them. The more negative potential is considered to represent TRUE and the more positive potential is considered to represent FALSE. Also known as negative true logic.

A process where ultraviolet radiation passing through the transparent areas of a mask causes the resist to be cured. The uncured areas are then removed using an appropriate solvent.

A convention which dictates the relationship between logical values and the physical voltages used to represent them. The more negative potential is considered to represent TRUE and the more positive potential is considered to represent FALSE. Also known as negative logic.

A group of four binary digits, or bits (also called a nybble).

Refers to the order in which the semiconductor is doped in a MOS device. That is, which structures are constructed as N-type versus P-type material.

Gases whose outermost electron shells are completely filled with electrons. Such gases are extremely stable and it is difficult to coerce them to form compounds with other elements. There are six noble gasses: helium( ), neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon. This group of elements were originally known as the inert gasses, but in the early 1960s it was found to be possible to combine krypton, xenon, and radon with fluorine to create compounds. Although helium, neon, and argon continue to resist, there is an increasing trend to refer to this group of gasses as noble rather than inert.

Metals such as gold, silver, and platinum which are extremely inactive and are unaffected by air( ), heat, moisture, and most solvents.

The miscellaneous rubbish that gets added to a signal on its journey through a circuit. Noise can be caused by capacitive or inductive coupling, or from externally generated interference.

A memory device which does not lose its data when power is removed from the system.

A device which is generally formed from an SRAM die mounted in a package with a very small battery, or as a mixture of SRAM and EEPROM cells fabricated on the same die.

Refers to the order in which the semiconductor is doped in a bipolar junction transistor.

A piece of semiconductor doped with impurities that make it amenable to donating electrons.

A group of four binary digits, or bits (also called a nibble).

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