![]() ![]() Low-frequency, high-power applications, such as power-supply inverters that convert alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC), have also been transistorized. Transistors also began to replace vacuum tubes in the oscillator circuits used to generate radio signals, especially after specialized structures were developed to handle the higher frequencies and power levels involved. With their small size and low power consumption, transistors were desirable substitutes for the vacuum tubes (known as “valves” in Great Britain) then used to amplify weak electrical signals and produce audible sounds. The first commercial applications for transistors were for hearing aids and “pocket” radios during the 1950s. A voltage source such as a battery drives the current, while the rate of current flow through the transistor at any given moment is governed by an input signal at the gate-much as a faucet valve is used to regulate the flow of water through a garden hose. ![]() An electrical signal applied to the base (or gate) influences the semiconductor material’s ability to conduct electrical current, which flows between the emitter (or source) and collector (or drain) in most applications. There are typically three electrical leads in a transistor, called the emitter, the collector, and the base-or, in modern switching applications, the source, the drain, and the gate. Deeply embedded in almost everything electronic, transistors have become the nerve cells of the Information Age. Transistors are the active components of integrated circuits, or “microchips,” which often contain billions of these minuscule devices etched into their shiny surfaces. Transistor, semiconductor device for amplifying, controlling, and generating electrical signals.
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