Introducing Electronics

Abstract

Electronics has been the growth industry of the twentieth century. Advances in the science of materials, in production techniques and computer aided design have contributed to progressively smaller, faster and more sophisticated systems. The first computer used glass tubes called thermionic valves to control electric currents and could add two numbers in about 1/1000 second. The solid-state transistor, first built in 1950, used semiconductor materials which improved the speed of computers and greatly reduced their size. The development of integrated circuit ‘chips’ has brought electronic control into every area of everyday life from children’s toys to satellite television. The latest low-temperature transistor can perform a million million operations in one second.