edgepedia

Electronic components and devices

286 articles

General

Ovonic threshold switch

The ovonic threshold switch is a two-terminal chalcogenide glass device that switches on above a threshold voltage, used as a selector in Intel Optane memory.

General

Ovonic threshold switching

Ovonic threshold switching is a volatile effect in amorphous chalcogenide glasses where resistivity drops sharply above a threshold voltage; the switch serves as the selector in 3D cross-point memories like Intel's Optane.

General

Oxide retinomorphic sensor

An oxide retinomorphic sensor is an image sensor built from oxide semiconductors like ITO and indium oxide, where each pixel both senses light and computes, mimicking the retina.

General

Oxide semiconductor synaptic transistors

Oxide semiconductor synaptic transistors are three-terminal thin-film devices, usually with an amorphous IGZO channel, whose conductance changes emulate biological synapse weight updates, built for low-power neuromorphic computing hardware.

General

Oxide semiconductor TFT backplane

An oxide semiconductor TFT backplane is a flat-panel display backplane whose thin-film transistors use an oxide semiconductor, most commonly indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO), offering high mobility, low leakage, and low power for OLED, LCD, and Micro-LED displays.

General

Perovskite field-effect transistor

A perovskite field-effect transistor (PeFET) is a transistor whose channel is built from a metal halide perovskite, first reported by IBM in 1999 for logic circuits and photodetectors.

General

Perovskite laser

Perovskite lasers are semiconductor lasers that use metal halide perovskites as the gain medium. First demonstrated in 2014, they are studied for displays, optical communications, and photonic chips.

General

Perovskite nanocrystal white light-emitting diode

A perovskite nanocrystal white light-emitting diode is a white LED using metal halide perovskite nanocrystals, either down-converting light on blue chips or emitting white directly.

General

Perovskite optoelectronic synapse

A perovskite optoelectronic synapse is an artificial synaptic device built from metal halide perovskite that mimics biological synaptic plasticity, combining light sensing, memory, and processing for neuromorphic vision systems.

General

Perovskite photodetector

A perovskite photodetector is a light-sensing device using a metal-halide perovskite semiconductor as the photoactive layer, first fabricated in 2014 and matching commercial silicon detectors.

General

Perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diode

A perovskite quantum dot light-emitting diode, also called PeQLED, is an LED whose emissive layer is metal halide perovskite nanocrystals, developed for high-color-purity displays and lighting.

General

Perovskite quantum-dot LEDs

Perovskite quantum-dot LEDs, or PeQLEDs, are light-emitting diodes that use cesium lead halide perovskite nanocrystals as color-pure, low-cost emitters; their short operating lifetimes hold back commercialization.

General

Perovskite X-ray detector

Halide perovskite X-ray detectors are radiation sensors made of perovskite semiconductors with the crystal formula ABM₃, studied as cheaper, highly sensitive alternatives to silicon and amorphous selenium detectors.

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Petahertz transistor

A petahertz transistor is an experimental switching device controlled by the oscillating electric field of light rather than a gate voltage, enabling switching within a single optical cycle, near 10^15 Hz.

General

Phase-change photonic switch

A phase-change photonic switch is an optical switching device that uses a chalcogenide phase-change material, typically GST, toggled between amorphous and crystalline states that hold without power.

General

Phase-change photonics

Phase-change photonics is the field of optics that uses phase-change materials, notably GST, switched reversibly by short pulses between amorphous and crystalline states, enabling nonvolatile photonic memory and reconfigurable devices with zero static power.

General

Photocathode

A photocathode is a photoemissive surface, usually of alkali metals or semiconductors in a vacuum device, that converts photons into electrons via the photoelectric effect.

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Photonic inverse design

Photonic inverse design is an optical device design methodology in which the desired functionality is specified first and an optimization algorithm searches for a suitable structure.

General

Phototransistor

A phototransistor is a semiconductor photodetector that combines light detection with internal current amplification, invented by John N. Shive at Bell Labs in 1950 and widely used in optocouplers.

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Piezoresistive sensor

A piezoresistive sensor measures pressure, force, strain, or acceleration by converting mechanical stress into a resistance change. Widely used in MEMS, its standard form uses four silicon piezoresistors in a Wheatstone bridge.

General

Plasmonic modulator

A plasmonic modulator is an on-chip electro-optic device controlling light's amplitude or phase via surface plasmon polaritons, achieving micrometer-scale footprints and bandwidths beyond 500 GHz at the cost of metal loss.

General

Plasmonic nanolaser

A plasmonic nanolaser is a laser that uses surface plasmons, electron oscillations at a metal surface, to fit light into cavities below the diffraction limit, first demonstrated in 2009.

General

Plated through-hole

A plated through-hole is a hole drilled through a printed circuit board whose copper-lined wall conducts electricity between the board's layers and can hold a component lead.

General

Pogo pin

A pogo pin, also known as a spring-loaded contact or spring probe, is a spring-loaded electrical pin used in circuit-board testing, charging docks, and battery contacts.

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Potentiometer

A potentiometer, commonly abbreviated pot, is a three-terminal resistive component with a movable wiper on a resistive track, acting as an adjustable voltage divider used for volume controls and calibration.

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Power cycling test

A power cycling test (PCT) is an accelerated reliability test that repeatedly heats a power semiconductor device to expose fatigue in bond wires and solder.

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Power semiconductor device

A power semiconductor device, also called a power device, is a solid-state component such as a diode, thyristor, MOSFET, or IGBT that switches large currents in converters and power supplies.

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Printed circuit board

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is an insulating board with etched copper traces that both connects electronic components and supports them mechanically, underpinning nearly all electronics.

General

Protonic synaptic transistor

A protonic synaptic transistor is a three-terminal device in which protons migrating through an electrolyte gate a semiconductor channel, mimicking synaptic functions like long-term potentiation.

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Pseudocapacitor

A pseudocapacitor is an electrochemical energy storage device that stores charge through fast, reversible Faradaic redox reactions at electrode surfaces, achieving greater capacitance and energy density than electric double-layer capacitors.