How much of analog circuits before digital circuits?

[blazethrulife]

Hi pf, first time poster, long time lurker.

The question that I have is: how much of analog electronic circuits must you know about before digital electronic circuits (I'm talking about the introductory level for both of these subjects). At my school, they offer a 2-part course in analog electronic circuits and a 1 part course in digital electronic circuits. The descriptions of each course is as follows:

115A. Analog Electronic Circuits I (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, seven hours. Enforced requisite: course 110. Review of physics and operation of diodes and bipolar and MOS transistors. Equivalent circuits and models of semiconductor devices. Analysis and design of single-stage amplifiers. DC biasing circuits. Small-signal analysis. Operational amplifier systems. Letter grading.

115B. Analog Electronic Circuits II (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, eight hours. Enforced requisite: course 115A. Analysis and design of differential amplifiers in bipolar and CMOS technologies. Current mirrors and active loads. Frequency response of amplifiers. Feedback and its properties. Stability issues and frequency compensation. Letter grading.

115C. Digital Electronic Circuits (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, seven hours. Enforced requisites: course 115A, Computer Science M51A. Recommended: course 115B. Transistor-level digital circuit analysis and design. Modern logic families (static CMOS, pass-transistor, dynamic logic), integrated circuit (IC) layout, digital circuits (logic gates, flipflops/latches, counters, etc.), computer-aided simulation of digital circuits. Letter grading.

The EE department recommends that I take Analog Electronic Circuits II (115B) before I take Digital Electronic Circuits (155C), but I was wondering if it would be okay for me to just skip the Analog Electronic Circuits II and just move on to Digital Electronic Circuits? Will I be at an annoying disadvantage during the course or will I do fine? Thanks for your input!

 

[AlephZero]

Trying to read between the lines, it looks like 115A is mostly about linear circuit design and analysis . I guess 115B may be most useful for the "transistor-level digital circuit analysis" part of 115C, since digital circuits are rarely linear.

For the later topics in 115C, it depends it is more focused on how to use standard digital circuit coponents like flip-flops etc as part of a system, or on how to design and analyse the compoents at the level of individual transistors.

I would guess that a first digital course would probably be more about "how to use" than "how to design", but that's just my guess.

 

[clope023]

Hi pf, first time poster, long time lurker.

The question that I have is: how much of analog electronic circuits must you know about before digital electronic circuits (I'm talking about the introductory level for both of these subjects). At my school, they offer a 2-part course in analog electronic circuits and a 1 part course in digital electronic circuits. The descriptions of each course is as follows:

115A. Analog Electronic Circuits I (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, seven hours. Enforced requisite: course 110. Review of physics and operation of diodes and bipolar and MOS transistors. Equivalent circuits and models of semiconductor devices. Analysis and design of single-stage amplifiers. DC biasing circuits. Small-signal analysis. Operational amplifier systems. Letter grading.

115B. Analog Electronic Circuits II (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, eight hours. Enforced requisite: course 115A. Analysis and design of differential amplifiers in bipolar and CMOS technologies. Current mirrors and active loads. Frequency response of amplifiers. Feedback and its properties. Stability issues and frequency compensation. Letter grading.

115C. Digital Electronic Circuits (4)
Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour; outside study, seven hours. Enforced requisites: course 115A, Computer Science M51A. Recommended: course 115B. Transistor-level digital circuit analysis and design. Modern logic families (static CMOS, pass-transistor, dynamic logic), integrated circuit (IC) layout, digital circuits (logic gates, flipflops/latches, counters, etc.), computer-aided simulation of digital circuits. Letter grading.

The EE department recommends that I take Analog Electronic Circuits II (115B) before I take Digital Electronic Circuits (155C), but I was wondering if it would be okay for me to just skip the Analog Electronic Circuits II and just move on to Digital Electronic Circuits? Will I be at an annoying disadvantage during the course or will I do fine? Thanks for your input!

Unless the digital electronics course goes into the construction of the logic gates themselves you don't need to have taken analog circuits before digital circuits.