Introduction to Modern Digital Electronics is an undergraduate textbook for electrical and computer engineering students that is dedicated solely to digital CMOS electronics. It covers the same topics as graduate level textbooks, but in an introductory style specifically crafted (and course tested) for undergraduates. Students will not need a prerequisite in analog electronics, allowing instructors flexibility in course scheduling. While there are several textbooks which include both analog and digital electronics and are used for both courses, their digital modules continue to focus attention on outdated bipolar and nMOS logic. Introduction to Modern Digital Electronics teaches the fundamentals of modern CMOS technology by focusing on central themes and avoiding overwhelming details. Extensive examples, self-exercises, and end-of-chapter problems assist in teaching the current practices of industry and subjects taught by graduate courses in microelectronics. Computer engineering curriculums can remove the analog electronics prerequisite altogether when adopting this book.
The flow of material begins with a review of previous courses in circuit and logic theory relevant to digital electronics. Elementary semiconductor physics then gives students an intuitive feel for how diodes and transistors work, followed by chapters on transistors and how they are combined to make simple logic gates. The book then shows how transistor logic circuits are designed from the logical Boolean equations that form the initial launch of a design, with designing for lower power consumption as a priority subject. Introduction to Modern Digital Electronics is also unique in that it presents timing, the most difficult of the computer designer's tasks, and an issue that is avoided by all other textbooks. The remaining chapters describe memory, metal thermal and capacitive properties, FPGAs, layout, and then concludes with a chapter on how circuits are made in a chip factory.