Transistor

The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device which can be used for amplification, switching, voltage stabilization, signal modulation and many other functions. It acts as a variable valve which, based on its input voltage, controls the current drawn by it from a connected voltage supply.

Importance

The transistor is considered by many to be one of the greatest inventions in modern history, ranking in importance with inventions such as the printing press, the automobile and the telephone. It is the key active component in practically all modern electronics. Its importance in today's society rests on its ability to be mass produced using a highly automated process (fabrication) that achieves vanishingly low per-transistor costs.

Related Topics:
Printing press - Automobile - Telephone - Electronics - Fabrication

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Although millions of individual (known as discrete) transistors are still used, the vast majority of transistors are fabricated onto microchips (or simply chips) along with diodes, resistors and capacitors to produce complete electronic circuits. Analog or digital and sometimes both types of function are integrated on the same chip. The cost of designing and developing a complex chip is quite high, but when spread across typically millions of production units the individual chip cost is minimized. A logic gate comprises about 20 transistors whereas an advanced microprocessor, as of 2005, can use as many as 289 million transistors.

Related Topics:
Microchips - Diodes - Resistors - Capacitors

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The transistor's low cost, flexibility and reliability have made it an almost universal device for non-mechanical tasks, such as digital computing. Transistorized circuits are replacing electromechanical devices for control of appliances and machinery as well, because it is often less expensive and more effective to simply use a standard integrated circuit and write a computer program to carry out the same mechanical task using electronic control than to design an equivalent control function mechanically.

Related Topics:
Electromechanical - Computer program

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Because of the low cost of transistors and hence digital computers, there has come the trend to digitize information. With digital computers offering the ability to quickly find, sort and process digital information, more and more effort has been put into making information digital. Much media today is delivered in digital form, finally being converted and presented in analog form by computers. Areas influenced by the Digital Revolution are television, radio and newspapers.

Related Topics:
Digitize - Digital - Digital Revolution - Television - Radio - Newspaper

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