Understanding Basic

Analog - Passive Devices

Application
Report

July 1999 Mixed Signal Products

SLOA027
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 Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Resistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Variable Resistors or Potentiometers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Inductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Signal or Rectifier Diodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Component Tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

List of Figures
1 Resistor Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Potentiomenter Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Capacitor Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4 Inductor Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5 Diode Equivalent Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Understanding Basic Analog – Passive Devices iii

iv SLOA027
 Understanding Basic Analog – Passive Devices

By Ron Mancini

ABSTRACT
This application report describes passive devices such as resistors, capacitors,
and inductors that are required to build an electronic circuit along with active
devices. A well-designed circuit consists of passive devices selected to obtain
specified performance.

Introduction
Passive devices are the resistors, capacitors, and inductors required to build
electronic hardware. They always have a gain less than one, thus they can not
oscillate or amplify a signal. A combination of passive components can multiply
a signal by values less than one, they can shift the phase of a signal, they can
reject a signal because it is not made up of the correct frequencies, they can
control complex circuits, but they can not multiply by more than one because they
lack gain.

All the glory goes to the sophisticated high gain amplifiers, but they are useless
without the resistors and capacitors which control their gain. Good circuit design
practice demands accurate and stable amplifiers, but active devices are by
nature unstable, so they are tamed with passive components. Feedback is
employed in almost all circuit designs to insure that the circuit performance is a
function of the passive rather than the active components.

Passive devices are neglected in the rush to complete the design of an electronic
system. Many engineers select passive devices as an afterthought; they just pick
them from a list of standard components. Although this practice is adequate for
some circuits, it does not suffice in the demanding world of high-frequency
amplifiers, precision sample-holds, data converters, or other demanding circuits.
The hardware designer must select adequate passive components to obtain
specified performance in demanding applications.

The selection criteria for passive devices is as demanding as the applications for
which they are used. The first selection criterion for passive components dictates
that they be accurate and stable to insure proper circuit performance. After this
criterion is satisfied, there are further requirements for low cost, small size, and
surface-mounting, which must be met to satisfy the design specifications.
Accuracy normally dictates larger size, so the accuracy requirement and the
small size requirements often conflict. New surface-mount components are being
introduced each day; thus, the design engineer is in a constant search to find
accurate and stable passive components which meet all the criteria.

1
 Detailed specifications including definitions of parasitic components are
available from the various component manufacturers. Usually a call, letter, or
email to one of these manufacturers requesting application information results in
a flood of responses. The applications information should contain detail about the
components, equations, dimensions, and graphs of salient parameters,
photographs, tolerances, mechanical dimensions, and reliability data. If a
component manufacturer cannot or will not send you this information, switch to
a different manufacturer.

Resistors
There are many different resistors available for use, but only a few of them are
satisfactory for accurate, stable, or high-frequency circuits. The first group of
resistors includes the wirewound and composite power resistors; these resistors
have too much stray inductance and capacitance to be usable at high
frequencies. Because these resistors are made of wire which changes value
when the temperature rises (either from self-generated heat or an external heat
source), they have very poor temperature drift coefficients.
Most carbon film resistors have less stray capacitance and inductance, so they
are usable at higher frequencies, but they are limited to about one percent
accuracy. In addition, carbon film resistors tend to drift with temperature and
vibration. Carbon composition resistors have lost their popularity to carbon film
resistors because of the cost difference, but they are still used in many
applications. It is reasonable to assume that a carbon composition resistor will act
much like a carbon film resistor.
Metal film resistors share the stray inductance and capacitance problem with
carbon films, but to a lesser extent. Metal film resistors come in smaller initial
tolerances approaching 0.5%, and they are more stable under temperature and
vibration extremes. Tolerances of 0.1% and lower are hard to achieve, but there
are specialty houses which make precision resistors with tolerances below 0.1%
on a daily basis.
Film resistors have pretty good noise performance, but some of the old carbon
composition types had outstanding noise performance. When noise performance
is a critical specification in a design, the resistor selection becomes very
complicated. The problems associated with leaded resistors are complicated
when working with surface mount resistors because of the their small size. Some
very good surface-mount resistors have come on the market lately, but the
surface-mount selection still leaves a lot to be desired.
Inexperienced engineers assume that a resistor is just a resistor, but it is a very
complicated circuit as Figure 1 illustrates. LL simulates the inductance of each
lead. CP is the capacitance across the resistor; thus, it appears to be in parallel
with the resistor. CP is about 0.5 pF for a 250 mW resistor.

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 Ideal Resistor
R

CP

LL R/2 R/2 LL

CG Noise

Figure 1. Resistor Equivalent Circuit

CG is a capacitance formed by the resistor body and the ground plane, and it, like
the rest of these stray effects, is a distributed effect. It can be modeled as a
capacitor connected to ground from the center of the resistor because its value
is small. Depending on the physical size of the resistor, CP ranges from 0.01 pF
on up to 0.5 pF. The stray effects are reduced as the size of the resistor is reduced.
Surface-mount resistors have the best high frequency performance primarily
because of their small size. The equation for a resistor when it is used in a circuit
is given in equation 1, where V is the voltage across the resistor, and I is the
current flowing through the resistor.

R + VI (1)

Variable Resistors or Potentiometers

Potentiometers (often called pots) are used to adjust the voltage or current at
some point in a circuit. When tolerances stack up or when the specifications for
a component can not be predicted accurately, pots are used to adjust out the
tolerances. This adjustment enables the designer to obtain the correct circuit
parameter regardless of tolerances. The overuse of potentiometers is often a
sign of poor design because there are sophisticated methods for compensating
for drift and tolerances. Some equipment such as projection displays use many
adjustments to correct for mechanical deficiencies in the display system and
these adjustments can not be designed out.

Pots have all the problems associated with fixed resistors, and they exacerbate
some of them while introducing new ones. Pots are notorious for drifting under
temperature, vibration, or other forms of stress. The connection from the resistive
element to the lead is critical in fixed resistor design, and resistor manufacturers
have become so good at making the connection that it is not considered a
problem. The wiper on a pot must slide across the resistive element; thus, a good
firm connection is impossible leading to a relatively high resistance connection.
The best pots use films for the resistor elements, thus the wiper slides across a
film where it is easier to make a low resistance connection. Beware, there is a
maximum current allowed through the wiper, and either the circuit design or an
external fixed resistor must be used to limit the wiper current to a safe value.

Understanding Basic Analog – Passive Devices 3

 Systems that use large numbers of pots are converting to digital to analog (DAC)
converters. DACs come eight and twelve to a package, and their cost is becoming
equivalent to that of a pot. The adjustments are made through the keyboard or
through a production test fixture. Smart systems self calibrate on start-up thus
eliminating the need for pots.
Pots are used in two major applications: as voltage dividers for setting a reference
voltage and as variable resistors, and both of these applications are shown in
Figure 2. The voltage divider application uses the pot to set a reference voltage.
The circuit shown in Figure 2 is a popular voltage divider application, and when
the load resistance is much greater than the pot resistance, equation 3 represents
the transfer function.
VREF
OUT

(1–α) RP IN
RP VOUT

α RP
IN OUT

Used to Set a Reference Voltage Used as a Variable Resistor

Figure 2. Potentiomenter Applications

RP + αR ) (1 * α)R + R
P P P
(2)
The pot is divided into two parts α and (1–α).

V OUT +V REF (1 *
αR P
α)R P ) αR + αV
P
REF for R L ơR P
(3)

This is a very popular application for pots, and the reference input voltage must
be very stable because the circuit is controlled by the reference. The reference
voltage source should by well decoupled with a good grade capacitor to localize
noise and keep it from spreading to other circuits.
Variable resistor applications can be very subtle, but the first thing to remember
is that the pot has a limited current carrying capability. Do not connect the variable
resistor configuration between the power supply and ground even if it connects
through a semiconductor junction. When the variable resistor configuration is
connected across a power supply or battery (even through a semiconductor
junction), a series resistor must be inserted in the circuit to limit the current flow
to a safe value.

Capacitors
The capacitor impedance is a function of frequency; at low frequencies the
capacitor blocks signals, and at high frequencies the capacitor passes signals.
Depending on the circuit connection, the capacitor can pass the signal to the next
stage, or it can shunt it to ground. The impedance of a capacitor varies with
frequency as shown in equation 4.

XC + 2p1fC (4)

4 SLOA027
All capacitors have a self–resonant frequency where the parasitic lead and
dielectric inductance resonates with the capacitor in a series resonant circuit.
Essentially, the capacitor impedance decreases until it reaches self-resonance
where it is minimum impedance. The capacitor goes to lunch at frequencies
higher than self resonance because the parasitic inductance causes it to
becomes inductive, increasing the impendance; hence, capacitors are not
dependable near their self-resonant frequency.
Aluminum electrolytic capacitors have a very low self–resonant frequency, so
they are not effective in high frequency applications above a few hundred kHz.
Tantalum capacitors have a mid range self-resonant frequency, thus they can be
used up to several MHz. Beyond several MHz, ceramic and mica capacitors are
the best choice because they have self-resonant frequencies ranging into the
hundreds of MHz. Beware; there are a lot of inexpensive ceramic capacitors on
the market with poor high-frequency performance.
Very low frequency and timing applications require another set of stable
capacitors. The dielectric of these types of capacitor are made from paper,
polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyester. These capacitors have low leakage
current, low dielectric absorption, and they come in large values.
Referring to Figure 3, L models the lead and internal inductance of the capacitor.
Except for dielectric materials such as ceramic and mica, the internal inductance
is dominant at high frequencies. In high frequency capacitors the lead inductance
can be approximated as 1/12 nh per foot. The combination of internal and lead
inductance causes the capacitor to become self-resonant, and at frequencies
above resonance the capacitor will appear to be an inductor. High-frequency
applications demand capacitors with high self-resonant frequencies and short
leads which is why surface-mount capacitors are used so often in high frequency
circuit design.
RP

L ESR
C

Figure 3. Capacitor Equivalent Circuit

The actual value of the capacitor is C. Equivalent series resistance (ESR) is the
effective resistance of the capacitor at the operating frequency. It is an important
parameter when high currents are involved. Power supply filter design requires
low ESR capacitors because voltage is dropped across the ESR, and the current
flowing through the capacitor causes power dissipation resulting in self heating.
ESR is not an important parameter in the design of high frequency or signal
processing circuits, thus ESR is only specified for aluminum electrolytic and
tantalum capacitors.
The parallel resistance of a capacitor is modeled by RP. This resistance is a
function of the operating voltage and capacitor temperature; hence, it drifts quite
a bit. Electrolytic capacitors exhibit the lowest parallel resistance, and aluminum
electrolytic capacitors are often modeled with a parallel current source in place
of RP. Other types of capacitors have a relatively high RP ranging in the hundreds
of megohms.

Understanding Basic Analog – Passive Devices 5

Inductors
The primary use for inductors is filtering. There are two very different types of filter
inductors: the high current inductor wound around a large core is used in power
supply filters, and low current air core inductors are used in signal filters. The
impedance of an inductor varies with frequency as shown in equation 5.

XL + 2pfL (5)

High current inductors require cores to keep the losses within acceptable limits
and to achieve high performance. The cores are big and heavy, so they are a
large contributor to cost, weight, and size. Switching power supplies require
extensive inductors or transformers to control the switching noise and filter the
output voltage waveform.

Low current inductors are used for filters in signal processing circuits. Capacitors,
used in circuits which simulate inductors, replace inductors where possible
because they are less expensive and readily available, but there are a few
applications that inductors excel in. An inductive/capacitive filter has sharper
slopes than a resistive/capacitive filter, thus it is a more effective filter in some
applications. In general, inductors are rarely seen outside power circuits.

The inductor model, see Figure 4, is rather simple consisting of the inductor, L,
the series resistance, RS, and the parallel capacitance, CP. The series resistor
lowers the Q, or quality factor of the inductor. Inductors are wound with wire
whose size determines the series resistance. The wire size also determines the
weight and number of turns that can be wound on a core, so series resistance
versus inductance is always a compromise that the manufacturer must make.
The parallel capacitance degrades the inductor performance at high frequencies
because it turns the inductor into a parallel resonant circuit. The range of CP
values is very large because of the many sizes and shapes of inductors.
L RS

CP

Figure 4. Inductor Equivalent Circuit

Signal or Rectifier Diodes

Diodes must be biased to be used, and often the circuit using the diode provides
the bias. Forward biased diodes have the most positive voltage applied to their
anode, while reversed biased diodes have the most positive voltage applied to
their cathode. Forward biased diodes pass current (current is defined as the
movement of positive charges) in the forward direction which is the direction of
the arrow, and reverse biased diodes block current flow. Forward biased diodes
exhibit a low resistance, and reverse biased diodes exhibit a high resistance.

6 SLOA027
 It takes a small voltage to forward bias the diode, but as the current flow
increases, its voltage drop quickly rises to approximately 0.6 volts for a silicon
diode and 0.2 volts for a germanium diode. The voltage drop is a function of the
bias current, but these approximations suffice for the majority of applications.
Equation 6 is not an equation that you will use very much, but it describes the I/V
relationship in a diode. Note that the I/V relationship is exponential.
qV F
IF +I e KT
SAT
(6)

When the diode is forward biased, the voltage drop, VF, is shown as a battery (see
Figure 5).The diode resistance, re, is also a function of the forward current, and
it is approximated by the equation re = 26/I, where I is in milliamps. This
approximation of re holds over a wide current range. When the diode is reverse
biased the forward current is zero, and the equation says that re equals infinity.
This is not exactly true, but the relationship is too complicated for this discussion.
A simple way out of the trap is to include the current source, IL, which models a
reverse biased leakage current. The leakage current is voltage and temperature
sensitive, so it is best to use diodes which have very low leakage currents.

re
VF

CP
IL

Figure 5. Diode Equivalent Circuit

A diode is used to make a positive peak detector by letting the signal forward bias
the diode and storing the resultant voltage on a capacitor. Lesser voltages do not
forward bias the diode, so they are ignored. When a diode is forward biased it is
low resistance so it can pass a signal, and when it is reverse biased, the diode
is high resistance thus it blocks the signal. The forward biased current is limited
by connecting a resistor in series with the diode.
Diodes take a finite amount of time to turn on and turn off. Some of this time results
from the carrier physics internal to the diode, and some of this time results from
the parallel capacitance, CP. Depending on the diode and the bias conditions, CP
ranges from a fraction of a pF for small switching diodes to a few hundred pF for
power diodes. Remember, diodes have switching times that may have to be
accounted for.

Component Tolerances
All passive components have initial tolerances, and no prudent engineer would
design a circuit without considering tolerances induced by the circuit. The list of
tolerances includes initial tolerance, temperature drift, aging, vibration, stress,
and several others which are beyond the scope of this application note. The
tolerance discussion is simplified by experience which yields rule of thumb
tolerances which can be added to the initial tolerances.

Understanding Basic Analog – Passive Devices 7

 Double the initial tolerance for resistors to allow a safety margin. Use 1% initial
tolerance resistors as 2%, 2% initial tolerance resistors as 4%, and 5% initial
tolerance resistors as 10%. There really is not much reason to use resistors with
larger initial tolerances than 5%.
Capacitors, except for electrolytic and tantalum, follow the same rule as resistors.
Both electrolytic and tantalum capacitors are polarity sensitive, so they must not
be reverse biased even for short periods. Electrolytic capacitors have tolerances
in the 20%, –80% percent range. Doubling these large tolerances is prohibitive,
thus the application of the electrolytic capacitor determines its tolerance.
Tantalum capacitors also need special care, and the application determines their
tolerance, but doubling the initial tolerance works in most applications.
Miniature inductors used in high frequency work should have their initial
tolerances tripled. Core inductors are extremely application sensitive, so no
general rule can be given for their tolerances.

Summary
There are many different components which are not discussed. The components
not covered include several types of diodes such as Schottky diodes, Zener
diodes, tunnel diodes, selenium diodes, and others. The discussion does not lose
much because of the components not covered, rather it enables us to focus on
the components used in 99% of the applications.
Resistors control current flow by resisting it. A capacitor’s impedance is a function
of frequency; it blocks dc and passes ac signals. Inductors are seldom used.
Diodes block reverse current and pass forward current. When diodes are forward
biased their resistance is low, and when they are reverse biased their resistance
is high.
All components have initial and application tolerances which must be accounted
for.

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