Transistor
A transistor is a solid-state electronic device used to control the flow of an electric current. The term solid-state refers to devices that take advantage of special properties of solids. (It usually refers to devices made of semiconducting materials.) Since they were invented in the 1940s, transistors have come to revolutionize modern communications. They are found in an enormous variety of electrical devices, ranging from popular consumer items such as home computer games, pocket calculators, and portable stereos to the complex electronic systems used by business and industry.
Until World War II (1939–45), most systems of communication used vacuum tubes for the amplification and control of electrical current. However, vacuum tubes have a number of...
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