Hello,
I am an engineer who studied mechanical engineering in undergraduate, but want to have a better hands-on, practical feel for electronics.
My current work involves working with vacuum deposition systems. These systems use DC and RF power supplies to supply energy to plasmas in a vacuum to deposit materials such as thin films.
As an undergraduate, I took a survey course in electrical engineering (EE), but always felt lost in the corresponding lab course. As a graduate student, one of my courses in plasma physics dealt with RF matching networks required to supply power to maintain a plasma discharge. I would like to build some vacuum systems at home, but will need to learn more about power engineering in EE to safely design, hook up and run such a system.
My survey course in EE discussed electronic filters a bit (e.g. band-pass filters), but I never felt comfortable analyzing RF circuits, even though I did pretty good at calculus. Matching networks were even more confusing for me when discussing plasmas.
Does Sparkfun only sell educational kits aimed at primary school students or are there kits sold for learning college-level EE topics? Just trying to figure out where’s the best place for me to start on my journey without plopping down hundreds of dollars on tools I don’t necessarily need yet.
Thank you!
