(Phys.org)—Although vacuum tubes were the basic components of early electronic devices, by the 1970s they were almost entirely replaced by semiconductor transistors. But in the past few years, ...

One of the topics we've covered multiple times at ExtremeTech is the difficulty of continuing to scale semiconductor technology, and the related problem of improving chip performance without ...

Way back in the salad days of digital computing (the 1940s and '50s), computers were made of vacuum tubes -- big, hot, clunky devices that, when you got right down to it, were essentially glorified ...

When most people think about vacuum tubes, they picture big glass bottles glowing inside antique radios or early computers. History often treats tubes as a dead-end technology that was suddenly swept ...

A vacuum tube, known as the first electronic device, is used to switch, amplify, or commutate electric signals. In the past, vacuum tubes functioned as a main part of a diverse range of electronic ...

For decades, the speed of transistors has been approaching its physical limit. Now, researchers have built a new type of vacuum/air channel electron tube that completely eliminates a fatal flaw that ...

You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Peer inside an antique radio and you'll find what look like small light bulbs. They're actually ...

Without transistors the modern world would simply not exist. But how do they work, and how do modern, atomic sized versions compare with the originals? The word "transitor" has become almost invisible ...

Researchers from UC San Diego are using vacuum tube technology to develop more efficient computer processors. The research could result in faster microelectronic devices and better solar panels. Their ...