Rating: Summary: This is the Best "INTRODUCTORY" text to the field Review: I have seen a few reviews where people have criticized the book for not discussing noise, feedback and other advanced topics in great detail. Let me first address them by saying that this book has always been intended to be an INTRODUCTORY text to the field of microelectronic circuits. This book is the stepping stone to this complex field and after familiarizing yourself with the material in this book you will have no problem reading other advanced texts in this subject. If you were to read more advanced texts where a detailed explanation of the basic concepts is not given and the author assumes you have had an introductory course in the subject, this book can be very useful for a quick review of the fundamentals. This book is useful for any electrical engineer who wants to review his fundamental knowledge in microelectronics. If one wants a more advanced knowledge in this field there are many other advanced texts but this is the best introductory book I have ever read and highly recommend it to the other users.....
Rating: Summary: The Bible of Electronics Fundamentals + more Review: I have used this book in 3 courses and have seen the transformation of all editions. Having been taught by both authors at the University of Toronto, I can easily say that they both have an unparalleled grasp of microelectronics and where it is headed. At first it may seem a bit daunting but I do not know any student that doesn't always refer to it. It's value lies in the fact that it was written, revised and designed in a University environment where feedback from students and colleagues has made it the most thorough textbook I have ever owned. It is definitely THE book to read if you wish to understand the fundamentals of electronic design, both from a theoretical and practical point of view.
Rating: Summary: A quintessential text for aspiring engineers Review: I should start by saying that I'm not an electrical engineer - I'm a chemical engineer by schooling and only dabble in electrical design for fun, or to tackle problems I have to solve. That said, this book is my number one shelf reference for fundaments of analog design. Sedra and Smith lay groundwork for more advanced texts, present clear, efficient examples, and give just enough text to keep the problems moving.This is an engineering text, tried and true, and I've not had any difficulty working the problems in the chapter ends after reading through the text and examples. Maybe my engineering background was better than most of the other readers, but Sedra and Smith seemed to do a fine job in getting me the information I needed to get the job done. Mine's getting worn enough I may have to buy a new copy...
Rating: Summary: impractical and incomplete Review: I've been designing circuits for 10 years, and Sedra and Smith was the first electronics text I used. It might be the de facto introductory text in Canadian (and other) universities, but it's not really a good place to start learning. S&S proposes several completely impractical circuits, like two open-loop cascaded high-gain op-amps. It does not discuss current and voltage references in nearly enough detail and glosses over temperature and supply dependence. The treatment of feedback amplifiers is unnecessarily complex and yet not rigorous enough. Though the book implies that circuit noise is a problem, it does not discuss how noise is generated in circuit, nor how to calculate its effect. But circuit noise is the most fundamental problem facing designers. The problem is that S&S is dated. It was never strong on circuit theory fundamentals, and now its examples are out-of-date. It offers little or no insight into analog integrated circuits. This is not the right book to use if you want to learn either circuit theory or practical circuit design. For operational (transconductance) amplifier design, I would recommend Laker and Sansen's book, Design of Analog Integrated Circuits and Systems.
Rating: Summary: It depends! Review: In my theory the reason behind the great success of this book is that it is written for students in the way students like! As a matter of fact, learning from Sedra might be as tedious or maybe impossible as learning Greek from a Spanish text assuming that you know neither! It starts with bode plots and Op-amps. If you really have no idea about the very basic circuits and circuits' analysis (mesh analysis and node analysis) you will have a big trouble reading this book!
The text assumes that you understand the theory of operation of the reactive components and how for e.g. the RLC different configurations really work. Surly, if you are already familiar with the basic concepts of circuits' analysis you will find yourself enjoying the time all through the text.
However, the text is thorough by nature as it covers Op-amps, basic electronics (p-n junction and transistors), analog electronics and lastly digital electronics. Not every thing is perfect and ideal just like every text. Needless to say it is written by a human!
As a student, this text has a huge number of `solved' problems and exercises for you to practice which is preferred by students as it is the best way to check their understanding of concepts.
The Op-amps are thoroughly covered in the very beginning of the text which might not be preferred by those die hard bottom to up students. Despite the fact that Op-amps are not relevant before the analog electronics part it gives the reader motivation to go further in the subject. However, it connects your signals background with the analog implementation in such a comprehensive way that makes you need no other text whenever you are designing some Op-Amp based circuit which ,in turn, make this part a very useful part to consult whenever you are refreshing your memory beside that it is good and to the point to learn from!
For the first part of the text (Basic electronics), the presentation of information is not just intuitive, it is also a practical as it makes you see the big picture and not focused on the solid state physics which are taught in more advanced courses. In this part, the fast overview on solid state physics and the first time student friendly coverage of the analysis and design of simple circuits filled with a collection of relevant problems test some times the student insight and some other times the student knowledge of the theory make the student able to adapt with more advanced topics as fast as it is required for those increased pace courses. Moreover, it exposes the student to some advanced topics related with the industry which might motivate readers.
The Analog part of the text covers almost all topics needed in the undergraduate level as it covers thoroughly advanced topics like frequency response, filter design, Power amplifier classes and also there is one nice chapter devoted for Op-amp complete design.
The digital part is slightly covered compared with the analog part this text is more devoted to. It assumes that you are familiar with the very basic topics of electronics for e.g. Boolean algebra, logic gates ...etc. Although the digital part is not as thorough, the eye opener style gives the reader the ability to detect potential problems in digital integrated circuits in various ways as it gives you an example of implementing some digital integrated circuit then walks with you through it step by step then gives you the chance to see the problem then it solves it with you then shows you the modified (enhanced) circuit and do it the same way till you reach the best one that can resist noise, ground instability to some extent,overcome switching problems, ...etc; this is done in no more than two iterations! At some points you might find the technology used in some digital implementation is not as up to date as you might expect from a such a big text e.g. DTL; however, it rather gives you the creativity of the circuit designer than showing you the `free' latest technology journal! Which ironically is irrelevant as it depends on much more topics those are not covered in this volume!
To summarize this: if you are an undergrad. Student I strongly recommend this text to use all through the basic electronics course if and only if the course's topics are covered in the first part. Also, I would recommend this text on Analog electronics course which I find this text superior in the area to other texts I read (more than 3). As for digital electronics course I would recommend you use it as a supplementary text since it gives you some examples more involved with electronics than digital design concepts. Moreover, in such case I would recommend some other text like Tocci or Mano. Nevertheless, in my view, the text that would match Sedra in its analog part but in digital part is Rabaey.
As a circuits design professional (lucky you to have such a rare profession today!) this text would help you as long as you wont exceed the scale that make you think more about physics!
The bottom line is: This book will never be a waste of neither time nor money.
Rating: Summary: Useful Book for MicroElectronics Review: Its a good book with rich examples, quality questions and PSPICE simulations. I would recommend to read this book if you have a knowledge of 'Basic Circuit Analysis'. A good reference book for Electrical and Computer Engineers.
Rating: Summary: US Engineering Student Review: Regardless of the simple fact that Canadian students learn it faster because Canada's such a great engineering country....We learn the material in this book over 3 semesters and even then we don't cover the whole book. So I don't think pace is the problem. That said, I agree with others who wrote that this book leaves much to be desired, espcially for the student who wishes to learn for the first time. The examples are too simple and are not even explained at times. Sometimes they just give the question and the answer with no written solution. This is no different than end of chapter problems with the answers in the appendix. When they do give examples, often times they skip all the intermediate steps and jump right to the final equation. This book might be good if you have an understanding of the subject to start with and are just reading the book for the conceptual material. But forget it if you want to learn step by step problem solving without the constant help of an instructor to fill in the missing pieces.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Review: The book is Excellent.Although, the Solutions Manual is horrible, buy the book but no the KC's Problems and Solutions.
Rating: Summary: Old Fashioned Review: This book Cover the Fundaments of Electronics for Electronics Engineering Students - If you could solve all its sheets You will be able to understand any thing you study in this field even Manufacturing Tachnologies and VLSI/ULSI.
Rating: Summary: The Bible of Electronics Review: This book is all you need: If you want insight into the field of electronics as a hobbyist, technician or a professional engineer, this book is for you. It has complete coverage of basic electronic devices and circuits, analog circuits, and digital circuits. The book can also be used for self-study, but it can be hard to follow straight through since it's really organized more like a reference book than a textbook. If you're thinking about continuing your study of electronics on a more advanced level, this book will give you solid preparation. A word of advice: at some points in the book, the explanations are extremely clear and lucid; at other points the explanations are vague, and always where you least expect it! To get around this, solve as many example problems and exercises as possible, and the "fine points" of the explanations will become crystal clear. As you know, this is true for any engineering discipline, but it seems like the example problems were designed specifically to clarify the occasional "vaguenesses" of the text.
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