Matthew Spencer - Harvey Mudd College

Administration

Syllabus
Discord Server
The gradebook and confidential course materials are on Canvas
The weekly schedule for the class is outlined in the table below.
We do have a lab the Friday before spring break, and you are expected to attend.
The final will take place in the standard scheduled time slot.

A Standard Week

Monday	Midnight	Finish videos for lecture
Tuesday	Lecture	Take a quiz, maybe a mastery problem, work on lab
Wednesday	Midnight	Turn in lab notebook, Finish videos for lecture
Thursday	Lecture	Take a quiz, debrief the lab, maybe a mastery problem
Friday	9AM	Start lab with supervision, finish on your own

The main delivarable for each lab is a lab notebook. Lab notebooks will be maintained by each team. Submit exported notebooks on Canvas by 11:59 PM on Wednesdays. Be sure your notebook includes the "required data" listed in the lab.
Example Lab Notebook for this Example Lab
Design projects are less structured than labs and span multiple weeks. The deliverable for a design project is a filled-in project template. The templates are linked below.
Design Project 1 Report Template [docx] and Rubric [xlsx]
Design Project 2 Report Template [docx]
Bolded dates indicate "mini-labs" for which the lab notebook is due at the end of the lab session.

Due	Manual	Lab Name	Scope Lesson at Start of Lab
1/25	Lab 01	Loading and the Mystery Box	Probe care, RLC meter, 1x/10x Setting
2/01	Lab 02	Diode Current Measurements	Supply & Measure Precision, Loading
2/08	Lab 03	Measuring BJT Parameters	Coupling, Invert, BW Limit
2/15	Lab 04	Common Emitter Amplifier	Spotting instability, Decap, Layout
2/29	DP1	Design Project 1 (2 wks)	Trigger modes, Cap types, THD
			Hold Off, "Add Noise" on Fn. Gen.
3/01	Lab 05	MOSFETs, Mirror, Active Load	XY Mode, Transfer Characteristics
3/08	Lab 06	References vs. Temp and Vdd	Averaging and Persistence
		Spring Break
4/04	Lab 07/08	Dynamics (2 wks, Cesar Chavez)	L+C Pickup, Coupling, Grounding
4/11	Lab 09	Op-Amp 1: Differential Amp	Diff Measurements, Poor Man's Balun
4/18	Lab 10	Op-Amp 2: Output Stage	Squaring for Power, Power Ratings
4/26	DP2	Design Project 2 (2 wks)	Sync, Line Trigger, Injection Locking

You demonstrate mastery of a skill by taking a mastery question (an exam-style question) at a time of your choice in class or office hours. Mastery questions are taken with closed notes.
No partial credit is available, the answer has to be right to demonstrate mastery. However, you can sometimes reuse your work if I ask you to take a second run at a question, which often happens when an algebra error messed you up early in the process.
After each mastery question attempt I will hold a conference with you to debrief your answer.
You may attempt mastery questions as often as you'd like. The "Last Call" column of the table indicates when you should make your first attempt at a mastery question on the given topic to be "on schedule". However, that column is not binding, you can take these questions at your own pace. You are generally prepared to answer a mastery question by the lecture before the last call.
You can lose mastery points by having incomplete mastery questions at the end of the semester or by having three or more mastery questions "open" (either unattempted prior to last call or attempted and unfinished) at once, indicating that you are far behind the class schedule.

Last Call	Skill
1/23	Find the step response of a non-trivial RC network
1/30	Find bias point of diode circuit and calculate differential resistance
2/06	Find the bias point of a BJT circuit and calculate small signal parameters
2/13	Make an amplifier model out of a given circuit by conducting small signal analysis
2/20	Calculate the amplifier parameters for a multi-stage amplifier using single-stage amplifier equations
2/27	Analyze the bias point and gain of a circuit with an active load
3/19	Find the bias point of a MOSFET circuit and calculate small signal parameters
3/26	Calculate a sensitivity or temperature coefficient for a given circuit
4/02	Use open circuit time constants to estimate the bandwidth of an amplifier
4/09	Make a differential model of an amplifier and calculate common-mode or differential parameters
4/16	Predict operational amplifier properties (gain, input bias, slew rate) from a schematic
4/23	Use phase margin to assess the stability of an amplifier in feedback

Each lecture is a series of videos (abbreviated V) posted on Youtube.
Each video has an associated set of slides (abbreviated S) and a structured note-taking handout (abbreviated H). It is also paired with a reading from Grey & Meyer (G&M) that covers roughly the same material if you'd like another perspective.
There will be a quiz at the start of each class on the associated lecture material. It will be taken individually, then again in teams.

Date	Links	Title	G&M section
1/16	H	Introduction	No book
1/18	V S H	Review of dynamics and Thevenin	3.1 (ish)
1/23	V S H	Introduction to Diodes	1.2
1/25	V S H	Diodes in Circuits	No book
1/30	V S H	Introduction to Bipolar Junction Transistors	1.3.{1-3}
2/01	V S H	BJTs in Circuits and PNP Devices	1.4 (ish)
2/06	V S H	Common Emitter Amplifiers and Biasing	3.3.1
2/08	V S H	Amplifier Design Process and Voltage Swing	No Book
2/13	V S H	Multistage Analysis, Emitter Follower	3.3.8
2/15	V S H	CE w/ Degeneration, Small Signal Patterns	3.3.6
2/20	V S H	Common Base Amplifiers and Cascodes	3.3.{3,5}
2/22	V S H	Active Loads	4.2.{1-3,5}
2/27	V S H	Current Mirrors	4.2.{1-3,5}
2/29	V S H	MOSFETs	1.5-6
3/05		Midterm
3/07	S H	Band Gaps and Current Sources	4.4 (selected)
3/12		Spring Break
3/14		Spring Break
3/19	V S H	Dynamic Model of BJT	1.2.1, 1.4.{2,7,8}
3/21	V S H	CE Dynamics and Miller	7.2.1
3/26	V S H	Open and Short Circuit Time Constants	7.3.{1,2,4}
3/28	V S H	Cascode, Mirror, EF/CB Dynamics	3.4.2.1, 7.2.2-3
4/02	V S H	Differential Pairs	3.5.{1-2, 4-6}
4/04	V S H	More Differential Pairs	3.5.6, 7.3.4
4/09	V S H	Output Stages	5.{1,2,4}
4/11	V S H	Op-Amp Design	6.2, 6.8 (ish)
4/16	V S H	Amplifiers in Feedback	6.1.{1-4},9.{2-3}
4/18	V S H	Oscillators	See TI Note
4/23		Review	No Book
4/25		Special Topic	No Book