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.

Teaching Materials (1-20 of 23)

1. Semiconductor Device Fundamentals Testbook Module A: Semiconductor Basics

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jul 2013 | Contributor(s):: Robert F. Pierret

   This is module A (part 1) of the Testbook for Semiconductor Device Fundamentals.

2. Semiconductor Device Fundamentals Testbook Module B: Diode Basics

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jul 2013 | Contributor(s):: Robert F. Pierret

   This is module B (part 2) of the Testbook for Semiconductor Device Fundamentals.

3. Semiconductor Device Fundamentals Testbook Module C: Transistor Basics

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jul 2013 | Contributor(s):: Robert F. Pierret

   This is module C (part 3) of the Testbook for Semiconductor Device Fundamentals.

4. Exams for Semiconductor Device Fundamentals

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jul 2013 | Contributor(s):: Robert F. Pierret

   Collected herein are 54 mostly hour tests that were utilized over the years in a junior/senior-level course entitled “Semiconductor Devices” offered by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the West Lafayette campus of Purdue University. Although the material probed on...

5. Drift-Diffusion Modeling and Numerical Implementation Details

   Teaching Materials | 01 Jun 2010 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

   This tutorial describes the constitutive equations for the drift-diffusion model and implementation details such as discretization and numerical solution of the algebraic equations that result from the finite difference discretization of the Poisson and the continuity...

6. Illinois ECE 440: Introduction to Crystal Properties Homework

   Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

   This homework Assignment covers basic introduction to Material Properties and Crystal Structures.

7. Illinois ECE 440: Charge Carrier in Bulk Semiconductors Homework

   Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

   This homework covers the effects of doping on carrier concentration in bulk silicon.

8. Illinois ECE 440: Introduction to Carrier Drift and Mobility Homework

   Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

   This homework covers Carrier Transport in Semiconductors subjected to an electric field.

9. Illinois ECE 440: Diffusion and Energy Band Diagram Homework

   Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

   This homework covers Diffusion of Carriers, Built-in Fields and Metal semiconductor junctions.

10. Illinois ECE 440: MOS Capacitor Homework

    Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

    This homework covers Threshold Voltage, MOS Band Diagram, and MOS Capacitance-Voltage Analysis.

11. Illinois ECE 440: MOS Field-Effect Transistor Homework

    Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

    This homework covers Output Characteristics and Mobility Model of MOSFETs.

12. Illinois ECE 440: Carrier Generation and Recombination and photo-conductivity Homework

    Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

    This homework covers Optical Absorption, Excess Carrier Concentration, Steady State Carrier Generation, and Quasi-Fermi Levels.

13. Illinois ECE 440: PN Junction Homework

    Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

    This homework covers P-N junctions in equilibrium, contact potential, and Space Charge at a Junction.

14. Illinois ECE 440: Photodiodes Homework

    Teaching Materials | 28 Jan 2010 | Contributor(s):: Mohamed Mohamed

    This homework covers Current and Voltage in an Illuminated Junction, Solar Cells, and PN Junction Simulation.

15. Self-Heating Effects in Nano-Scale Devices. What do we know so far ...

    Teaching Materials | 10 Aug 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska, Stephen M. Goodnick

    This presentation contains the research findings related to self-heating effects in nano-scale devices in silicon on insulator devices obtained at Arizona State University. Different device technologies and different device geometries are being examined. Details of the theoretical model used in...

16. Tutorial for PADRE Based Simulation Tools

    Teaching Materials | 10 Aug 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska, Gerhard Klimeck

    This tutorial is intended for first time and medium level users of PADRE-based simulation modules installed on the nanohub. It gives clear overview on the capabilities of each tool with emphasis to most important effects occuring in nano-scale devices.

17. From Semi-Classical to Quantum Transport Modeling: Particle-Based Device Simulations

    Teaching Materials | 10 Aug 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

    This set of powerpoint slides series provides insight on what are the tools available for modeling devices that behave either classically or quantum-mechanically. An in-depth description is provided to the approaches with emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Conclusions...

18. From Semi-Classical to Quantum Transport Modeling: Quantum Corrections to Semiclassical Approaches

    Teaching Materials | 10 Aug 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

    This set of powerpoint slides series provides insight on what are the tools available for modeling devices that behave either classically or quantum-mechanically. An in-depth description is provided to the approaches with emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Conclusions...

19. From Semi-Classical to Quantum Transport Modeling: Quantum Transport - Recursive Green's function method, CBR approach and Atomistic

    Teaching Materials | 10 Aug 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

    This set of powerpoint slides series provides insight on what are the tools available for modeling devices that behave either classically or quantum-mechanically. An in-depth description is provided to the approaches with emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Conclusions...

20. MOSCAP: Theoretical Exercise - High Frequency CV Curves

    Teaching Materials | 07 Jul 2009 | Contributor(s):: Dragica Vasileska

    One is required to sketch the high frequency CV curves for different MOS Capacitors configurations.