Electronics & Electech

What is Electronics and Electech ?

Electronics

Electronics is a broad scientific and engineering discipline that deals with the control of electric current, particularly through active devices like transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits. It’s fundamentally about manipulating electrons and other electrically charged particles to create devices and systems that perform various functions.

Key aspects of electronics include:

  • Study of Electron Behavior: Understanding how electrons move and behave in different materials (conductors, insulators, and especially semiconductors).
  • Circuit Design: Creating circuits by connecting various components (resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors, etc.) to achieve a specific purpose.
  • Signal Processing: Manipulating and transforming electrical signals, which can be analog (continuous) or digital (discrete).
  • Device Development: Designing and fabricating electronic devices, from simple components like LEDs to complex systems like computers and smartphones.
  • Applications: Electronics underpins almost all modern technology, including telecommunications, computing, healthcare, entertainment, automotive, aerospace, and more.

Electech

“Electech” is a more contemporary term used more recently, and can be explained in more detail by the UK Government Electech Report, but it is often used in the context of industry sectors and innovation clusters, particularly in the UK. It’s essentially a condensed way of referring to the electronics and electrical technology sector as a whole

Electech specifically encompasses:

  • Electronics: As described above, including the design and production of electronic hardware.
  • Electrical: Referring to broader electrical systems and components, not just those focused on manipulating individual electrons (e.g., power generation, distribution, and heavy electrical machinery).
  • Power Electronics, Machines and Drives: Reffering to technology often controlled by electronics or electrical technologies that convert electricty into motion, such as motors, or the high power technology needed to control these.
  • Electro-technical hardware: This further emphasizes the physical components and equipment.
  • Embedded software: The low-level software that is programmed directly into hardware to control its functions. These are known as “embedded systems.”

In essence, Electech highlights the interconnectedness and synergistic relationship between electronics, electrical engineering, and the software that brings these hardware systems to life. It emphasizes the innovative industry that produces the foundational technologies enabling virtually all digital and automated processes in modern society.