[Eric Wasatonic] had a box of SWB2433 transistors that he had very little information about. In order to discover their properties, he fired up his curve tracer to compare these transistors with more ...

A previous Design Idea describes a circuit that uses an astable multivibrator to drive an LED (Reference 1). The circuit in Figure 1 uses a simpler alternative approach. The circuit uses a 2N3904 NPN ...

On Oct. 3, 1950, three Bell Labs scientists received a patent for a "three-electrode circuit element" that would usher in the ...

The history of the transistor and similar types. How transistors made an impact on the world. How grudges eventually subside. Transistors are simple electronic devices that boost or switch electrical ...

This simple circuit has helped me out on many occasions. It is able to check transistors, in the circuit, down to 40 ohms across the collector-base or base-emitter junctions. It can also check the ...

Frank Hertel’s project: three individually dimmable LED lights. (Frank is the master of recycling; the wooden mounting pedestals are the panels from a decommissioned ATI console!) Thanks for your ...

As with many inventions, two people had the idea for an integrated circuit at almost the same time. Transistors had become commonplace in everything from radios to phones to computers, and now ...

Since its inventors were awarded a Nobel Prize for their work in 1956 commentators have observed the milestones in the development of the humble transistor. And while transistors may be regarded as ...