Research Report – Transistors
Overview
A transistor is a semiconductor device that amplifies and switches electrical currents. They are the core component of any modern electronic devices, such as computer, telephones and other electronics. Nowadays most transistors are use to produce integrated circuits.
There were a numerous inventions, or problems with the inventions that lead to the birth of the transistor. Radio signals, could be sent carrying information over a long distance away; the only problem was there was no device to receive the signal. This was solved with a rectifying vacuum tube, invented by John Ambrose Fleming. The vacuum tube was added a new component to become an amplifying vacuum tube. Lee De Forest who was an American, invented this amplifying vacuum tube by adding a third electrode, called a grid. The grid’s negative potential controlled the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode. The lower the negative potential of the grid, the more electrons it allowed to flow through the tube, hence producing an amplified current.
This amplifying vacuum tube allowed many new electronic inventions in the early 1900s; such as radios, telephone equipment, televisions and computers. However, size and reliability was a problem with vacuum tubes. For example, the first general-purpose electronic computer, ENIAC, had approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes, which occupied several large rooms and required so much power that could light ten homes. The vacuum tube generates large amounts of heat in order to boil out electrons and often burned out after thousands hours of use. In the case of ENIAC, several tubes burned out almost every two days, leaving it non-functional about half the time.
For applications requiring thousands of tubes or switches, such as the nationwide telephone systems developing around the world in the 1940s and the first electronic digital computers, such as the ENIAC mentioned above, this meant constant vigilance was needed to minimize the inevitable breakdowns.
A transistor is a semiconductor device that amplifies and switches electrical currents. They are the core component of any modern electronic devices, such as computer, telephones and other electronics. Nowadays most transistors are use to produce integrated circuits.
There were a numerous inventions, or problems with the inventions that lead to the birth of the transistor. Radio signals, could be sent carrying information over a long distance away; the only problem was there was no device to receive the signal. This was solved with a rectifying vacuum tube, invented by John Ambrose Fleming. The vacuum tube was added a new component to become an amplifying vacuum tube. Lee De Forest who was an American, invented this amplifying vacuum tube by adding a third electrode, called a grid. The grid’s negative potential controlled the flow of electrons from the cathode to the anode. The lower the negative potential of the grid, the more electrons it allowed to flow through the tube, hence producing an amplified current.
This amplifying vacuum tube allowed many new electronic inventions in the early 1900s; such as radios, telephone equipment, televisions and computers. However, size and reliability was a problem with vacuum tubes. For example, the first general-purpose electronic computer, ENIAC, had approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes, which occupied several large rooms and required so much power that could light ten homes. The vacuum tube generates large amounts of heat in order to boil out electrons and often burned out after thousands hours of use. In the case of ENIAC, several tubes burned out almost every two days, leaving it non-functional about half the time.
For applications requiring thousands of tubes or switches, such as the nationwide telephone systems developing around the world in the 1940s and the first electronic digital computers, such as the ENIAC mentioned above, this meant constant vigilance was needed to minimize the inevitable breakdowns.