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Tag of the book Santana,Edu - Computer Architecture. Released by the Federal University of Paraíba: In Figure 1.3, the structure of a previous MOSFET transistor is presented. This transistor is the most used to build digital electronic systems such as computers. The name comes from the abbreviation of “Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor”. Let's see what each word of these means, and this will help us to know a little more about the MOSFET and its relevance. The term MOS (“Metal-Oxide Semiconductor”) comes from the materials used to compose a MOSFET, which are mainly metal oxide and semiconductor.Semiconductors are materials that have properties that do not even allow them to classify as a driver, nor as an insulator. In some conditions he acts as an insulating, and in others, as a driver. The most commonly used semiconductor in transistors is silicon (symbol Si in the Periodic Table). In ambient conditions, silicon acts as an adhesive, but if mixed with other materials, it can become a conductor until the desired intensity.Silicon has become so important that it has modified a whole region of
California in the United States in the 1950s, making it one of the
most promising in the world to this day. This region has sheltered and sheltered
most important companies in the business of computer design, as
Intel, AMD, Dell, IBM and Apple, and after software that would
run on these computers, such as Microsoft, Oracle and Google. That's right.
region is called Silicon Valley.In the transistor of Figure 1.3, “Struct of a MOSFET transistor” the light gray represents a silicon crystal that was doped with negative loads. The dark gray represents the part that has been doped with positive loads.In the normal situation (see Figure 1.4, “Opening and closing of the MOSFET type transistor door”) an electrical current applied in the Drain manages to travel the narrow negative channel and follow to the Source. In this condition we say that the transistor is active. However, if a negative voltage is applied in the Door, the positive loads of the p region will be drawn closer to the Door, and this will close the channel through which the electrical current passed. In that case, we say the transistor is inactive.Figure 1.4. Type transistor door opening and closing MOSFET Why does that matter to us? When the transistor is active, it can be seen with value 1, and when inactive, it can be seen with value 0. So we have the least possible memory of being built. When we want it to save value 1, just turn off the voltage of the Door and apply a current in the Drain. As long as we want it to store value 0, we need to apply a current in the Door and close the channel. So a memory of 8 billion bits can be elaborated with 8 billion transistors like these.Now we know the first aspect that makes transistors essential for understanding the computer. They are used for the construction of memories. Memories based on transistors are also called Solid State Memories. But there are others, not as efficient and miniaturized, as optical and magnetic memories. The important thing is that the smaller we can build these transistors, the better. The opening and closing process of the channel is not instantaneous. It takes a very long time, but when added to the times of all billions of transistors, it becomes relevant. The smaller it is, the narrower the channel is, and therefore the faster it turns on and off, in the same way, the smaller the distance between the Drain and the Source, taking also less time for the electrons to leave the Drain towards the source. This will all make the memory faster. Small transistors also allow more data to be stored by area. That's why today huge storage capabilities are available on devices as small as are the examples of flash drives and memory cards.Transistors are also used to perform logical and arithmetic operations. The charge taken from a transistor can serve to feed another and, if combined correctly, can perform basic logical operations, E, OR, NO and arithmetics, addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. With this, transistors can not only be used to store data, but how to perform logical and arithmetic operations on that data. That's fantastic and it's revolutionized all over the world. Not only in Computer Science, but also in all areas of knowledge. What would be of humanity today without the computer? Without the cell phone? Without the satellites?