solid-state electronics
{{Short description|Electronics with semiconductor components}}
File:Integrated_circuit_on_microchip.jpg (IC) on a printed circuit board. This is called a solid-state circuit because all of the electrical activity in the circuit occurs within solid materials.]]
Solid-state electronics are semiconductor electronics: electronic equipment that use semiconductor devices such as transistors, diodes and integrated circuits (ICs).{{cite book
|last1 = Murty
|first1 = B.S.
|last2 = Shankar
|first2 = P.
|last3 = Raj
|first3 = Baldev |display-authors=etal
|title = Textbook of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
|publisher = Springer Science and Business Media
|date = 2013
|pages = 108–109
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0uQnuJ7nM0wC&q=%22solid+state%22+electronics+%22gaseous+state%22+%22vacuum+tube%22&pg=PA109
|isbn = 978-3642280306
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|archive-date = 2017-12-29
|last1 = Papadopoulos
|first1 = Christo
|title = Solid-State Electronic Devices: An Introduction
|publisher = Springer Science and Business Media
|date = 2013
|pages = 5–6
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pYHBBAAAQBAJ&q=%22solid+state%22+semiconductor&pg=PA173
|isbn = 978-1461488361
|url-status = live
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171229001318/https://books.google.com/books?id=pYHBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA173&dq=%22solid+state%22+semiconductor
|archive-date = 2017-12-29
|last = Vaughan
|first = Francis
|title = Why the expression "solid state" instead of simply "solid"?
|mailing-list = StraightDope message board
|date = February 22, 2012
|url = http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-642903.html
|access-date = December 5, 2017
|url-status = live
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171207015958/http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-642903.html
|archive-date = December 7, 2017
|title = What does solid-state mean in relation to electronics?
|work = How Stuff Works
|publisher = InfoSpace Holdings LLC.
|date = 2017
|url = https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question558.htm
|access-date = December 5, 2017
|url-status = live
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171207013255/https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question558.htm
|archive-date = December 7, 2017
|title = Solid state device
|encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Britannica online
|publisher = Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.
|date = 2017
|url = https://www.britannica.com/technology/solid-state-device
|access-date = December 5, 2017
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|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170801145724/https://www.britannica.com/technology/solid-state-device
|archive-date = August 1, 2017
}} 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 the solid-state relay, in which transistor switches are used in place of a moving-arm electromechanical relay, or the solid-state drive (SSD), a type of semiconductor memory used in computers to replace hard disk drives, which store data on a rotating disk.{{cite book
|last1 = Campardo
|first1 = Giovanni
|last2 = Tiziani
|first2 = Federico
|last3 = Iaculo
|first3 = Massimo
|title = Memory Mass Storage
|publisher = Springer Science and Business Media
|date = 2011
|pages = 85
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5hxzxjTsTEQC&q=%22solid+state%22+%22solid+state+disk%22+%22moving+parts%22&pg=PA85
|isbn = 978-3642147524
|url-status = live
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171229001318/https://books.google.com/books?id=5hxzxjTsTEQC&pg=PA85&dq=%22solid+state%22+%22solid+state+disk%22+%22moving+parts%22
|archive-date = 2017-12-29
}}
History
The term solid-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 of electrons or holes moving within a solid crystalline piece of semiconducting material such as silicon, while the thermionic vacuum tubes it replaced worked by controlling a current of electrons or ions in a vacuum within a sealed tube.
Although the first solid-state electronic device was the cat's whisker detector, a crude semiconductor diode invented around 1904, solid-state electronics started with the invention of the transistor in 1947.Papadopoulos (2013) [https://books.google.com/books?id=pYHBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA81&dq=%22solid+state%22+amplification+transistor Solid-State Electronic Devices: An Introduction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229001318/https://books.google.com/books?id=pYHBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA81&dq=%22solid+state%22+amplification+transistor |date=2017-12-29 }}, p. 11, 81-83 Before that, all electronic equipment used vacuum tubes, because vacuum tubes were the only electronic components that could amplify—an essential capability in all electronics. The transistor, which was invented by John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain while working under William Shockley at Bell Laboratories in 1947,{{Cite book|title= The information age : economy, society and culture|last= Manuel|first= Castells |date= 1996|publisher= Blackwell|isbn= 978-0631215943|location= Oxford|oclc= 43092627}} could also amplify, and replaced vacuum tubes. The first transistor hi-fi system was developed by engineers at GE and demonstrated at the University of Philadelphia in 1955.Sorab K. Ghandhi; Vernon Mathis; Edward Keonjian; Richard Shea; et al. (1957) [https://ethw.org/First-Hand:The_World%27s_First_Transistor_Hi-Fi_System The World's First Transistor Hi-Fi System] In terms of commercial production, The Fisher TR-1 was the first "all transistor" preamplifier, which became available mid-1956.Announcement [https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-High-Fidelity/50s/High-Fidelity-1956-Mar.pdf High Fidelity, March 1956], p. 9 In 1961, a company named Transis-tronics released a solid-state amplifier, the TEC S-15.Announcement [https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/60s/Audio-1961-Aug.pdf Audio Magazine, Aug 1961], p. 44
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 portable consumer electronics such as the transistor radio, cassette tape player, walkie-talkie and quartz watch, as well as the first practical computers and mobile phones. Other examples of solid state electronic devices are the microprocessor chip, LED lamp, solar cell, charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor used in cameras, and semiconductor laser.
Also during the 1960s and 1970s, television set manufacturers switched from vacuum tubes to semiconductors, and advertised sets as "100% solid state"{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/1975-sears-christmas-wish-book/page/n375/mode/1up |title=1975 Sears Christmas Wishbook |author= |date=1975 |page=378 |publisher=Sears |access-date=2023-12-07}} even though the cathode-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,{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=RCA advertisement in Life magazine |author= |date=1971-10-30 |access-date=2023-12-07}} 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.{{cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.1201/9781315151595/handbook-solid-state-lighting-leds-zhe-chuan-feng |title=Handbook of Solid-State Lighting and LEDs |author= |editor-first1=Zhe Chuan |editor-last1=Feng |date=2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |doi=10.1201/9781315151595 |isbn=978-1-315-15159-5 |access-date=2023-12-07}}
See also
References
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