A tetrode transistor is any transistor having four active terminals.

Early tetrode transistors

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There were two types of tetrode transistor developed in the early 1950s as an improvement over the point-contact transistor and the later grown-junction transistor and alloy-junction transistor. Both offered much higher speed than earlier transistors.

  • Point-contact transistor having two emitters. It became obsolete in the middle 1950s.
  • Modified grown-junction transistor or alloy-junction transistor having two connections at opposite ends of the base.[1] It achieved its high speed by reducing the input to output capacitance. It became obsolete in the early 1960s with the development of the diffusion transistor.

Modern tetrode transistors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Wolf, Oswald; R. T. Kramer; J. Spiech; H. Shleuder (1966). Special Purpose Transistors: A Self-Instructional Programmed Manual. Prentice Hall. pp. 98–102.
  2. ^ U.S. patent 4,143,421 - Tetrode transistor memory logic cell, March 6, 1979. Filed September 6, 1977.
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