IITM BS Electrical and Electronic Circuits (EE1103): Syllabus and Tips

Electrical and Electronic Circuits (EE1103), usually called EEC, is a 4 credit foundation course in the IITM BS in Electronic Systems. You learn to analyse linear circuits over time and across frequencies, and then meet diodes and transistors. You need ESTC (EE1101) and Math for Electronics I (MA1101) before it. Both handbook tables agree on this.

The syllabus lists three instructors: Prof. Sankaran Aniruddhan and Prof. Boby George of the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Prof. R. S. Ashwin Kumar.

What you learn in EEC

The syllabus has 8 weeks. The stated goal is to analyse linear circuits in the time and frequency domain, with an introduction to 2 and 3 terminal nonlinear devices.

• Weeks 1 and 2: circuit tools. A review of resistors, capacitors, inductors, coupled coils and sources, including dependent sources. Then nodal and mesh analysis, Thevenin and Norton equivalents, and how circuits react when switched. After that, AC signals, phasors and complex impedance.
• Weeks 3 to 5: the frequency view. The Laplace (frequency) domain, frequency response, Bode plots, and poles and zeros. Then RLC circuits and the quality factor.
• Weeks 6 and 7: power and networks. Complex power and three-phase systems. Then linear two-port networks and network theorems.
• Week 8: nonlinear parts. Diodes and transistors.

The suggested books are Engineering Circuit Analysis by Hayt, Kemmerly and Durbin (8th edition) and Microelectronic Circuits: Theory and Applications by Sedra, Smith and Chandorkar (7th edition).

Worked-out sheets, lab and kit

• EEC is one of four foundation courses where you upload photos of your written working with each assignment. The sheets are not graded, but they are checked at random. See worked-out assignment submissions.
• The Electronics Laboratory (EE1105) lists EEC as a corequisite. Its first four weeks (two-port networks, resonance, first order response and nonlinear devices) follow EEC closely.
• The handbook names EEC as one of the courses where the ES lab kit is used most.

The syllabus does not give a grading formula for this course.

Who finds it hard and how to prepare

EEC is a big step up from ESTC. ESTC builds ideas through devices and experiments. EEC moves quickly into complex numbers, Laplace transforms and Bode plots, and students who are weak in maths feel it first.

• Before week 1, revise complex numbers and first order differential equations from Math for Electronics I. Its capacitor charging example is the same kind of problem as the transient analysis in EEC week 1.
• Solve circuits by hand, step by step. Writing the nodal equations yourself is the skill being tested, and you have to upload that working anyway.
• Check every answer with a quick sanity test. At very low and very high frequency, what should a capacitor or inductor do?
• Practise Bode plots on graph paper with a log scale until you can sketch one quickly.
• Do not leave week 8 for the end. Diodes and transistors are new ideas, not more of the same analysis.

What to take before and after

Before: ESTC and Math for Electronics I. The ESTC course page and the Math for Electronics I page cover them. With it or after: the Electronics Laboratory. At the diploma level, EEC is the prerequisite for Signals and Systems (EE2101), and much of the diploma depends on Signals and Systems.

Common questions

Is EEC much harder than ESTC?

Expect it to be. ESTC teaches ideas through devices and experiments. EEC is a full circuit analysis course with Laplace transforms and frequency response. Give it more weekly hours than ESTC.

Can I take EEC and Digital Systems in the same term?

Yes. Neither is a prerequisite for the other. All three suggested study plans put them in the same term, and both are corequisites of the Electronics Laboratory.

What happens if I fail EEC?

The Electronics Laboratory needs EEC as a corequisite, and Signals and Systems needs it as a prerequisite. So a failed EEC can hold up both your second lab visit and your diploma start. See recovering after failing a course.