transistor
/trænˈzɪstər/
a semiconductor device that amplifies or switches electrical signals; the fundamental building block of modern electronics
transistor in a sentence
“A single modern chip contains billions of transistors smaller than a virus.”
Origin of transistor
Portmanteau of transfer + resistor (Bell Labs, 1948)
Related Words
semiconductor
a material whose electrical conductivity falls between that of a conductor and an insulator, enabling precise control of current
wafer
a thin, circular disc of semiconductor material (typically silicon) on which integrated circuits are fabricated
die
a single chip cut from a wafer; the individual integrated circuit before packaging
lithography
the process of printing microscopic circuit patterns onto silicon using light or other radiation
doping
introducing controlled impurities into a semiconductor to alter its electrical properties
process node
a generation of chip manufacturing technology, historically named for its smallest feature size in nanometers