The Vacuum Transistor

[james]

http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors ... of-nothing


"Introducing the Vacuum Transistor: A Device Made of Nothing
This curious mash-up of vacuum tube and MOSFET could one day replace traditional silicon"

"At the NASA Ames Research Center, we’ve been working for the past few years to develop vacuum-channel transistors. Our research is still at an early stage, but the prototypes we’ve constructed show that this novel device holds extraordinary promise. Vacuum-channel transistors could work 10 times as fast as ordinary silicon transistors and may eventually be able to operate at terahertz frequencies, which have long been beyond the reach of any solid-state device."

"We’ve been working to develop yet another candidate to replace the MOSFET, one that researchers have been dabbling with off and on for many years: the vacuum-channel transistor. It’s the result of a marriage between traditional vacuum-tube technology and modern semiconductor-fabrication techniques. This curious hybrid combines the best aspects of vacuum tubes and transistors and can be made as small and as cheap as any solid-state device. Indeed, making them small is what eliminates the well-known drawbacks of vacuum tubes."


Applications to hi-fi anyone ?

[jkeny]

Very interesting - thanks for the link

[Adrian]

Good stuff James,,, most interesting..

Seems to be a general trend in engineering / science etc... a sort of amalgamation of different technologies... bit like hybrid cars I suppose.

Strength via diversification etc.

[Rob]

Having a problem with the link but this reminds me of a chat I had with two electronics experts. I was waxing lyrical about how great triode valves are, and they both said pentodes were better because they could handle very high frequencies much better!