Transistor

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In electronics, a transistor is a semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals. A transistor is made of a solid piece of a semiconductor material, with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current flowing through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be much more than the controlling (input) power, the transistor provides amplification of a signal.

The transistor is the fundamental building block of modern electronic devices, and is used in radio, telephone, computer and other electronic systems. The transistor is often cited as being one of the greatest achievements in the 20th century, and some consider it one of the most important technological breakthroughs in human history. Some transistors are packaged individually but most are found in integrated circuits.

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News tagged with transistors

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Fujitsu Develops Technology for Low-Temperature Full-Service Direct Formation of Graphene Transistors on Large-Scale Substrates

Fujitsu Develops Technology for Low-Temperature Full-Service Direct Formation of Graphene Transistors on Large-Scale Sub

Technology / Semiconductors

created Nov 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (18) | comments 4

Fujitsu Laboratories today announced, as a world first, the development of a novel technology for forming graphene transistors directly on the entire surface of large-scale insulating substrates at low temperatures ...


Glasgow scientists predict the unpredictable to guide future nano-chip design

Glasgow scientists predict the unpredictable to guide future nano-chip design

Technology / Semiconductors

created Nov 29, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Scientists at the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with colleagues from Edinburgh, Manchester, Southampton and York universities, have developed technology which will help microchip designers create ...


New 'finFETS' promising for smaller transistors, more powerful chips

New 'finFETs' promising for smaller transistors, more powerful chips

Technology / Semiconductors

created Nov 10, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (14) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Purdue University researchers are making progress in developing a new type of transistor that uses a finlike structure instead of the conventional flat design, possibly enabling engineers ...


Running electronics using light

Running electronics using light

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 19, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (19) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- "If you open up almost any electronic gadget, you will see various elements that operating using electric circuitries," Nader Engheta tells PhysOrg.com. "Many of them have different functi ...


Atomtronic transistor and diode could advance quantum computing

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Oct 09, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (24) | comments 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- What if atoms could be used to perform the functions currently the province of electronic devices? The goal of atomtronics is to do just that by creating analogues to the common items found in electronic ...


Could a paper transistor offer an alternative to silicon?

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 22, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (15) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- As technology advances, scientists look for ways to enhance electronic applications and devices. Indeed, electronics are getting smaller and more diverse. And as this happens, there is an increased requirement ...


Researchers create all-electric spintronics

Researchers create all-electric spintronics

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 3

A multidisciplinary team of UC researchers is the first to find an innovative and novel way to control an electron's spin orientation using purely electrical means.


Computers Faster Only for 75 More Years? Physicists determine nature's limit to making faster processors

Computers Faster Only for 75 More Years? Physicists determine nature's limit to making faster processors

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 14, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (26) | comments 32

With the speed of computers so regularly seeing dramatic increases in their processing speed, it seems that it shouldn't be too long before the machines become infinitely fast -- except they can't.


Scientists Fabricate Organic Transistor with Improved Performance

Scientists Fabricate Organic Transistor with Improved Performance

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 24, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (12) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Organic semiconductors are promising building blocks for many devices, from LEDs to transistors, offering potential advantages such as cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and high performance. ...


Researchers create molecular diode

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 22, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Recently, at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, N.J. Tao and collaborators have found a way to make a key electrical component on a phenomenally tiny scale. Their single-molecule diode is described ...


'Writing' Patterns on Carbon Nanotubes With Polymer Chains

'Writing' Patterns on Carbon Nanotubes With Polymer Chains

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created May 19, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (11) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are at the center of the nanoelectronics research movement, with scientists making great progress toward getting nanotube-based electronic devices into the hands of consumers. ...


Researchers create molecular diode

Researchers create molecular diode

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 0

Recently, at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, N.J. Tao and collaborators have found a way to make a key electrical component on a phenomenally tiny scale. Their single-molecule diode is described ...


Flexible Polymer Transistors 'Printed' Using Ultraviolet Light

Flexible Polymer Transistors 'Printed' Using Ultraviolet Light

Physics / General Physics

created Dec 19, 2008 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (17) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- Computer and television displays made using flexible, bendable polymer materials are technologies of the future, promising roll-up computer monitors and other innovations. Scientists are making ...


Nanoelectronic transistor combined with biological machine could lead to better electronics

Nanoelectronic transistor combined with biological machine could lead to better electronics

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Aug 10, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (11) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- If manmade devices could be combined with biological machines, laptops and other electronic devices could get a boost in operating efficiency.


Better control of carbon nanotube 'growth' promising for future electronics

Better control of carbon nanotube 'growth' promising for future electronics

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 01, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have overcome a major obstacle in efforts to use tiny structures called carbon nanotubes to create a new class of electronics that would be faster and smaller than conventional ...