The master of logical zero and one: the anniversary of the transistor

Illustration: Hallie Bateman

Today marks 70 years since the epochal one - the case when it is not an exaggeration - is an event. On December 16, 1947, a transistor was invented in one of the many laboratories of Bell Labs Corporation. Without which today there would be no electronics in the modern sense, because all of it today is based on transistors. Thanks to them, you carry smartphones with tremendous computing power in your pockets (compare them with spacecraft onboard computers 30-40 years ago), and you don’t carry a phone in the form of a knapsack of several kilograms in weight.

The name "transistor" itself ( transistor ) comes from the words transconductance (conductivity) and varistor (variable resistor). In short, it is a radio-electronic component of a semiconductor material, in which a significant current in the output circuit can be controlled with a weak signal.

John Bardeen and Walter Brattein, under the leadership of William Shockley, were the creators of the world's first point transistor. Although the device itself was created by Bardin and Brattein, however, Shockley very actively worked through the very theory of the pn junction. And in January 1948, he brought to mind a theoretical model and filed a patent application for the invention of a planar bipolar transistor. This did not benefit Shockley’s relationship with Bardin with Brattain. And in 1950 Shockley wrote the book "The Theory of Electronic Semiconductors: Applications to the Theory of Transistors", which completely embroiled the inventors. True, in 1956, the whole trio received the Nobel Prize for the creation of the transistor.

We can not say that the transistors immediately turned the electronics. Bell Labs had to work hard to popularize the new product - radio tubes reigned in the world. For several years, various designs were created and improved, the characteristics of transistors improved, and as a semiconductor they switched from germanium to silicon. In 1958, the first serial field-effect transistor went on sale, in 1959, the MOSFET was invented, and in 1964, the first MOS-circuits entered the market. And today they are used in any device more difficult than a doorbell.

Virtually all microprocessors and memory chips today also consist of transistor-based chips.

And every time when you like a photo of a cat, play, watch a movie, listen to music, code it - billions (!) Tiny transistors work in your processors, memory modules and all kinds of auxiliary chips. And if you are as far from electronics as the vast majority of the population, then this video will help you understand how the transistor works:

In general, today there is no life without transistors - this is the foundation of all computer technology. Here's a vivid illustration of last: even primitive wrist watches contain hundreds of tiny transistors. The author of the techno-logic-art.com project , Ghislain Benoit, has created a wall - mounted electronic clock , in which the entire electronic filling is visible, and this filling plays the role of a “watch case”. Moreover, it is the content of a typical simple chip in a conventional electronic clock:

1161 diodes

340 transistors

346 resistors

Well, another 60 LEDs, 6 reed switches and 3 dual digital display. Total 1916 parts.

Happy birthday transistor!