Discrete & Passive Components
Discrete Components
An elementary electronic device constructed as a single unit. Before the advent of integrated circuits (chips), all transistors, resistors, capacitors and diodes were discrete. Discrete components are widely used in amplifiers and other electronic products that use large amounts of current. On a circuit board, they are intermingled with the chips, and there is hardly any electronic product that does not have at least one or two discrete resistors or capacitors
Passive Components are ones which cannot introduce net energy into the circuit they are connected to. They also cannot rely on a source of power except for what is available from the (AC) circuit they are connected to.Among passive components are familiar two-terminal components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transformers.
Active Components rely on a source of energy (usually from the DC circuit, which we have chosen to ignore) and are usually able to inject power into a circuit although this is not part of the definition. This includes amplifying components such as transistors, triode vacuum tubes (valves), and tunnel diodes. |
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Hybrid Designer's Toolbox
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