D2PAK Advanced Process Technology Long Life Cigarette Maker Transistor MK9

Advanced Process Technology Long Life Cigarette Maker Transistor MK9

A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power. Transistors are one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material usually with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit.

Bipolar Junction Transistors

The first bipolar junction transistors were invented by Bell Labs' William Shockley, which applied for patent (2,569,347) on June 26, 1948. On April 12, 1950, Bell Labs chemists Gordon Teal and Morgan Sparks had successfully produced a working bipolar NPN junction amplifying germanium transistor.

Silicon Transistor

The first working silicon transistor was developed at Bell Labs on January 26, 1954, by Morris Tanenbaum. The first commercial silicon transistor was produced by Texas Instruments in 1954. This was the work of Gordon Teal, an expert in growing crystals of high purity, who had previously worked at Bell Labs.

Importance

Transistors are the key active components in practically all modern electronics. Many thus consider the transistor to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

The invention of the first transistor at Bell Labs was named an IEEE Milestone in 2009. The list of IEEE Milestones also includes the inventions of the junction transistor in 1948 and the MOSFET in 1959.