Preface to First Edition
The British Standards Institution and the International Electrotechnical Commission have issued a number of publications containing definitions of the terms used in electronics.
The definitions in these published standards are, however, written by experts and intended, chiefly, for use by experts: they are therefore authoritative and brief. Such definitions are not ideally suited to the needs of engineers and technicians who are working in electronics, students who are studying the subject or amateurs interested in it: this dictionary is intended primarily for their benefit.
In this dictionary definitions are supplemented by explanatory material whenever this would seem helpful. Some entries are therefore short essays including diagrams: typical examples are the entries on ‘camera tube’, ‘digital computer’ and ‘thyristor’. There are also short definitions where a single sentence gives all the information likely to be required: the definition of ‘B battery’ is an example.
The standard circuit arrangements used in electronic equipment, such as the Hartley oscillator, are defined in words but are more readily understood from circuit diagrams. A large number of such diagrams are therefore included in this dictionary and the graphical symbols used in them conform with BS 3939.
In the form of presentation adopted definitions are arranged in alphabetical order of the initial letter of the first word. Thus ‘characteristic impedance’ appears under C and not under I. Cross references are provided to draw the reader’s attention to related terms and definitions which should assist understanding and attention is drawn to the most helpful of these by printing them in bold italics. Technical terms used in a definition are normally defined elsewhere in the book. An appendix giving many of the abbreviations and acronyms used in the literature has been added and should serve to guide a reader to the definition of a term known only by its abbreviation.
This dictionary is associated with the ‘Dictionary of Telecommunications’ by S. J. Aries and the ‘Dictionary of Audio, Radio and Video’ by R. S. Roberts. These subjects are closely related with electronics and share many technical terms. For this reason the authors of the dictionaries collaborated during their preparation to prepare a list of technical terms to be defined, to decide in which dictionary each term should appear and what depth of treatment each should receive. North American terminology was fully represented in this list to ensure that the dictionaries have the widest-possible English-speaking readership. It was agreed that some terms for common concepts should appear in all the dictionaries to make them largely self-contained but that detailed explanations of fundamental terms should be confined to the Dictionary of Electronics.
Thanks are due to ITT Semiconductors and Motorola Semi-conductor Products for providing information on short-channel MOS transistors.