There are two basic types of transistors: Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) and Field Effect Transistors (FETs). BJTs are controlled by current, while FETs are controlled by voltage. Within these ...

Transistors want current control ... 500 milliwatts of power which is more than sufficient in this case. Most NPN-type BJTs will work fine though. Consider the following alarmingly pink battery ...

When talking about a FET, people usually mean a MOSFET, and that’s what this article is going to talk about, too – other types aren ... refer to them as NPN or PNP transistors.

William Shockley improved on this design with his junction transistor, a three-layer sandwich of different types of semiconductor. The diagram illustrates the basic design of an NPN junction ...

MOSFETs were not originally better than the junction transistor, but they are much easier to make on an integrated circuit or microprocessor, and so they soon became the preferred type of transistor.