As electronics continue to become more advanced, both decreasing in size and phasing out obsolete and unneeded parts for design, the connector remains an indispensable part of system design. For electronic circuits to function, they require connection to various power sources, inputs, outputs, and other external components. Connectors provide for this attachment, coming in a variety of sizes, types, and shapes in order to connect electrical conductors and produce electrical circuits. One connector type in particular, the terminal block, is one that may be found in virtually all sectors, including wiring, rack systems, and other I/O applications.

In computing, a jumper is a pair of prongs used as electrical contact points installed within a computer motherboard or an adapter card. Jumpers are used to open, close, or bypass part of an electrical circuit, and are commonly employed as an alternative to a DIP switch. This blog will explain jumpers, their characteristics, and uses.

With the ever evolving technology of computers, there are often debates on whether it is better to have a HDD or SSD for mass storage. For those unfamiliar with these devices, it may seem confusing of which one is more useful. While they have similar functions, the way that they store data is quite different. Comparing which one is the better choice also becomes difficult as it depends on the functionality desired. In this blog, we will give a short overview of the similarities and differences between these two drives.

In the modern era, most electronics are dependent on printed circuit boards, or PCBs, to contain the various electronic components that allow them to function. These components are held onto the board by solder flux that creates a bond between the pins of a component and their corresponding pads on the PCB, with the main purpose of the solder being to provide electrical connectivity. Soldering and desoldering is performed to install or remove components on a PCB.          

MOSFET stands for metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistor. What sets a MOSFET apart from its transistor counterpart, BJT (bipolar junction transistor), is that it is voltage controlled as opposed to current controlled. This makes a MOSFET more capable to handle high levels of voltage as opposed to a BJT.

The vast majority of electrical systems in the United States are wired and designed for alternating current, or AC. Homes, office buildings, and businesses all run on AC. Most electronics, however, need direct current, or DC, to run properly. There are several different ways to convert AC to DC, but for this blog, we will focus on the use of diode bridges, or bridge rectifiers.

A carbon film resistor is an evolved form of the carbon composition resistor; it is smaller in size and capable of providing much better performance. It is a type of fixed resistor that uses carbon film to restrict an electric current to a certain level. It is constructed by using a ceramic carrier rod onto which a thin layer of pure carbon is deposited as a film. This thin carbon film acts as the resistive element. The ceramic substrate acts as the insulating material to heat or electricity. 

Smartphones know to dim the screen and disable touch interaction before it comes into contact with a user’s ear— and they’re only capable thanks to a photoelectric proximity sensor. Proximity devices can to infer the presence of a variety of objects and materials without direct contact. The most common proximity sensors are inductive, capacitive, photoelectric, and ultrasonic.

Unless you’ve drastically tried to fix water damage on your computer or replaced the cracked screen of your smartphone on your own, you’ve probably never seen what a motherboard looks like or know what all the different parts do. But, if you’ve ever considered going into software engineering or computer science, perhaps you should at least know the difference between some components, for example, the FPGA and the microprocessor.

Memory cards are used every day to suffice all our electronic devices such as cameras, cell phones, and so much more. The most common form of memory is Flash memory because it is non-volatile meaning it can be removed from the device without losing data and reused by overwriting and erasing the data. We will be talking about all the different forms of memory cards and the capabilities.