The tiny and powerful transistor changed the future of electronics.

History
Following the works made on the semiconductors, the transistor was invented on December
23, 1947 by the Americans John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain, researchers
of Bell Laboratories.
These researchers received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 for this invention. The
transistor is considered as a huge progress compared to the electron tube: much smaller,
lighter and more robust, working with low voltages, allowing a battery power supply, and it
works almost instantaneously once powered, unlike the electron tubes which required about
ten seconds of heating, generated a significant consumption and required a high voltage
source (several hundred volts).
several large-scale researches had been elaborated, allowing the development of more and
more diversified models of transistors, using not germanium but silicium instead.
The industrialization comes at the beginning of the 1950s, under the impulse of Norman
Krim, vice-president of Raytheon.
types
From the time of invention of the first transistor to the present day, transistors are classified
into different types depending either on their construction or their operation. 

Junction transistor (BJT)  Npn and pnp

Field effect transistor (FET) available in both N–Channel and P–Channel types.
Mofset   available in depletion and enhancement types. Further, the depletion and
enhancement types are classified into N–Channel and P–Channel types.
Transistors are also classified depending on the functions (operations or applications) they
perform. We can find:
 Small Signal Transistors
  Small Switching Transistors
 Power Transistors
 High Frequency Transistors
 Photo Transistor
 Uni-Junction Transistors (UJT)

Principle
The transistor is the basic element of all electronic components starting from a small amplifier
to integrated circuits. it’s small in size and requires low energy for operation and also has low
power dissipation.
It is the meeting of two diodes, one is biased in direct and the other in reverse to ensure the
normal operation of the transistor.
It is called bipolar because the electrical conduction is achieved by the two types of charge
holders: electrons and holes. A static study is made to determine the type of type of operation
of the transistor from the position of the rest point. The dynamic study is characterized by four
parameters: the input and output impedance and the gain voltage and current gain. The values
of these quantities determine the characteristics of the transistor and consequently its
application.
A transistor is made up of three pieces of semiconductor alternately doped "N or "P

The NPN transistor is symbolized by the outgoing emitter current and conversely for PNP

There are three operating states of a transistor:

 On state

A current (modulated or fixed) on the Base (B) allows more or less current to pass

(which will also be modulated or fixed) between C and E.

  Maximum saturation state (or clip)

Once it has reached its maximum, the transistor will act as a simple closed switch and will therefore
let the entire supply current to pass through it. It therefore acts as a switch.

 Blocked state

If there is no current at the base (B), nothing passes through the transistor and it will act as an open
switch.

Application

As an amplifier

 It can be used in long-distance communication because the intensity of the

signal obtained at the output will be high.
As switcher

 Memory cards in mobile phones.