This entertaining and readable book provides a solid, comprehensive introduction to contemporary electronics. It's not a "how-to-do" electronics book, but rather an in-depth explanation of how today's integrated circuits work, how they are designed and manufactured, and how they are put together into powerful and sophisticated electronic systems. In addition to the technical details, it's packed with practical information of interest and use to engineers and support personnel in the electronics industry. It even tells how to pronounce the alphabet soup of acronyms that runs rampant in the industry. CONTENTS: Section 1: Fundamentals Chapter 1 Analog versus Digital Chapter 2 Atoms, Molecules, and Crystals Chapter 3 Conductors, Insulators, and Other Stuff Chapter 4 Semiconductors (Diodes and Transistors) Chapter 5 Primitive Logic Functions Chapter 6 Using Transistors to Build Logic Gates Chapter 7 Alternative Numbering Systems Chapter 8 Binary Arithmetic Chapter 9 Boolean Algebra Chapter 10 Karnaugh Maps Chapter 11 Slightly More Complex Functions Chapter 12 State Machines Chapter 13 Analog-to-Digital and Vice Versa Section 2: Components and Processes Chapter 14 Integrated Circuits (ICs) Chapter 15 Memory ICs Chapter 16 Programmable ICs Chapter 17 Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) Chapter 18 Circuit Boards Chapter 19 Hybrids Chapter 20 System-in-Package (Sip) and Friends Chapter 21 Alternative and Future Technologies Section 3: Design Tools and Stuff Chapter 22 General Concepts Chapter 23 Design and Verification Tools Appendix A Assertion-Level Logic Appendix B Positive Logic versus Negative Logic Appendix C Reed-M ller Logic Appendix D Gray Codes Appendix E Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) Appendix F Pass-Transistor Logic Appendix G More on Semiconductors Appendix H Rounding Algorithms 101 Appendix I Pass-Transistor Logic Appendix J An Interesting Conundrum Abbreviations and Acronyms Glossary Index *Written in conversational, fun style that has generated a strong following for the author and sales of over 14,000 copies for the first two editions *The Third Edition is even bigger and better, with lots of new material, illustrations, and an expanded glossary *Ideal for training incoming engineers and technicians, and for people in marketing or other related fields or anyone else who needs to familiarize themselves with electronics terms and technology