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Glossary<br />

squarewave a signal which oscillates between two fixed<br />

voltages.<br />

stabilise to produce a fixed d.c. voltage from a smoothed<br />

one.<br />

three-rail power supply a power supply which has a positive<br />

supply rail, a negative supply rail, and a 0 V supply rail.<br />

time constant (t) the product of the capacitance and the<br />

resistance in a capacitor/ resistor charging or discharging<br />

circuit.<br />

track the fixed resistive part of a potentiometer.<br />

transfer characteristic a graph of collector current against<br />

base current (for a transistor in common emitter mode).<br />

transistor a three layer semiconductor device, which may<br />

consist of a thin P-type layer sandwiched between two layers<br />

of N-type (as in the NPN transistor), or a thin layer of<br />

N-type material between two layers of P-type (as in the PNP<br />

transistor).<br />

transition voltage the knee or sharp corner of a diode characteristic<br />

when forward biased.<br />

volt standard unit to measure electrical potential difference.<br />

Symbolised by V.<br />

voltage potential difference — the flow pressure of<br />

electricity.<br />

277

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