transistor
Americannoun
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Electronics. a semiconductor device that amplifies, oscillates, or switches the flow of current between two terminals by varying the current or voltage between one of the terminals and a third: although much smaller in size than a vacuum tube, it performs similar functions without requiring current to heat a cathode.
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Informal. a transistorized radio.
adjective
noun
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a semiconductor device, having three or more terminals attached to electrode regions, in which current flowing between two electrodes is controlled by a voltage or current applied to one or more specified electrodes. The device is capable of amplification, etc, and has replaced the valve in most circuits since it is much smaller, more robust, and works at a much lower voltage See also junction transistor field-effect transistor
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informal a transistor radio
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An electronic device that controls the flow of an electric current, most often used as an amplifier or switch. Transistors usually consist of three layers of semiconductor material, in which the flow of electric current across the outer layer is regulated by the voltage or current applied at the middle layer. Having replaced the vacuum tube, transistors are the basis of much modern electronic technology, including the microprocessor.
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See also logic circuit logic gate
Discover More
The transistor is the basic device used in miniaturized electronic systems, such as portable radios, or as a fast switch in computers.
Etymology
Origin of transistor
First recorded in 1945–50; trans(fer) + (res)istor
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Moore’s Law says that every two years, the number of transistors packed into a microchip doubles.
It takes purified silicon rocks, a good source of which is sand in North Carolina, and fashions them into the 12-inch wafers that will later be imprinted with trillions of transistors to become chips.
And it is in Taiwan where it makes its most advanced chips, which today have transistors as small as two nanometers.
As chips pack in more transistors, we are approaching physical barriers.
Over the past century, research into atoms, electrons, and photons led to the invention of transistors and the foundation of today's computers.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
