Editing Transistor (section)

==Importance==
Because transistors are the key active components in practically all modern [[electronics]], many people consider them one of the 20th century's greatest inventions.<ref name="auto1"/>

The invention of the first transistor at Bell Labs was named an [[List of IEEE milestones|IEEE Milestone]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Invention_of_the_First_Transistor_at_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories,_Inc.,_1947 |title=Milestones:Invention of the First Transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., 1947 |website=IEEE Global History Network |publisher=IEEE |access-date=August 3, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008193522/http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Milestones:Invention_of_the_First_Transistor_at_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories,_Inc.,_1947 |archive-date=October 8, 2011 }}</ref> Other Milestones include the inventions of the [[junction transistor]] in 1948 and the MOSFET in 1959.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://ethw.org/Milestones:List_of_IEEE_Milestones| title = List of IEEE Milestones| date = December 9, 2020}}</ref>

The MOSFET is by far the most widely used transistor, in applications ranging from [[computer]]s and [[electronics]]<ref name="kahng">{{cite web |title=Dawon Kahng |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/dawon-kahng |access-date=June 27, 2019 |website=[[National Inventors Hall of Fame]]}}</ref> to [[communications technology]] such as [[smartphone]]s.<ref name="uspto">{{cite web |title=Remarks by Director Iancu at the 2019 International Intellectual Property Conference |url=https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/remarks-director-iancu-2019-international-intellectual-property-conference |website=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] |date=June 10, 2019 |access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref> It has been considered the most important transistor,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ashley |first1=Kenneth L. |title=Analog Electronics with LabVIEW |date=2002 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall Professional]] |isbn=9780130470652 |page=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0qkc2f6EXnQC&pg=PA10}}</ref> possibly the most important invention in electronics,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thompson |first1=S. E. |last2=Chau |first2=R. S. |last3=Ghani |first3=T. |last4=Mistry |first4=K. |last5=Tyagi |first5=S. |last6=Bohr |first6=M. T. |title=In search of "Forever," continued transistor scaling one new material at a time |journal=[[IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing]] |date=2005 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=26–36 |doi=10.1109/TSM.2004.841816 |s2cid=25283342 |issn=0894-6507 |quote=In the field of electronics, the planar Si metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is perhaps the most important invention.}}</ref> and the device that enabled modern electronics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kubozono |first1=Yoshihiro |last2=He |first2=Xuexia |last3=Hamao |first3=Shino |last4=Uesugi |first4=Eri |last5=Shimo |first5=Yuma |last6=Mikami |first6=Takahiro |last7=Goto |first7=Hidenori |last8=Kambe |first8=Takashi |chapter=Application of Organic Semiconductors toward Transistors |title=Nanodevices for Photonics and Electronics: Advances and Applications |date=2015 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9789814613750 |page=355 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wdCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA355}}</ref> It has been the basis of modern [[digital electronics]] since the late 20th century, paving the way for the [[digital age]].<ref name="triumph">{{cite web |title=Triumph of the MOS Transistor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6fBEjf9WPw  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/q6fBEjf9WPw| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|website=[[YouTube]] |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=July 21, 2019 |date=August 6, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The [[US Patent and Trademark Office]] calls it a "groundbreaking invention that transformed life and culture around the world".<ref name="uspto"/> Its ability to be [[mass production|mass-produced]] by a highly automated process ([[semiconductor device fabrication]]), from relatively basic materials, allows astonishingly low per-transistor costs. MOSFETs are the most numerously produced artificial objects in history, with more than 13 sextillion manufactured by 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=The most manufactured human artifact in history |url=https://computerhistory.org/blog/13-sextillion-counting-the-long-winding-road-to-the-most-frequently-manufactured-human-artifact-in-history/?key=13-sextillion-counting-the-long-winding-road-to-the-most-frequently-manufactured-human-artifact-in-history |website=Computer History |date = April 2, 2018|access-date=January 21, 2021}}</ref> 

Although several companies each produce over a billion individually packaged (known as ''[[discrete transistor|discrete]]'') MOS transistors every year,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081206043949/http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/FET-MOSFET/a/9000000085806.htm FETs/MOSFETs: Smaller apps push up surface-mount supply]. globalsources.com (April 18, 2007)</ref> the vast majority are produced in [[integrated circuits]] (also known as ''ICs'', ''microchips,'' or simply ''chips''), along with [[diode]]s, [[resistor]]s, [[capacitor]]s and other [[electronic component]]s, to produce complete electronic circuits. A [[logic gate]] consists of up to about 20 transistors, whereas an advanced [[microprocessor]], as of 2023, may contain as many as 134 billion transistors (and for exceptional chips, 2.6 trillion transistors, as of 2020<!-- "The highest transistor count in a single chip processor is that of the deep learning processor Wafer Scale Engine 2 by Cerebras. It has 2.6 trillion MOSFETs in 84 exposed fields (dies) on a wafer"-->)<!-- and for GPUs: 208 billion MOSFETs in Nvidia's Blackwell-based B100 accelerator -->.<ref>{{cite web |title=Introducing M1 Pro and M1 Max: the most powerful chips Apple has ever built - Apple |url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/introducing-m1-pro-and-m1-max-the-most-powerful-chips-apple-has-ever-built/ |website=www.apple.com |access-date=October 20, 2022}}</ref> Transistors are often organized into logic gates in microprocessors to perform computation.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBVADQAAQBAJ&q=processor+logic+gates | title=Digital Systems: From Logic Gates to Processors | isbn=978-3-319-41198-9 | last1=Deschamps | first1=Jean-Pierre | last2=Valderrama | first2=Elena | last3=Terés | first3=Lluís | date=October 12, 2016 | publisher=Springer }}</ref>

The transistor's low cost, flexibility and reliability have made it ubiquitous. Transistorized [[mechatronics|mechatronic]] circuits have replaced [[cam timer|electromechanical devices]] in controlling appliances and machinery. It is often easier and cheaper to use a standard [[microcontroller]] and write a [[computer program]] to carry out a control function than to design an equivalent mechanical system.