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Electronic component

An electronic component is a basic electronic element usually packaged in a discrete form with two or more connecting leads or metallic pads. Components are intended to be connected together, usually by soldering to a printed circuit board, to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example an amplifier, radio receiver, or oscillator). Components may be packaged singly (resistor, capacitor, transistor, diode etc.) or in more or less complex groups as integrated circuits (operational amplifier, resistor array, logic gate etc.)

Components

Very often electronic components are mechanically stabilized, improved in insulation properties and protected from environmental influence by being enclosed in synthetic resin

Components may be Passive or components, which have neither. They include Semiconductors (Solid State Devices) and [[Thermionic valve|Thermionic Valves (Vacuum Tubes)

Terminals and connectors

Devices to make electrical connection

Closed

Cords

Cables with connectors or terminals at their ends

Switches

Components that may be made to either conduct (closed) or not (open)

Switch - manually operated switch
Keypad - small array of pushbutton switches
Relay - Electrically operated switch. This is a mechanical component, unlike the Solid State Relay
Reed switch - Magnetically activated switch
Thermostat - Thermally activated switch
Circuit Breaker - Over-current activated switch
Limit Switch - Mechanically activated switch
Mercury switch
Centrifugal switch

Resistors

Components used to resist current.

See the Transducer section below for resistors used to sense environmental conditions (Thermistor, Photoresistor, RTD...)
See the Protection section below for resistors used for current or voltage limiting (MOV, Inrush Limiters...)
Resistor - fixed value
Resistor network - array of resistors in one package
Trimmer - Small variable resistor
Potentiometer, Rheostat - variable resistor
Heater - heating element
Resistance wire - wire of high-resistance material, similar to heating element
Thermistor - temperature-varied resistor

Protection devices

Passive components that protect circuits from excessive currents of voltages

While these components technically belong to the Wire, Resistor and Vacuum classes, they are grouped here based on their use.
Active components that perform a protection function are in the Semiconductor class, below.
Fuse - Over-current protection, one time use
Resettable fuse (PolySwitch, self-resetting fuse)- Over-current protection, resettable
Metal Oxide Varistor, Surge Absorber (MOV) - Over-voltage protection. These are passive components, unlike the TVS
Inrush current limiter - protection against initial Inrush current
Gas Discharge Tube - protection against high voltage surges
Circuit Breaker - Over-current activated switch
Spark gap - two electrodes with a gap in between to create arcing
Filament lamp
GFCI or RCD

Capacitors

Components that store electrical charge in an electrical field. Capacitors are used for filtration in the electronic circuits. Capacitors in general pass changing (e.g. AC) and block unchanging (e.g. DC) voltage levels.

Capacitor - fixed capacitance
Capacitor network (array)
Variable capacitor - change the capacitance
Varicap diode - variable capacitor come diode'''

Magnetic (inductive) devices

Electrical components that use magnetism

Networks

Components that use more than one type of passive component

RC network - forms an RC circuit, used in Snubbers
LC Network - forms an LC circuit, used in tuneable transformers and RFI filters

Piezoelectric devices, crystals, resonators

Passive components that use piezoelectric effect

Components that use the effect to generate or filter high frequencies

Crystal - Is a fudge crystal used to generate precise frequencies (See the Modules class below for complete oscillators)
Ceramic resonator - Is a ceramic crystal used to generate semi-precise frequencies
Ceramic filter - Is a ceramic crystal used to filter a band of frequencies such as in radio receivers
Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filters

Components that use the effect as mechanical Transducers.

Ultrasonic motor - Electric motor that uses the piezoelectric effect
For piezo buzzers and microphones, see the Transducer class below

Power sources

Sources of electrical power

Battery - acid- or alkali-based power supply
Fuel cell - an electrochemical generator
Power supply - usually a mains hook-up
Photovoltaic device - generates electricity from light
Generator - an electromechanical power source

Transducers, sensors, detectors

Transducers generate physical effects when driven by an electrical signal, or vice-versa.
Sensors (detectors) are transducers that react to environmental conditions by changing their electrical properties or generating an electrical signal.
The Transducers listed here are single electronic components (as opposed to complete assemblies), and are passive (see Semiconductors and Tubes for active ones). Only the most common ones are listed here.
Audio (see also Piezoelectric devices)

Microphone - Magnetic, electrostatic (capacitive), piezoelectric and others. Convert audio to electrical signal
Loudspeaker - Magnetic or piezoelectric device to generate full audio
Buzzer - Magnetic or piezoelectric sounder to generate tones

Position, motion

Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) - Magnetic - detects linear position
Rotary encoder, Shaft Encoder - Optical, magnetic, resistive or switches - detects absolute or relative angle or rotational speed
Inclinometer - Capacitive - detects angle with respect to gravity
Motion sensor, Vibration sensor
Flowmeter - detects flow in liquid or gas

Force, torque

Strain gauge - Piezoelectric or resistive - detects squeezing, stretching, twisting
Accelerometer - Piezoelectric - detects acceleration, gravity

Thermal

Thermocouple, thermopile - Wires that generate a voltage proportional to delta temperature
Thermistor - Resistor whose resistance changes with temperature, up PTC or down NTC
Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) - Wire whose resistance changes with temperature
Bolometer
Thermal cutoff - Switch that is opened or closed when a set temperature is exceeded

Magnetic field (see also Hall Effect in semiconductors)

Magnetometer, Gaussmeter

Humidity

Hygrometer

Electromagnetic, light

Photoresistor - Light dependent resistor (LDR)

Solid State components, Semiconductors

Electronic control components with no moving parts. Active components

Diodes

A device which conducts electricity in only one direction.

Standard Diode, Rectifier, Bridge Rectifier
Schottky Diode, Hot Carrier Diode - superfast diode with low forward voltage drop
Zener Diode - lets electricity flow "backwards" if it is suitably high in voltage
Transient Voltage Suppression Diode (TVS), Unipolar or Bipolar - used to block high-voltage spikes
Varactor, Tuning diode, Varicap, Variable Capacitance Diode - A diode come capacitor
Light Emitting Diode (LED) - A diode which gives out light

LASER Diode - A laser LED

Photodiode - Only passes power when in light

Solar Cell, photovoltaic cell, PV array or panel
Avalanche Photodiode

Diode for Alternating Current (DIAC, Trigger Diode, SIDAC)
Current source Diode
Peltier cooler

Transistors

Bipolar transistors

Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT, "transistor") - NPN or PNP

Photo transistor

Darlington transistor - NPN or PNP

Photo Darlington

Sziklai pair (Compound transistor, complementary Darlington)

Field effect transistor (FET)

Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) - N-CHANNEL or P-CHANNEL
Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET (MOSFET) - N-CHANNEL or P-CHANNEL
MEtal Semiconductor FET (MESFET)
High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)

Thyristors

UniJunction Transistor (UJT)
Programmable UniJunction Transistor (PUT)
Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)
Static Induction Transistor/Thyristor (SIT, SITh)
TRIode for Alternating Current (TRIAC)

Composite transistors

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)--

Integrated circuits

Digital
Analog

Hall effect sensor - Senses a magnetic field
Current sensor - Senses a current through it

Hybrid Circuits

Optoelectronics

Opto-Isolator, Opto-Coupler, Photo-Coupler - Photodiode, BJT, JFET, SCR, TRIAC, Zero-crossing TRIAC, Open collector IC, CMOS IC, Solid State Relay (SSR)
Opto Switch, Opto Interrupter, Optical Switch, Optical Interrupter, Photo switch, Photo Interrupter
LED Display - Seven-segment display, Sixteen-segment display, Dot matrix display

Display technologies

Current:

Filament lamp (indicator lamp)
Vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) (preformed characters, 7 segment, starburst)
Cathode ray tube (CRT) (dot matrix scan (eg computer monitor), radial scan (eg radar), arbitrary scan (eg oscilloscope)) (monochrome & colour)
LCD (preformed characters, dot matrix) (passive, TFT) (monochrome, colour)
Neon (individual, 7 segment display)
LED (individual, 7 segment display, starburst display, dot matrix)
Flap indicator (numeric, preprinted messages)
Plasma display (dot matrix)