Electronic Glossary

What’s a Phosphor?   A Phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure …

What’s a Photo Detector?   A Photo Detector, also called Photodetector, Photo Senser, is a sensor of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There is a wide variety of photodetectors, which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric …

The process of forming a circuit pattern image by hardening a photosensitive polymeric material by passing light through a photographic film.

What’s a Photoconductive Cell?   A Photoconductive Cell is a light-sensitive resistor in which resistance decreases with an increase in light intensity when illuminated. These devices consist of a thin single-crystal or polycrystalline film of compound semiconductor substances. The most …

What’s Photoconductivity?   Photoconductivity is an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material becomes more electrically conductive due to the absorption of electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared light, or gamma radiation.   When light is …

What’s a Photodiode?   A Photodiode is a semiconductor p–n junction device that converts light into an electrical current. The current is generated when photons are absorbed in the photodiode. Photodiodes may contain optical filters, built-in lenses, and may have …

What’s Photon?   The Photon (Greek: φῶς, phōs, light) is a type of elementary particle. It is the quantum of the electromagnetic field including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. …

Device used to generate artwork photographically by plotting objects (as opposed to copying an entire image at once as with a camera) onto film for use in manufacturing printed wiring.

Light sensitive material that is applied to the production PCB panel and then used to expose the pattern from the photoplot and developed. The remaining copper that is not covered by resist is etched away leaving only the copper pattern …

What’s a Photoresistor?   A Photoresistor, also known as a Light-dependent Resistor, LDR, or Photo-conductive Cell, is a passive component that decreases resistance with respect to receiving luminosity (light) on the component’s sensitive surface. The resistance of a photoresistor decrease …