Editing Transistor (section)

{{Short description|Solid-state electrically operated switch also used as an amplifier}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025|cs1-dates=ll}}
{{Infobox electronic component
| name              = Transistor
| image             = Transistors.agr.jpg
| type              = Active
| inventor          = {{Plain list|
* [[John Bardeen]]
* [[Walter Brattain]]
* [[William Shockley]]
}}
| invention_Year    = 1947 
| first_produced    = 1950s
| pins              = Base, collector, and emitter
| symbol            = [[File:Transistor symbol npn no circle.svg|80px]] [[File:Transistor symbol pnp no circle.svg|80px]]
| symbol_caption    = NPN and PNP symbols
}}

[[File:MOSFET Structure.png|thumb|[[Metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor]] (MOSFET), showing [[Metal gate|gate]] (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (white).]]

A '''transistor''' is a [[semiconductor device]] used to [[Electronic amplifier|amplify]] or [[electronic switch|switch]] electrical signals and [[electric power|power]]. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern [[electronics]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Transistor |website=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/transistor |access-date=January 12, 2021 }}</ref> It is composed of [[semiconductor material]], usually with at least three [[terminal (electronics)|terminals]] for connection to an [[electronic circuit]]. A [[voltage]] or [[Electric current|current]] applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a transistor can amplify a signal. Some transistors are packaged individually, but many more in miniature form are found embedded in [[integrated circuit]]s. Because transistors are the key active components in practically all modern [[electronics]], many people consider them one of the 20th century's greatest inventions.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=A History of the Invention of the Transistor and Where It Will Lead Us |url=https://massless.info/images/A%20history%20of%20the%20invention%20of%20the%20transistor%20and%20where%20it%20will%20lead%20us.pdf |website=IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS Vol 32 No 12 |date = December 1997}}</ref>

[[Physicist]] [[Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]] proposed the concept of a [[field-effect transistor]] (FET) in 1925,<ref>{{cite web |title=Patent 272437 Summary |website=Canadian Patents Database |url=https://brevets-patents.ic.gc.ca/opic-cipo/cpd/eng/patent/272437/summary.html }}</ref> but it was not possible to construct a working device at that time.<ref>{{cite web |title=1926 – Field Effect Semiconductor Device Concepts Patented |website=Computer History Museum |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/field-effect-semiconductor-device-concepts-patented/ |access-date=March 25, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322023120/http://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/field-effect-semiconductor-device-concepts-patented/ |archive-date=March 22, 2016 }}</ref> The first working device was a [[point-contact transistor]] invented in 1947 by physicists [[John Bardeen]], [[Walter Brattain]], and [[William Shockley]] at [[Bell Labs]] who shared the 1956 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for their achievement.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1956 |website=Nobelprize.org |publisher=Nobel Media AB |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/ |access-date=December 7, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216204332/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/ |archive-date=December 16, 2014 }}</ref> The most widely used type of transistor, the [[metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor]] (MOSFET), was invented at Bell Labs between 1955 and 1960.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Howard |last2=Riordan |first2=Michael |date=September 1, 2007 |title=Frosch and Derick: Fifty Years Later (Foreword) |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.F02073IF |journal=The Electrochemical Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=29 |doi=10.1149/2.F02073IF |issn=1064-8208}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{Cite journal |last=KAHNG |first=D. |date=1961 |title=Silicon-Silicon Dioxide Surface Device |url=https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |journal=Technical Memorandum of Bell Laboratories|pages=583–596 |doi=10.1142/9789814503464_0076 |isbn=978-981-02-0209-5 }}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{Cite book |last=Lojek |first=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |page=321}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ligenza |first1=J.R. |last2=Spitzer |first2=W.G. |date=1960 |title=The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022369760902195 |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |language=en |volume=14 |pages=131–136 |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5|bibcode=1960JPCS...14..131L }}</ref><ref name="Lojek1202">{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783540342588 |page=120}}</ref> Transistors revolutionized the field of electronics and paved the way for smaller and cheaper [[radio receiver|radios]], [[calculator]]s, [[computer]]s, and other electronic devices.

Most transistors are made from very pure [[silicon]], and some from [[germanium]], but certain other semiconductor materials are sometimes used. A transistor may have only one kind of charge carrier in a [[field-effect transistor]], or may have two kinds of charge carriers in [[bipolar junction transistor]] devices. Compared with the [[vacuum tube]], transistors are generally smaller and require less power to operate. Certain vacuum tubes have advantages over transistors at very high operating frequencies or high operating voltages, such as [[traveling-wave tube]]s and [[gyrotron]]s. Many types of transistors are made to standardized specifications by multiple manufacturers.