Solid-state electronics aresemiconductor electronics:electronic equipment that usesemiconductor devices such astransistors,diodes andintegrated circuits (ICs).[1][2][3][4][5] The term is also used as an adjective for devices in which semiconductor electronics that have no moving parts replace devices with moving parts, such as thesolid-state relay, in which transistor switches are used in place of a moving-arm electromechanicalrelay, or thesolid-state drive (SSD), a type ofsemiconductor memory used incomputers to replacehard disk drives, which store data on a rotating disk.[6]
The termsolid-state became popular at the beginning of the semiconductor era in the 1960s to distinguish this new technology. A semiconductor device works by controlling an electric current consisting ofelectrons orholes moving within a solid crystalline piece ofsemiconducting material such assilicon, while thethermionicvacuum tubes it replaced worked by controlling a current of electrons orions in a vacuum within a sealed tube.
Although the first solid-state electronic device was thecat's whisker detector, a crudesemiconductor diode invented around 1904, solid-state electronics started with the invention of thetransistor in 1947.[7] Before that, all electronic equipment usedvacuum tubes, because vacuum tubes were the onlyelectronic components that couldamplify—an essential capability in all electronics. The transistor, which was invented byJohn Bardeen andWalter Houser Brattain while working underWilliam Shockley atBell Laboratories in 1947,[8] could also amplify, and replaced vacuum tubes. The first transistor hi-fi system was developed by engineers atGE and demonstrated at theUniversity of Philadelphia in 1955.[9] In terms of commercial production, The Fisher TR-1 was the first "all transistor"preamplifier, which became available mid-1956.[10] In 1961, a company named Transis-tronics released a solid-state amplifier, the TEC S-15.[11]
The replacement of bulky, fragile, energy-hungry vacuum tubes by transistors in the 1960s and 1970s created a revolution not just in technology but in people's habits, making possible the first truly portableconsumer electronics such as thetransistor radio,cassette tape player,walkie-talkie andquartz watch, as well as the first practicalcomputers andmobile phones. Other examples of solid state electronic devices are themicroprocessor chip,LED lamp,solar cell,charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor used in cameras, andsemiconductor laser.
Also during the 1960s and 1970s,television set manufacturers switched from vacuum tubes to semiconductors, and advertised sets as "100% solid state"[12] even though thecathode-ray tube (CRT) was still a vacuum tube. It meant only the chassis was 100% solid-state, not including the CRT. Early advertisements spelled out this distinction,[13] but later advertisements assumed the audience had already been educated about it and shortened it to just "100% solid state".LED displays can be said to be truly 100% solid-state.[14]
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