{"id":962,"date":"2017-05-05T08:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-05-05T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=962"},"modified":"2023-09-26T10:24:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T17:24:52","slug":"the-miniaturization-of-electronics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/the-miniaturization-of-electronics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Miniaturization of Electronics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Miniaturization of Electronics<\/span><\/h1>\n

How Semiconductors Saved Us From Drowning in Vacuum Tubes<\/span><\/h1>\n

Imagine this, you just ordered yourself a brand new computer, and you can\u2019t wait to get it all set it up. But instead of receiving a small box on your doorstep from Amazon, you have a delivery truck backing in with pallets to deliver. And not only that, but there\u2019s also a bunch of support technicians walking into your house. From what they said, it sounds like they\u2019ll be there for a few weeks to get this new computer of yours up and running.<\/span><\/p>\n

While this might seem crazy by today\u2019s standards, it\u2019s exactly what the process for setting up a computer was like in the 1940s. And good luck fitting those things in your home, computers in the 1940s often took up an entire room, weighed many tons, and required constant air cooling to keep all of their vacuum tubes working.<\/span><\/p>\n

Point being, the small computers that we know today, the ones that we can slip into our backpacks, or fit in our pockets, or strap onto our wrists, are just a shadow of the beasts from yesterday. And this entire miniaturization process that we\u2019re all reaping the rewards from would have never been possible without semiconductors.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Life of a Vacuum Tube<\/h2>\n

You might have encountered vacuum tubes in older electronic equipment if it survived from the mid-1900s. They were all over the place, being used in radios, televisions, radar equipment, and telephone systems. Vacuum tubes are what you might expect, a glass tube enclosing a set of components where all of the oxygen has been vacuumed out of the space. What\u2019s so special about these tubes? As Thomas Edison found out in 1883, you can get a current to travel through a vacuum tube. And when you force it to move only in one direction, then you\u2019ve created yourself a <\/span>diode<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"5963-vacuum-tubes\"

The old 5963 vacuum tubes, still in use today! (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The ability to control the direction of current was imperative for devices like radio sets, which needed to<\/span> transform unpredictable alternating current (AC) into something more smooth and stable in the form of direct current (DC)<\/span><\/a>. Vacuum tubes did just that. And as vacuum tubes become more advanced you could start to control the flow of not one, but two current sources within a single tube, thus you create a switch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"difference-between-ac-dc-current\"

The difference between AC and DC, as you can see DC is much more predictable. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

See where this might be going? With vacuum tubes using a heated cathode, plate, and control grid as shown in the picture below, you could use the center grid to control the flow of electrons to be either positive or negative. And if there\u2019s anything to know about the basics of digital electronics, it\u2019s that everything is based off 1s and 0s, or on and off, or positive and negative.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"triode-vacuum-tube\"

The internal parts for a triode vacuum tube that provides for the back and forth control of electricity. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

So with this simple vacuum tube, the possibilities for modern computing were born. But that doesn\u2019t mean vacuum tubes were perfect, quite the opposite in fact. Here are just a few of the problems they faced:<\/span><\/p>\n