Electronics Lecture 1 Electric Current

1.1 Introduction historical context

The effects of electric charge have been known since 600 BC from studies by
Thales, who demonstrated static electricity when amber was rubbed (the Greek word
for amber is elektron), although electric shocks from catfish were recorded by the

Electric eel Benjamin Franklin Alessandro Volta Georg Ohm

Egyptians nearly 5000 years ago. Electricity or electric current was investigated in
the mid-18th century by Benjamin Franklin, allegedly with a kite and some nearby
lightning. Significant progress was made by 1800 when Alessandro Volta
demonstrated the first battery made from a pile of alternate zinc and silver discs,
separated by cardboard soaked in brine (in his spare time he discovered methane).
The 19th century saw great discoveries by Faraday (the relationship between electric
and magnetic fields) and Ohm, and the realisation by Edison, Tesla and
Westinghouse that electricity had significant commercial possibilities. The UK
electronics industry is the fifth largest in the world, is worth about 55 billion and
accounts for over 12000 businesses involved in: machinery components
(microprocessors), telecomms equipment (electronic switching, sources/detectors),
consumer electronics (white goods: washing machines, TVs, microwaves), medical
equipment (MRI scanners, dialysis machines), instrumentation (cars, laboratories),
process control (chemical industry, transport), optical and photographic equipment
(digital cameras, storage), electronics system design and
photonics (lasers, laser processing, lighting). This list is not
exhaustive but serves as a reminder of how much electronics
affects our daily lives.
But perhaps the greatest scientific insight came from James
Clerk Maxwell in 1864 who showed, in a very concise manner
James Clerk-Maxwell

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using only four equations, that electric and magnetic fields are interconnected. That
is, a time varying electric field generates a magnetic field and vice versa. For
instance if you were able to shake a magnet a thousand trillion times per second you
would generate light. Maxwells equations underpin our understanding of light (and
by inference, radio, microwaves and infrared) and its interaction with solids. New
topics such as metamaterials, plasmonics and the pursuit of invisibility cloaks rely on
solving Maxwells equations for different geometries.
Whereas Electric circuits covers simple combinations of resistors, capacitors and
inductors and will form the major part of this course, Electronics more properly
refers to the control of current in semiconductors and includes diodes and
transistors, first demonstrated in the mid-20th century. The pace of electronics
development has been extremely rapid and is probably best gauged by the ubiquity
of computers in our lives. The processor is the large silver square in the picture and
it contains many millions of transistors which can be
individually addressed and are able to perform
mathematical operations at astonishing speeds. Since the
number of transistors in these processors increases
exponentially with time (Moores law) it is thought that
eventually the size of an individual transistor, already at the
nanometre scale, will be limited by the near atomic Computer motherboard

behaviour of the semiconductors, dielectrics and interconnects (wires).

Consequently current research is looking to perform very complicated mathematical
operations at the quantum level, using single photons or trapped electron spins the
so-called quantum computer based on qubits rather than transistors. For further
information consult the fount of all knowledge Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity#History

1.2 Definition of current

Our starting point for this course is current designated I; current is the rate of flow of
electric charge, Q:
Q
I= Amperes (= Coulombs/s) (1.1)
t

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The charges can be ions in an electrolyte (like a battery) or a gas discharge (like a
fluorescent strip light) but for most solids it is the movement of electrons that
generates current. Each electron carries a negative charge of 1.60210-19 coulombs
and the unit of current, the ampere, is defined as the passage of 1 coulomb of
charge (about 61018 electrons) per second along a metal wire. Such large numbers
are difficult to comprehend but to give you an idea, this number is greater than the
age of the universe in seconds.

1.3 Metallic conduction

Metals are crucial to electronics; they are conducting, reasonably abundant (mined
from ores), ductile and easily made into wires. Solids are held together by bonds
linking the atoms and many solids adopt a periodic spacing or
lattice to accommodate the atoms (shown as small black dots in
figure 1.1). One of the most important metals used in electric
circuits is copper. Its lattice is called face-centred-cubic (fcc)
which has an atom at each corner of the cube and also one in the
Figure 1.1
middle of each face. The fcc lattice constant, a (edge length of
the cube) for Cu is 0.361 nm. Each Cu atom has 29 electrons arranged in shells (or
orbits) and designated by quantum numbers. The first 28 electrons occupy complete
shells which are strongly bound to the copper nucleus. The outermost valence
electron is not so strongly bound; it cannot see the nucleus because it is shielded
by all the other electrons. In solid Cu the atoms are so close together that the outer
valence orbits begin to overlap and the valence electrons cannot be considered to
belong to an individual atom. Consequently they are free to move around and are
available for conduction. They are said to be delocalised. These are the electrons
that will move in response to an applied voltage. This is an example of metallic
bonding where positively charged Cu ions are immersed in a sea of electrons, the
solid being electrically neutral. Using the lattice constant it is possible to calculate the
number of free electrons in one m3 of Cu to be ~ 81028.

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1.4 Drift velocity and the origins of resistance

Figure 1.2 shows a length L of metal wire with voltage

E V applied between the ends, generating a uniform

electric field E along the wire. We will look in more

q detail in the next lecture at the origins of voltage but

for now well assume that an electron is subjected to a
V force of -Eq (where q is the charge on the electron)

Figure 1.2 where E=V/L. E is a vector and lies along the direction
shown in the diagram from the positive potential
(anode) of the battery to the negative potential (cathode). The convention for the
direction of current is that positive charges move along the direction of E. Electrons
have a negative charge and will travel in the opposite direction but the direction of
current is the same.
Applying Newtons law of motion F=ma the electron should accelerate in the electric
field, but just as an object falling in a gravitational field reaches a terminal velocity
(due to a drag force air resistance), so an electron attains a drift velocity, vd. This is
reasonable since constant acceleration would result in an increase in current with
time. What causes the drag force which limits the velocity here? If we were able to
see inside the metal the movement of the electrons would be rapid and apparently
random. This is due to them having a large thermal energy (youll come across this
later) which manifests itself as a large thermal speed, typically 106 m/s.
Superimposed upon this motion is the drift of electrons due to the applied electric
field. Since the density of electrons is very high they will collide with each other or
with the Cu nuclei that make up the wire. These collisions randomise the direction of
the electrons and limit the net speed in the direction of the electric field. This is the
origin of Resistance. The energy lost in electron collisions ends up as heat in the
wire.
The diagram shows a short section of copper wire of cross section A. When current
flows in the wire electrons travel along the wire with a drift
vd velocity vd ms-1. The shaded cylinder has length vd, then in
one second all the electrons contained within the cylinder of
A volume Avd will move up the wire. The amount of charge

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contained within the cylinder volume is nqAvd coulombs where n is the number of
free electrons per m3 in copper (given previously as 8.51028 m-3). Since current is
the rate of flow of charge I= nqAvd C/s. We can use this information to estimate vd for
a specific case as follows; suppose a bicycle lamp connected to a battery by copper
wires 1.5 mm thick carries a current of 350 mA when the lamp is lit. Then I = 35010-
3
= 8.510281.610-19(0.7510-3)2vd which gives: vd=1.4610-5 ms-1 or 0.0146
mms-1. This is a surprisingly small value especially when compared with the
electrons thermal velocity.

1.7 Ohms law

In 1827 Georg Ohm showed empirically that the resistance, R, of a conductor is

given by R=V/I where V is the applied voltage and I the measured current.

Material (m) [K1] R=

V
(1.2)
Silver 1.59108 0.0038 I
Copper 1.72108 0.0039 (1.2)
Gold 2.44108 0.0034 Ohms law is probably the most important law
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Aluminium 2.8210 0.0039 in electronics and the one you are most likely
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Tungsten 5.6010 0.0045 to use. Resistance is measured in and a
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Zinc 5.9010 0.0037
1 resistor will carry a current of 1A when a
Nickel 6.99108 ?
voltage of 1V is applied across its ends.
Iron 1.0107 0.005
Tin 1.09107 0.0045
Platinum 1.06107 0.00392 1.8 Resistivity
Lead 2.2107 0.0039
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Manganin 4.8210 0.000002 A wire with a large cross-sectional area has
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Constantan 4.910 0.000 008 more electrons to carry the current whilst for
Mercury 9.8107 0.0009
longer wires there will be more scattering
Nichrome 1.10106 0.0004
events as the electron travels through the
Carbon 3.5105 0.0005
Germanium 4.6101 0.048 material. Thus we expect the resistance of a
Silicon 6.40102 0.075 wire to vary directly on length L, and inversely
Quartz 751016 with area A, so that RL/A. The constant of
proportionality is called resistivity, and

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 L
R= (1.3)
A
Where the units of are m. The resistivity of some metals, semiconductors and
insulators is shown in the table. The range is huge and reflects the ease with which
electrons become delocalised (or how tightly bound they are to their parent atoms).
Copper is the most commonly used highly conducting metal; we can estimate the
resistance of a 1 m length of copper wire of diameter 1.5 mm using (1.3) to be
0.009. This is a very small value and indicates that copper wire provides very little
opposition to the flow of current and explains why it is commonly used to connect
components in electric circuits.
Resistivity also varies with temperature (we can understand this as an increase in
thermal velocity which results in an increase in the rate of collisions) such that
(T)=0[1 + (T T0)] (1.4)
Here 0 is the value of resistivity measured at T0 (usually this is room temperature)
and is the temperature coefficient of resistivity; it is positive for most metals.
Manganin, an alloy of copper, nickel and manganese and Constantan, an alloy of
copper and nickel are special cases where ~0 and they are used to manufacture
standard resistors. Nichrome is an alloy of nickel and chromium which has a high
resistivity, a high melting point and a low rate of oxidation, making it ideal for use as
heating elements in toasters, hair dryers etc.

1.9 Current Density

For a wire of length L and cross-sectional area A attached to a battery of voltage V

(1.2) and (1.3) can be combined with V=EL to obtain an alternative form of Ohms
law which involves the current density J = I/A:
J = E (1.5)
Where the conductivity , is defined as the inverse of resistivity (metals like Cu
have small resistivities but large conductivities). has units (m)-1 known as
Siemens, S in honour of Ernst Werner von Siemens, the inventor and industrialist.

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 Important Equations
Current: I = Q/t
Electric field in a wire of length L: E=V/L
Resistance R =L/A (L is length, A is wire cross section)
Resistivity = 1/ ( is conductivity)
Temperature dependence (T)=0[1 + (T T0)]
Current density J = E

The acid test:

1. When you switch on a torch (flashlight) is the amount of current flowing out of
the bulb less than, greater than or equal to the current that flows into the
bulb?
2. The supply to a 100 Watt household lamp consists of a 1mm thick copper
wire. The wire carries a current of 3A. Find the magnitude of the current
density, J in the wire and the drift velocity of the electrons.
[3.82106 A/mm2, 0.28 mm/s]
3. Using the values given in question 2 and the value of for copper given
earlier calculate the value of the electric field, E, in the wire and the potential
difference V between the ends of the wire if it is 1.5 m long.
[0.0657 V/m, 0.1 V]
4. Why are conventional light-bulbs encased in glass and evacuated? Would you
expect the resistance of the filament of the light-bulb to increase or decrease
when the lamp is switched on?
5. An AA type battery is rated at 3000 milliamp-hours (mAh). What is the total
charge that an AA battery can deliver during its lifetime? [10800 C]