3. Read the text. Find words and phrases that describe changes in modern electronics. Modern electronics

I

The rapid growth of modern electronics is truly a phenomenon. All of the things you see in the marketplace today that utilize electronics either did not exist before 1960, or were crude by today’s standards. The use of electronic devices has now become a fundamental requirement for society to function. Some of the many examples of modern electronics in the home include computers (desktop, laptops and servers), monitors, televisions, printers, scanner/fax/copy machines, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, medical devices and electronics used in automobiles. Many industries have been founded, and older industries have been revamped, because of the availability and application of modern electronics in manufacturing processes, as well as in electronics products themselves.

Modern electronics is based on the transistor and its offspring – the integrated circuit and the microprocessor. These have short-circuited much of traditional electronic theory, revolutionized its practice, and set the whole field off on several new paths of discovery. The development of integrated circuits has revolutionized the fields of communications, information handling, and computing. Integrated circuits reduce the size of devices and lower manufacturing and system costs, while at the same time providing high speed and increased reliability.

Other developments include the digitalization of audio signals, where the frequency and amplitude of an audio signal are coded digitally by appropriate sampling techniques, that is, techniques for measuring the amplitude of the signal at very short intervals. Digitally recorded music shows fidelity that is not possible using direct-recording methods.

Digital playback devices of this nature have already entered the home market. Digital storage could also form the basis of home video systems and may significantly alter library storage systems, because much more information can be stored on a disk for replay on a television screen than can be contained in a book.

II

Medical electronics has progressed from computerized axial tomography and computerized tomography scanners to systems that can discriminate more and more of the organs of the human body. Devices that can view blood vessels and the respiratory system have been developed as well. Ultrahigh definition television also promises to substitute for many photographic processes, because it eliminates the need for silver.

Today's research to increase the speed and capacity of computers concentrates mainly on the improvement of integrated circuit technology and the development of even faster switching components.

Very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits that contain several hundred thousand components on a single chip have been developed. Very-high-speed computers are being developed in which semiconductors may be replaced by superconducting circuits using Josephson junctions and operating at temperatures near absolute zero.

New electronic component technologies with advanced capabilities and features are enabling the development of smaller, faster and more compact devices. Significant new components include low-power parts, real-time digital signal processors (DSP), field-programmable gate array (FPGA) control and fiber optics. Also, advanced technologies such as wireless, GPS, Smartphone and machine-to-machine interface are having a transformative impact on most industries. New low-power components combined with new circuitry and battery technology enable enhanced development of innovative handheld and portable devices. These component and system improvements extend battery life, reduce product size, lower costs, increase safety and require fewer battery changes throughout the lifetime of a device.