Chapter 12: Transients in Second-order Circuits vocab

Transient State

The temporary behavior of a circuit after a change and before it reaches steady state.

Initial Condition

The stored capacitor voltage and inductor current just before a circuit changes.

Final Value

The value a circuit variable approaches after the transient ends.

Settling Time

The time needed for a response to become and remain sufficiently close to its final value.

Lossless Oscillation

Continuous energy exchange between a capacitor and inductor with no energy dissipation.

Transient Validity

The condition that a digital output has reached and will remain at its required valid logic level.

Settled Logic Level

A valid output logic voltage that remains within its correct voltage range after all ringing ends.

Exponential Envelope

The decaying curve that bounds the peaks of an oscillating transient.

Second-Order Circuit

A circuit with two independent energy-storage elements.

Lossless Circuit

A circuit with no elements that dissipate energy.

Undriven Circuit

A circuit with no independent source supplying external energy.

Natural Response

The response caused by energy initially stored in a circuit.

Forced Response

The response caused by an external input source.

Characteristic Equation

An equation that describes a circuit’s natural dynamic behavior.

Natural Frequency

A frequency determined by the roots of the characteristic equation.

Undamped Natural Frequency

The oscillation frequency of an ideal LC circuit with no energy loss.

Resonance Frequency

Another name for the undamped natural frequency of an LC circuit.

Damped Natural Frequency

The oscillation frequency of an underdamped circuit with energy loss.

Damping Factor

A parameter that measures how quickly transient amplitudes decay.

Underdamped

A circuit response that oscillates while gradually decreasing in amplitude.

Critically Damped

A response with no oscillation that returns to equilibrium as quickly as possible.

Overdamped

A response with no oscillation and a slower return to equilibrium.

Ringing

Decaying oscillation after a circuit input changes.

Quality Factor

A measure of how lightly damped a resonant circuit is.

Characteristic Impedance

The ratio of peak capacitor voltage to peak inductor current in an LC circuit.

Series RLC Circuit

A circuit with resistor, inductor, and capacitor connected in series.

Parallel Resonant Circuit

A circuit where capacitor and inductor behavior creates resonance through a parallel connection.

State-Variable Analysis

A method that solves a circuit using differential equations for its stored-energy states.

Coupled Differential Equations

Multiple differential equations in which each equation depends on variables from the others.

Oscillation

Repeated variation caused by energy transferring between storage elements.

Energy Exchange

The repeated transfer of stored energy between a capacitor and an inductor.

Zero-Input Response

Response caused by initial stored energy with all external drives set to zero.

Zero-State Response

Response caused by external inputs when initial stored energy is zero.