This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation
under Grant No. DUE-0336493


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Electronics Symbols

Below are tables with many of the symbols one would encounter in the study of electronics.  The symbols are shown in their more common expression with some alternate expressions included.  This presentation is not exhaustive in that there are many other alternate expressions for many of the symbols and there are many other symbols not shown for practical reasons. The symbols are arranged in the following categories. Click on a category name to move to and back from that group.

Resistors

Sources

Wires, Cables and Connections

Circuit Protection Devices

Switches and Electro-mechanical Devices

Connectors

Inductors and Transformers

Capacitors

Diodes

Thyristors

Transistors

Tubes

Digital Logic

Miscellaneous

 

Resistors

Fixed

Variable (Generic)

Potentiometer

Rheostat

Tapped

LDR - Light Dependant Resistor, Photoresistor, Photoconductive Cell, or Photocell

RTD-Resistive Thermal Device, also for Thermistor 

VDR-Voltage Dependent Resistor, or Varistor

Alternate VDR symbol

Alternate VDR symbol

 

Sources
Single Cell of EMF (DC)    DC Voltage Source or Battery AC Voltage Source DC Current Source Photovoltaic Cell or Solar Cell Generator Piezoelectric Generator or Crystal Thermocouple

 
Wires, Cables and Connections
Wires Crossing Wires Connected Bus Ground Symbols Connections Terminal

Earth or general symbol

Chassis

Circuit

 Female

Male

Joined
Coaxial Cable or Shielded Line Shielded Conductor Shielded Conductor Multiconductor Cable with Jacket Shielded Multiconductor Cable Plug and Socket
 

 

  

 

 
Circuit Protection Devices
Fuse Fuse Thermal Cutout Circuit Breaker Switch Circuit Breaker Multi-line Circuit Breaker

 

 
Switches and Electro-mechanical Devices
Single-Pole Single-Throw SPST Single-Pole Double-Throw SPDT Double-Pole Single-Throw DPST Pushbutton Normally Open (NO), Normally Closed (NC), and Dual Circuit Thermal Switch Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC) Limit Switch Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC) Rotary and Slide Selector Switch
 

 

Telegraph Key Relay or Solenoid Coil Relay with NC contacts Relay with NO contacts Relay Contacts, Normally Open (NO) and dual contacts NO & NC Relay Contacts, Normally Open (NO) and Normally Closed (NC) Motor, Armature and Field Coil
 

 
Connectors
AC Power Plug AC Power Plug     and Jack AC Power Connector AC Power Connector Male Plug and Female Socket Female and Male Coaxial
Phone Jack  (two conductor) Phone Plug          (two conductor) Phone Jack        (three conductor)  Phone Plug     (three conductor) Jack with Switch (various switch arrangements available) Phono or Single Line Jack and Plug

 
Inductors and Transformers
Air Core Inductor or Coil Iron Core Inductor or Coil Coil with adjustable Ferrite Core Air Core Transformer Iron Core Transformer  with phasing dots Ferrite Core Transformer Autotransformer

 
Capacitors
Fixed Capacitor Older Symbol, no longer used, conflicts with relay contacts Electrolytic Capacitor Variable Ganged Split-Stator

 

Diodes
Signal or Rectifier Zener  Zener (Alternates) Schottky Varactor
Rectifier Bridges LED - Light Emitting Photodiode Tunnel Tunnel (Alternates)

 
Thyristors
Diac SCR - Silicon Controlled Rectifier Triac

 

Transistors

  PNP Type Bipolar Junction   Transistor (BJT) 

NPN Type   (BJT)

NPN Phototransistor  (Also available as PNP)

NPN Darlington Transistor     (Available as PNP)

    N-Channel      Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET)   

P-Channel  JFET   

N-Channel Depletion Mode MOSFET P-Channel Depletion Mode MOSFET N-Channel Enhancement Mode MOSFET P-Channel Enhancement Mode MOSFET Dual Gate MOSFET    N-Channel Depletion , (others available ) Unijunction Transistor

Note: Dual gate MOSFETs may also be enhancement mode and P-channel

 

Tubes

Vacuum-tube Diode

Triode

Tetrode

Pentode

Tube elements

 

 

Plate

Grid

Cathode

Filament/Heater
 X-ray Tube Photo Tube Photo Multiplier CRT - Cathode Ray Tube Elements

 

 

Electrostatic Deflection Plates

A dot inside of a tube envelope implies gas-filled.

 

Digital Logic

AND OR Exclusive-OR (XOR) NAND (NOT AND) NOR (NOT OR)
Inverter or NOT Integrated Circuit Schmitt-Trigger Input Flip-Flop Clocked Flip-Flop (JK)

 
Miscellaneous
Incandescent Lamps Neon Bulbs Bell Speakers Microphone Headphones and Headset with Mic

General Amplifier Op Amp Voltmeter (A or mA for current) External Antenna Loop and Monopole Antenna Dipole Antenna

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Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.