TRANSISTOR DEFINITION FOR DUMMIES SERIES

So, the small-signal supplied to the base causes a big current to flow from emitter to the collector, thus amplifying.Ī Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) comprises of three terminals (Emitter, Base and Collector).So when we supply a small positive signal at the base and make the emitter negatively charged and the collector positively charged, electrons are driven from the emitter to the base to the collector and take the transistor to its “on” state.The transistor starts operating when holes start moving across the n-p junction.When the transistor is in its off state the holes in the base prevent electrons from flowing from the emitter to the collector.The n-type material has electrons in abundance the p-type material has holes that attract electrons.It takes in a very small weak signal through the base junction and the amplified signal will come out at the collector.If the base is given with 0, the switch is off.Ī Transistor can be said to be a current booster. If the base is given with 1, the switch is on.Input to the switch can be given through the base.And since, a transistor has the collector, the base, and the emitter which means if the switch is “on” the current flows from the collector to the emitter.A transistor acts as a switch to on and off electricity as well as amplifies signals.Ī switch should have on and off characteristics and to control it we need to give input to it as yes or no, 0 or 1, up or down.Transistors were developed in 1947 by three American physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley.Transistors are the key components in most of the electronic devices present today.It is a miniature device used to control or regulate the flow of electronic signals.A transistor acts as a switch and an amplifier.Transistors have been made very small (dozens of atoms wide) so that billions of them can be put into a small computer chip.A transistor is a semiconductor device that can be used for both conducting and insulating electric current or voltage. If not for the transistor, devices such as cell phones and computers would be very different, or they might have not been invented at all. The transistor is a very important component today. Brattain, John Bardeen, and William Shockley who contributed the most. Three physicists were credited with the invention of the transistor in 1947: Walter H.

Unfortunately, tubes were big and fragile, used a lot of power, and didn't last very long. Vacuum tubes were important in household technology before transistors. The triode served the same purpose of the transistor 50 years earlier. The transistor was not the first three terminal device.

Transistors can be also made from compounds like gallium arsenide. Researchers are also studying transistors made from special forms of carbon. Germanium, another group-14 element, is used together with silicon in specialized transistors.

Transistors are made of semiconductor chemical elements, usually silicon, which belongs to the modern Group 14 (formerly Group IV) in the periodic table of elements. In a MOSFET used as an amplifier, transistors take the flow of the drain and source, and since the source current is so much larger than the drain's current, it is common for the drain's current to rise to the value of the sources, amplifying it. The water is the electrons, and when you positively charge the gate, it unbends the hose, letting water flow. VisualizationĪn easy way to think of how a transistor works is as a hose with a sharp bend that stops the water from going through. The transistor can also work when the gate is just positively charged, so it doesn't need to be touching the drain. This is because when the gate is positively charged, the positive electrons will push other positive electrons in the transistor letting the negative electrons flow through. But when you touch the gate and the drain together, the transistor will let electricity through.

TRANSISTOR DEFINITION FOR DUMMIES SERIES

When the source (or emitter) is connected to the negative terminal of the battery, and the drain (or collector) to the positive terminal, no electricity will flow in the circuit (if you have only a lamp in series with the transistor). Transistors have three terminals: the gate, the drain, and the source (on a bipolar transistor, the wires can be called the emitter, the collector, and the base). When the center pin is powered, the power can flow.

Transistor definition for dummies