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Questions and Answers
What is the primary function of a transistor in an electronic circuit?
What is the typical material used to make most transistors?
Who proposed the concept of a field-effect transistor (FET) in 1926?
What is the name of the transistor type invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959?
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What is a characteristic of transistors compared to vacuum tubes?
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What is the main difference between a field-effect transistor and a bipolar junction transistor?
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Who invented the first working transistor in 1947?
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What was the impact of the transistor on the field of electronics?
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What type of vacuum tubes have advantages over transistors at very high operating frequencies or high operating voltages?
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Who invented the thermionic triode in 1907?
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In what year did Julius Edgar Lilienfeld file a patent for a field-effect transistor (FET) in Canada?
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Why did Lilienfeld's solid-state amplifier ideas not find practical use in the 1920s and 1930s?
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Who coined the term transistor as a contraction of the term transresistance?
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What was the outcome of the experiments performed by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at AT&T's Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, from November 17 to December 23, 1947?
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What type of transistors were worked on by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at AT&T's Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, from November 17 to December 23, 1947?
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Who worked to greatly expand the knowledge of semiconductors after observing the potential in John Bardeen and Walter Brattain's experiments?
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Study Notes
Transistor Overview
- A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power.
- It is composed of semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit.
- A voltage or current applied to one pair of terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals.
- Because the controlled power can be higher than the controlling power, a transistor can amplify a signal.
History of Transistor Development
- Physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld proposed the concept of a field-effect transistor (FET) in 1926, but a working device could not be constructed at that time.
- The first working transistor was a point-contact transistor invented in 1947 by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley at Bell Labs.
- The three inventors shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for their achievement.
- Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs invented the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) in 1959.
Transistor Characteristics
- Transistors are generally smaller and require less power to operate compared to vacuum tubes.
- Transistors may have only one kind of charge carrier (field-effect transistor) or two kinds of charge carriers (bipolar junction transistor devices).
- Most transistors are made from very pure silicon, with some from germanium, and sometimes other semiconductor materials.
- Many types of transistors are made to standardized specifications by multiple manufacturers.
Pre-Transistor Era
- The thermionic triode, a vacuum tube invented in 1907, enabled amplified radio technology and long-distance telephony.
- Physicist William Eccles discovered the crystal diode oscillator in 1909.
- Lilienfeld's solid-state amplifier ideas would not have found practical use in the 1920s and 1930s due to the lack of high-quality semiconductor materials.
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Description
Learn about transistors, semiconductor devices used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. Understand their composition, terminals, and voltage control.
