Appliances Affected

 

Today, in fact, right now, thousands of devices or appliances are being made or invented. Unless your parents or yourself work in an electronics factory, we are normally unaware of these things. The fact is, our everyday surroundings, for most of us lucky ones, are mostly electronic. And if anything you should have learned from this site, it is that electronic devices contain thousands, if not millions of transistors.

In fact, to explain the extent to which transistors extend in our lives, provided at the bottom of the page is a list of different devices or appliances that are found in our everyday lives.

The first commercial application of transistors was telephone equipment, which was made reality in the 1950's. These consisted of rural telephone carrier amplifiers and headset amplifiers for operators. The transistorized hearing aid was developed by Alexander Graham Bell, who fought a life-long struggle to help the hearing-impaired.

1954 was the year the transistor became popular culture, with transistorized radios coming out in that year. It was also instrumental in devices such as TV’s, portable radios, radars, computers, clocks and cameras. It was also this year that IBM announced that they would no longer be using vacuum tubes in their computers and released the first fully transistorized computer onto the market. It had about 2,000 transistors in it.

It was in 1961, actually, that the real big breakthrough came in transistor technology. This was the invention of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit is a group of transistors and other manufacturable electronic components arranged in a certain way on a silicon wafer, complete with wiring. This invention revolutionised transistor technology and spurred on the evolution of the Information Age. In fact, every major information age invention was made possible by the development of the transistor. It has been an invisible technology that is part of nearly every electronic device, ranging from car ignitions, to satellites, to Porsches and networks.

What this all means is that, in the place of the room you are sitting in, you would be sitting on a rock, holding a club and wearing a leopard skin. Okay, maybe that is an exaduration, but I’ll leave it up to your imagination to see where mankind would have progressed to were it not for the transistor.

Here is a very short list naming some of the devices or appliances affected or directly developed as a result of the invention of the transistor:

 

  • space exploration
  • microsurgery
  • cellular phones
  • personal computers
  • video cameras
  • portable television and radios
  • many kitchen convenience items
  • ATM banking
  • pacemakers, EKGs, EEG, CAT
  • ultra-sound & medical imaging
  • ABS braking systems
  • airbags and anti-theft devices
  • fiber optics and undersea cable
  • wireless & cordless systems
  • computer networks & the Internet
  • remote controls of all types
  • safe, reliable jet travel
  • cable television
  • hand-held calculators & PDAs
  • sound systems, hi-fidelity
  • satellite broadcasting
  • measurement systems, surveying
  • high tech amusements rides
  • climate control equipment
  • recording devices
  • modern manufacturing equipment
  • electronic auto ignition systems
  • car instrumentation panels
  • fax machines
  • modems
  • touch-tone dialing
  • wireless microphones/earphones
  • children’s games
  • electronic scoreboards/billboards
  • precision timing for sports events
  • precise navigational equipment
  • smoke/gas detectors
  • night-vision technology
  • photocopy machines
  • CAD drawing
  • Global Positioning System (GPS)
  • low pollution gasoline automobiles
  • colour & high definition TV (HDTV)
  • … and thousands more …

Introduction to Semiconductors
This topic will introduce you to the concept of semiconductors which are an integral part in the making of transistors.

Semiconductor Diodes
The prerequisite information on diodes that later went on to give the birth to the semiconductor triode - otherwise known as the transistor.

Semiconductor Triodes
Another name for the transistor...

Types of Transistors
Learn the various types of transistors and how they function.

Amplification
This is the basic function of the transistor - and the most important one!

Switches
Next to amplification, this is the most common function of transistors.

Comparisions
Learn the analogies and the differences between the older vacuum tube triodes and the slicker new transistors.

Integrated circuits
These are the most common applications of transistors and go a long way in building powerful microprocessors and appliances. Learn the role that transistors play in them.

Microprocessors
These are the real brains of most electronic appliances around us. Explore the vital role played by their grey cells - transistors.

Appliances affected
Realize the full potential of these transistors through the various appliances they revolutionized, right from your digital watch to this PC.

The pre- and post-transistor world
To understand the impact of the transistor in its entirety, perceive what the world was before, and what it is after 1947 - when the transistor was invented.

Future trends
Revolution is an unending process. Take a sneak preview of where the transistors of the future are headed.

History
Understanding of the transistor becomes clearer when learnt in context of its evolutionary journey. Here, we have presented the most important landmarks in its journey of almost a century.

Build the transistor
Theoretical knowledge weighs nothing unless put to practice. Learn how the different types of transistors are built and build some on your own!

Learn the circuits
Learn how the actual amplification and switching takes place by building your own circuits and watching the current flow.

Drive-the-circuit
If you have the necessary stuff in your head, come and test drive a BJT amplification circuit! But watch out for the speed bumps along the way!

Message Boards
Leave your own messages and discuss different topics with fellow surfers.

Ask-a-mentor
Nobody's perfect...we are no exception. But we certainly try to be perfect. If you have any questions about transistors that were not answered in this site, ask our mentors...

Learners' Center
Discuss your views with other users of this site. There are topics like Message Board, Translate-the-site and Simplify-the-site!

Quizzes
These are quizzes to rack your grey cells. If you think that you have surfed this site entirely, solve these! They include Multiple choice questions and Scrambled words to solve!

Learn in a Flash
These are our step-by-step interactive tutorials to brief you up about the world of transistors.

Advanced Section
This section includes an in-detail explanation on this topic. For you to understand the Advanced section, you should have a basic knowledge of the fundamentals involved. To learn more, please select the section called Prerequisites from the bottom of the page.

Basic Section
Return to the Basic section.

Prerequisites
This section is meant to explain the fundamentals involved in the knowledgae of transistors!
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Site Map
This page will show the map of ...trailing the Transistor for your easier navigation.

Citations and Copyrights
A list of our sources and also copyright notices of material used in making this site.
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