Principles of Transistor Circuits, Eighth Edition: Introduction and guide to the design of amplifiers, function generators, receivers and digital circuits [Paperback]

S W Amos (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0750619996 | ISBN-13: 978-0750619998 | Publication Date: June 1, 1994 | Edition: 8

For over thirty years, Stan Amos has provided students and practitioners with a text they could rely on to keep them at the forefront of transistor circuit design. This seminal work has now been presented in a clear new format and completely updated to include the latest equipment such as laser diodes, Trapatt diodes, optocouplers and GaAs transistors, and the most recent line output stages and switch-mode power supplies.

Although integrated circuits have widespread application, the role of discrete transistors is undiminished, both as important building blocks which students must understand and as practical solutions to design problems, especially where appreciable power output or high voltage is required. New circuit techniques covered for the first time in this edition include current-dumping amplifiers, bridge output stages, dielectric resonator oscillators, crowbar protection circuits, thyristor field timebases, low-noise blocks and SHF amplifiers in satellite receivers, video clamps, picture enhancement circuits, motor drive circuits in video recorders and camcorders, and UHF modulators. The plan of the book remains the same: semiconductor physics is introduced, followed by details of the design of transistors, amplifiers, receivers, oscillators and generators. Appendices provide information on transistor manufacture and parameters, and a new appendix on transistor letter symbols has been included.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This seminal work, now presented in a clear new format, has been completely updated to include the latest devices such as laser diodes, Trapatt diodes, optoisolators, GaAs transistors, as well as the most recent line output stages and switch-mode power supplies.'
Elektor Electronics

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Newnes; 8 edition (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750619996
• ISBN-13: 978-0750619998
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,325,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Edited how did this ever make it to 9th edition?, May 14, 2005

By 

P. Beach (Dallas TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Principles of Transistor Circuits, Ninth Edition (Paperback)

The text and math of this book seem fair untill you try to match up what the text talks about with the figures. There are times when the text refers to figures that don't exsist or refers to the wrong figure. There are figures that are suppose to have a part a and part b. The text compares the 'difference' but there is only one figure and no parts a or b. Overall a very confusing book.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT introduction to transistor usage, but old notation, July 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Principles of Transistor Circuits, Ninth Edition (Paperback)

This book is a *wonderful* introduction to the understanding, analysis, and design of transistor circuits. The mathematics in this book is kept to a comfortable level and practical circuits are emphasised over the abstract transistor theory that's used in many textbooks.

However, I cannot give this book 5 stars because of one flaw: the notation used in all the schematic diagrams is outdated. For example, resistors are marked with boxes rather than the more common zigzag lines. Also, digital circuit diagrams do not use the arrow/bullet notation, opting for a more difficult-to-read box for each logic function.

Another drawback with this book is that FETs don't get treated in the same amount of depth as bipolar junction transistors. While BJTs are still in common use, FET circuits (particularly CMOS digital and analog ICs) are rapidly becoming commonplace and deserve additional treatment.

These limitations should not keep you from enjoying this book if you wish to learn all about transistors.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, but poorly published., May 27, 2006

By 

Giles Siddons - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Principles of Transistor Circuits, Ninth Edition (Paperback)

I was looking for a book that addressed small-signal discrete transistor amplifiers, and this book does that very well. The topics presented are all presented clearly and fairly thoroughly. However, I can barely believe that in its 9th edition the volume is published so amazingly poorly. Text in figures (component values, current labels, etc.) is often completely illegible, suffering from severe pixellation and degradation, the likes of which I have seen from poorly inlined PostScript images into TeX typesetting. This is no exaggeration -- the letters cannot be read, they're just little blobs of grey. Furthermore, a key figure in the chapter describing DC biasing of FETs (fig. 6.13) is accidentally split into two separate figures rather than having an a) and b) -- this throws the figure numbering off for the rest of the chapter, which was really confusing until I realized the error.

Summarizing, the text of the book is very good. The actual printed product is low-quality and slipshod. If you can work around the shortcomings, it's a valuable learning tool.