Description

On June 30, 1948, AT&T Bell Labs unveiled the transitor to the world, creating a spark of explosive economic growth that would lead into the Information Age. William Shockley led a team of researchers, including Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, who invented the device. Like the existing triode vacuum tube device, the transistor could amplify signals and switch currents on and off, but the transistor was smaller, cheaper, and more efficient. Moreover, it could be integrated with millions of other transistors onto a single chip, creating the integrated circuit at the heart of modern computers.

Today, most transistors are being manufactured with a minimum feature size of 60-90nm--roughly 200-300 atoms. As the push continues to make devices even smaller, researchers must account for quantum mechanical effects in the device behavior. With fewer and fewer atoms, the positions of impurities and other irregularities begin to matter, and device reliability becomes an issue. So rather than shrink existing devices, many researchers are working on entirely new devices, based on carbon nanotubes, spintronics, molecular conduction, and other nanotechnologies.

Learn more about transistors from the many resources on this site, listed below. Use our simulation tools to simulate performance characteristics for your own devices.

Online Presentations (61-80 of 268)

1. ECE 606 Lecture 1: Introduction/Crystal Classification

   Online Presentations | 30 Aug 2012 | Contributor(s):: Gerhard Klimeck

2. Nanophotonics with Metamaterials

   Online Presentations | 27 Aug 2012 | Contributor(s):: Vladimir M. Shalaev

   One of the most unique properties of light is that it can package information into a signal of zero mass and propagate it at the ultimate speed. It is, however, a daunting challenge to bring photonic devices to the nanometer scale because of the fundamental diffraction limit. Metamaterials can...

3. All-Spin Logic Devices

   Online Presentations | 19 Jul 2012 | Contributor(s):: Behtash Behinaein

   We propose a spintronic device that uses spin at every stage of its operation: input and output information are represented by the magnetization of nanomagnets which communicate through spin-coherent channels. Based on simulations with an experimentally benchmarked model we argue that the device...

4. Journey Along the Carbon Road

   Online Presentations | 19 Apr 2012 | Contributor(s):: Zhihong Chen

   I will discuss two distinct topics: In the first part of my talk I will present results on carbon nanotubes focusing on high performance computing with the aim to replace silicon in logic device applications. Specifically, the ballistic transport regime that has been reached with the shortest...

5. The History of Semiconductor Heterostructures Research: From Early Double Heterostructure Concept to Modern Quantum Dot Structures

   Online Presentations | 11 Jul 2011 | Contributor(s):: Zhores I. Alferov

   It would be very difficult today to imagine solid-state physics without semiconductor heterostructures. Semiconductor heterostructures and especially double heterostructures, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots, currently comprise the object of investigation of two thirds of...

6. The Elusive Spin Transistor

   Online Presentations | 11 Apr 2011 | Contributor(s):: Supriyo Datta

   This presentation is a short introductory tutorial on spin-transistors.

7. Control of Spin Precession in a Datta-Das Transistor Structure

   Online Presentations | 11 Apr 2011 | Contributor(s):: Hyun Cheol Koo

   Transistors Switch onto Spin Using the spin of an electron in addition to, or instead of, the charge properties is believed to have many benefits in terms of speed, power-cost, and integration density over conventional electronic circuits. At the heart of the field of spintronics has been a...

8. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 12: Ultra-fast I-V for Pulsed and Transient Characterization

   Online Presentations | 24 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

9. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 01: Introduction - System Overview - DC I-V Source Measurement

   Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

   Introduction to Device Characterization -System Overview: System Architecture, Hardware Features and Software Features -Precision DC I-V Source-Measure Features and Concepts.

10. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 02: Basics of Keithley Interactive Test Environment (KITE)

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

11. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 03: More KITE Setup and Features

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

12. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 04: Speed and Timing Considerations

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

13. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 05: Low Current and High Resistance Measurements

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

14. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 06: Troubleshooting

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

15. Keithley 4200-SCS: KITE Demo

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

16. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 07: KCON Utility Overview

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

17. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 08: 4210 CVU Instrument Module - Overview

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

    Theory of Operation and Measurement Overview

18. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 09: 4210 CVU Instrument Module - Measurement Techniques I

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

    Measurement Techniques and Optimization

19. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 10: 4210 CVU Instrument Module - Measurement Techniques II

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer

    Measurement Techniques and Optimization

20. Keithley 4200-SCS Lecture 11: 4210 CVU Instrument Module - Troubleshooting

    Online Presentations | 20 Jan 2011 | Contributor(s):: Lee Stauffer