Today, we can consider electronics to be a subject derived from both the theoretical advances achieved during the 20th Century in areas comprising the modeling and conception of components, circuits, signals and systems, together with the tremendous development attained in integrated circuit technology. However, such development led to something of a knowledge diaspora that this work will attempt to contravene by collecting both the general principles at the center of all electronic systems and components, together with the synthesis and analysis methods required to describe and understand these components and subcomponents. The work is divided into three volumes. Each volume follows one guiding principle from which various concepts flow. Accordingly, Volume 1 addresses the physics of semiconductor components and the consequences thereof, that is, the relations between component properties and electrical models. Volume 2 addresses continuous time systems, initially adopting a general approach in Chapter 1, followed by a review of the highly involved subject of quadripoles in Chapter 2. Volume 3 is devoted to discrete-time and/or quantized level systems. The former, also known as sampled systems, which can either be analog or digital, are studied in Chapter 1, while the latter, conversion systems, we address in Chapter 2. The chapter headings are indicated in the following general outline.

Each chapter is paired with exercises and detailed corrections, with two objectives. First, these exercises help illustrate the general principles addressed in the course, proposing new application layouts and showing how theory can be implemented to assess their properties. Second, the exercises act as extensions of the course, illustrating circuits that may have been described briefly, but whose properties have not been studied in detail. The first volume should be accessible to students with a scientific literacy corresponding to the first 2 years of university education, allowing them to acquire the level of understanding required for the third year of their electronics degree. The level of comprehension required for the following two volumes is that of students on a master’s degree program or enrolled in engineering school.

In summary, electronics, as presented in this book, is an engineering science that concerns the modeling of components and systems from their physical properties to their established function, allowing for the transformation of electrical signals and information processing. Here, the various items are summarized along with their properties to help readers follow the broader direction of their organization and thereby avoid fragmentation and overlap. The representation of signals is treated in a balanced manner, which means that the spectral aspect is given its proper place, to do otherwise would have been outmoded and against the grain of modern electronics, since now a wide range of problems are initially addressed according to criteria concerning frequency response, bandwidth and signal spectrum modification. This should by no means overshadow the application of electrokinetic laws, which remains a necessary first step since electronics remains fundamentally concerned with electric circuits. Concepts related to radio-frequency circuits are not given special treatment here, but can be found in several chapters. Since the summary of logical circuits involves digital electronics and industrial computing, the part treated here is limited to logical functions that may be useful in binary numbers computing and elementary sequencing. The author hopes that this work contributes to a broad foundation for the analysis, modeling and synthesis of most active and passive circuits in electronics, giving readers a good start to begin the development and simulation of integrated circuits.