1/28/2016

The evolution from the

Relay Vacuum tube Transistor
Integrated Circuits

By Khris Thammavong

A relay is a switch operated electrically instead of a person manually

switching it. Most relays use an electromagnet to operate a switch, but there
are other kinds of relays such as solid-state relays. They are used when you

need to control a circuit by a low-power signal or when several circuits need

to be controlled by one signal. The magnetic relay in this picture works by
having some wire wrapped around an iron core. This acts as an
electromagnet and when the electricity flows through the wire the
electromagnet gets attracted to the core magnet and closes the circuit.
There is not much history behind the relay, but
Joseph Henry is generally claimed to have invented
a relay in 1835 to improve his electrical telegraph.
A vacuum tube controls electric current
between electrodes in a container with no air.
Current passes through the filament (cathode) and
heats it up so it gives off electrons and gets
attracted to the plate (anode) which is positively
charged. There can also be a grid of wire to control
the plate. An example of vacuum tubes beind used
today are guitar amps.
The man credited for inventing the vacuum
tube is John Ambrose Fleming. He developed a
device he called an oscillation valve in 1904, due to experiments conducted
on Edison effect bulbs.

The transistor is a semiconductor, usually made of silicon or

germanium, used to amplify or switch electronic signals and/or power. John
Bardeen and Walter Brattain at AT&Ts Bell Labs performed experiments from
November 17, 1947 to December 23, 1947. They found out when two gold
point contacts were applied to germanium, a signal was produced with the
output greater than the input. Today, transistors can still be packaged
individually, but they are generally found embedded in integrated circuits.
The transistor is much less expensive, more reliable, and more compact than
the vacuum tube.

Integrated circuits are a small

plate with billions of
transistors. They can even be
the size of a fingernail.
Without integrated circuits,
most of the technology today
would not be possible. Most
building would not be able to
be built at a rapid pace. Even
if most of these things are
possible, it would be very
expensive and timeconsuming. Integrated circuits
have shaped the technology
of modern society and have
shown us the possibilities that we can achieve. Integrated circuits have even
helped us get to the moon. From the computer I am typing this on and the
phones that we have in our pockets, integrated circuits are everywhere.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay
http://www.physics.unlv.edu/~bill/PHYS483/relay.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube
http://www.john-a-harper.com/tubes201/
http://www.vacuumtubes.net/How_Vacuum_Tubes_Work.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_circuit
http://techterms.com/definition/integratedcircuit
Mr. Webster