Solid-state electrically operated switch also used as an amplifier
For other uses, see Transistor (disambiguation).
Size comparison of bipolar junction transistor packages, including (from left to right): SOT-23, TO-92, TO-126, and TO-3Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), showing gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (white).
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics.[1] It is composed of semiconductor material, usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal. Some transistors are packaged individually, but many more in miniature form are found embedded in integrated circuits. Because transistors are the key active components in practically all modern electronics, many people consider them one of the 20th century's greatest inventions.[2]
Physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld proposed the concept of a field-effect transistor (FET) in 1926, but it was not possible to construct a working device at that time.[3] The first working device was a point-contact transistor invented in 1947 by physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley at Bell Labs; the three shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for their achievement.[4] The most widely used type of transistor is the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959.[5][6][7] Transistors revolutionized the field of electronics and paved the way for smaller and cheaper radios, calculators, computers, and other electronic devices.
Most transistors are made from very pure silicon, and some from germanium, but certain other semiconductor materials are sometimes used. A transistor may have only one kind of charge carrier in a field-effect transistor, or may have two kinds of charge carriers in bipolar junction transistor devices. Compared with the vacuum tube, transistors are generally smaller and require less power to operate. Certain vacuum tubes have advantages over transistors at very high operating frequencies or high operating voltages, such as Traveling-wave tubes and Gyrotrons. Many types of transistors are made to standardized specifications by multiple manufacturers.
^"Transistor". Britannica. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
^"A History of the Invention of the Transistor and Where It Will Lead Us" (PDF). IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS Vol 32 No 12. December 1997.
^"1926 – Field Effect Semiconductor Device Concepts Patented". Computer History Museum. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
^Cite error: The named reference computerhistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Lojek was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference computer history-transistor was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics...
metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET), most commonly fabricated by the...
junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such...
The transistor count is the number of transistors in an electronic device (typically on a single substrate or "chip"). It is the most common measure of...
A transistor is a semiconductor device with at least three terminals for connection to an electric circuit. In the common case, the third terminal controls...
A transistor computer, now often called a second-generation computer, is a computer which uses discrete transistors instead of vacuum tubes. The first...
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized...
/siːmɑːs/, /-ɒs/) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs...
until the transistor provided smaller and higher quality amplifiers in the 1950s. The first working transistor was a point-contact transistor invented...
bipolar transistors with the emitter of one transistor connected to the base of the other, such that the current amplified by the first transistor is amplified...
valves. The first semiconductor transistors in the late 1940s were followed by the silicon-based MOSFET (MOS transistor) and monolithic integrated circuit...
device made up of multiple interconnected electronic components such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. These components are etched onto a small...
field-effect transistor (MuGFET) refers to a metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) that has more than one gate on a single transistor. The...
A thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) is a type of liquid-crystal display that uses thin-film-transistor technology to improve image...
electronic devices or functions, such as wires, batteries, resistors, and transistors, in a schematic diagram of an electrical or electronic circuit. These...
subfield of electrical engineering which uses active devices such as transistors, diodes, and integrated circuits to control and amplify the flow of electric...
"Twisted Transistor" is a song written and recorded by American nu metal band Korn for their seventh studio album, See You on the Other Side. It was released...
Global Information
