In fact, given the fact that each transistor can be in two distinct states, it can store two different numbers, zero and one. For instance, a memory chip has millions or even billions of transistors and each of them can be switched on or off individually. When a transistor works as a switch, a tiny electric current flowing through one part of a transistor creates a much bigger current flow through another part the small current basically switches on the larger one. A hearing aid has a tiny microphone in it that picks up sounds from the surroundings and converts them into fluctuating electric currents, which are then fed into a transistor that boosts them and powers a tiny loudspeaker, so the wearer ends up hearing a much louder version of the sounds being produced. Thanks to this functionality, transistors are used in devices such as hearing aids, (also among the earliest things transistors were used for). When a transistor functions as an amplifier, it takes in a small electric current at one end, known as the input current, and generates a much bigger electric current, called the output current, at the other. It operates either as an amplifier or a switch. Now back to the main question: how does a transistor work? A transistor is essentially a tiny electronic component that can perform two different tasks. The transistor’s three-layer structure contains an N-type semiconductor layer sandwiched between P-type layers (a PNP configuration, making it a PNP transistor) or a P-type layer between N-type layers (an NPN configuration, making it an NPN transistor). The doping helps produce a material that either adds extra electrons to the material (which is then called N-type for the extra negative charge carriers) or it makes holes in the material’s crystal structure (which is then called P-type as it results in more positive charge carriers). This semiconductor material is lent special properties thanks to a chemical process called doping. It thus falls somewhere between a real conductor such as copper and an insulator (like the plastic wrapped around wires). A semiconductor is typically a material like germanium and silicon that conducts electricity in a ‘semi-enthusiastic’ manner. Transistors are usually made using very pure silicon, while some are made from germanium and other semiconductor materials. Today, the most popular type of transistor is the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), that was also invented at Bell Labs Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng built it in 1959.īefore we look at how transistors work, let’s talk about what transistors are made up of. It was only in 1947 that the first working device - a point-contact transistor - was built by American physicists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain as they worked under William Shockley at Bell Labs the trio even won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for this breakthrough. The invention of transistors has indeed revolutionized the field of electronics, as they helped facilitate the creation of smaller and cheaper radios, calculators, and even computers, among other electronic devices.Ī little bit about the history of the transistor: it was the Austro-Hungarian physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld who came up with the concept of a field-effect transistor in 1926, although it was not possible to build a working prototype at that point of time. Some transistors are packaged individually, but many are found embedded in integrated circuits. input, a transistor is able to amplify a signal. And since the controlled power aka output can be higher than the controlling power, i.e. The current is controlled through a pair of terminals by the voltage or current applied to another pair of the transistor’s terminals. It is made of semiconductor material and has at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. In this blog, we shall look at transistors, what they do, how they function and their major applications.Ī basic building block of modern electronics, a transistor is a semiconductor device that’s used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. What is a transistor? When we learn about electronics and basic circuits, transistors are a major component other electronic components include resistors, inductors, capacitors and diodes.
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