Circuit Analysis For Dummies

Chapter 20

Ten Technologies Affecting Circuits

In This Chapter

Discovering technologies affecting circuit complexity and analysis

Addressing the future impact on various industries

Circuit analysis involves designing new circuits as emerging technologies mature and become commonplace. And of course, integrating all the components of these new technologies requires circuit analysis. This chapter lists ten exciting technologies used in current and up-and-coming circuits.

Smartphone Touchscreens

The touchscreens found on smartphones use a layer of capacitive material to hold an electrical charge; touching the screen changes the amount of charge at a specific point of contact. In resistive screens, the pressure from your finger causes conductive and resistive layers of circuitry to touch each other, changing the circuits’ resistance. When you locate the capacitance or resistance changes with a coordinate system, you can have multiple fingers controlling the display of the smartphone.

Nanotechnology

In nanotechnology, devices operate at the molecular scale, between 1 and 100 nanometers (the Greek prefix nano- means one-billionth, or 10–9). Research in nanotechnology developed techniques to design and build electronic devices and mechanical structures with atomic-level control. With ...