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# Transistor
Transistor is a small [semiconductor](semiconductor.md) element of [electronic](electronics.md) circuits that can be used as an amplifier or a switch, and which is a basic building block of [digital](digital.md) electronic [computers](computer.md), integrated circuits and many other electronic devices. Transistors replaced [vacuum tubes](vacuum_tube.md) and [relays](relay.md) which were used in primitive computers of the 20th century; transistors can be made much smaller, cheaper, more reliable and, unlike relays, operated purely electronically and therefore much faster. Transistor has become the most manufactured device in history.
Transistor is a small [semiconductor](semiconductor.md) element of [electronic](electronics.md) circuits that can be used as an amplifier or a switch, and which is a basic building block of [digital](digital.md) electronic [computers](computer.md), integrated circuits and many other electronic devices. Transistors replaced [vacuum tubes](vacuum_tube.md) and [relays](relay.md) which were used in primitive computers of the 20th century; transistors can be made much smaller, cheaper, more reliable and, unlike relays, operated purely electronically and therefore much faster. Transistor has become the most manufactured device in [history](history.md).
Transistor generally has three terminals. Its key principle is that of behaving like an electronically operated amplifier or switch: we can make a transistor *open* or *close* (i.e. conduct or not conduct electricity) by applying different voltage or current (and we can also make it something between *open* and *close*). The voltage/current by which we control the transistor can be lower than that which we control, so we can see this as an amplifier: we can control high current with low current, i.e. the high current follows the low current but has higher amplitude. We can also see this as a switch: by applying voltage/current we can make a wire connect (low resistivity) or disconnect (high resistivity) similarly to a physical switch. This switch behavior is important for computers because we can exploit it to implement [binary](binary.md) (on/off) [logic circuits](logic_gate.md).
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BJT (NPN) BJT (PNP) FET (N) FET (P)
```
First FET transistors were JFETs (junction-gate FET) but by today were mostly replaced by **MOSFETs** (metal-oxide-semiconductor FET), a transistor using a metal oxide layer for separating the gate terminal which gives it some nice properties over JFET. These transistors are used to implement [logic gates](logic_gate.md) e.g. using the **[CMOS](cmos.md)** fabrication process which uses complementary pairs of P and N channel FETs so that e.g. one is always off which decreases power consumption.
First FET transistors were JFETs (junction-gate FET) but by today were mostly replaced by **MOSFETs** (metal-oxide-semiconductor FET), a transistor using a metal oxide layer for separating the gate terminal which gives it some nice properties over JFET. These transistors are used to implement [logic gates](logic_gate.md) e.g. using the **[CMOS](cmos.md)** fabrication process which uses complementary pairs of P and N channel FETs so that e.g. one is always off which decreases power consumption.