Solid-state electronics are those circuits or devices built entirely from solid materials and in which the electron , or other charge carrier , are confined entirely within the solid material.Martin H. Weik, Fiber optics standard dictionary p.937, Birkhäuser, 1997 ISBN 0412122413. The term is often used to contrast with the earlier technologies of vacuum tube and gas-discharge tube devices and it is also conventional to exclude electro-mechanical devices (relay , switches and other devices with moving parts from the term solid state.Lawrence J. Kamm, Understanding electro-mechanical engineeringp.174, John Wiley and Sons, 1995 ISBN 0780310314.Sabrie Soloman, Sensors handbook page 23.18, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1998 ISBN 0070596301. While solid-state can include crystalline polycrystalline and amorphous solids and refer to electrical conductor , insulator (electrical) and semiconductor , the building material is most often crystalline semiconductor.John Sydney Blakemore, Solid state physics pp.1-3, Cambridge University Press, 1985 ISBN 0521313910.Richard C. Jaeger, Travis N. Blalock, Microelectronic circuit design pp.46-47, McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003 ISBN 0072505036. Common solid-state devices include transistor , microprocessor chips, and DRAM A considerable amount of Electromagnetism and quantum mechanics action takes place within the device. The expression became prevalent in the 1950s and the 1960s, during the transition from vacuum tube technology to semiconductor diode and transistor . More recently, the integrated circuit (IC), the light-emitting diode (LED), and the liquid-crystal display (LCD) have evolved as further examples of solid-state devices. In a solid-state component, the Electric current is confined to solid elements and compounds engineered specifically to switch and amplify it. Current flow can be understood in two forms: as negatively-charged electron , and as positively-charged electron deficiencies called electron hole or just "holes". In some semiconductors, the current consists mostly of electrons; in other semiconductors, it consists mostly of "holes". Both the electron and the hole are called charge carriers. For data storage, solid-state devices are much faster and more reliable but are usually more expensive. Although solid-state costs continually drop, disks, tapes, and optical disk also continue to improve their cost/performance ratio. The first solid-state device was the "cat's whisker detector, first used in 1930s radio receivers. A whisker-like wire was moved around on a solid crystal (such as a germanium crystal) in order to detect a radio signal.http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/solid+state Free dictionarylt;/ref> The solid-state device came into its own with the invention of the transistor in 1947. Examples of non-solid-state electronic components are vacuum tube and cathode-ray tube (CRTs).

See also

*Semiconductor device *Solar cell

References

Further reading

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External links

*http://www.solid-state.com Solid State Technology] Category:Electronics terms Category:Semiconductors ja:ソリッドステート th:โซลิดสเตต zh:固态电子器件