Optical signals in conventional optoelectronic devices have to be converted into electronic signals when they are amplified or manipulated. But the slow pace of electrons through silicon-based ...

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 ...

Researchers in the US claim to have fabricated a transistor that bridges the worlds of optics and electronics. “We have demonstrated light emission from the base layer of a heterojunction bipolar ...

Put the inventor of the light-emitting diode and the maker of the world's fastest transistor together in a research laboratory and what kinds of bright ideas might surface? One answer is a ...

Transistors, the tiny switches that flip on and off inside computer chips, have long been the domain of electricity. But scientists are beginning to develop chip components that run on light. Last ...

Need to switch something on or off using a microcontroller? Using a transistor is one of the best ways to do this, but how exactly do you design properly for transistor switching? [Ben Krasnow] put ...

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 ...

A study by an engineering team from the University of Illinois has found that light and electrons can work together in transistor lasers to produce faster switching speeds than in any other device.

The transistor is probably the most important invention in electronic engineering and the basis for nearly all integrated circuits (ICs). The transistor is a three-terminal electronic device that can ...