Vacuum Tubes Come Back

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Vacuum Tubes Come Back
From: Paul Anderson <paul-at-geeky1.ebtech-dot-net>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 03:08:27 -0500 (EST)
Subscriber: paul-at-geeky1.ebtech-dot-net Wed Jan 15 21:07:52 1997

Well, I thought everyone on the list would find the following article most
interesting.  Here goes:

Progress By Looking Backword

Before transistors, there were vacuum tubes.  Now researchers are taking a
look backward.  "We're revisiting vacuum tubes from the 1940s," says
physicist Griff L. Brilbo, of North Carolina State University.  "But now
we're taking advantage of new materials and computer design tools to
predict their performance at very high frequencies, for use in radar and
cellular phones."  One difference between the old and the new tubes is
size.  The new tubes are tiny and come in arrays about the size of a match
head.  They are made by "encasing electrodes in diamond, then evacuating
the air from the interiors,"  says Science News magazine.  "A big
difference between the new diamond vacuum tubes and the large glass bulbs
of the 50 years ago is heat.  The old tubes had to glow red-hot to emit
streams of electrons.  The new tubes produce current at room temperature."
Besides being more durable than semiconductors and computer chips, the
new tubes outperform them at high levels of temperature, voltage, and
radiation.

Well, judging from the above article, I guess you tube coilers better get
working, eh?  TTYL!




                            ---
                        Paul Anderson
    Author of Star Spek(a tongue in cheek pun on Star trek)
e-mail: starspek-request-at-lowdown-dot-com with subscribe as the subject
I hear it's hilarious.               Maintainer of the Tips-HOWTO.
          http://www-dot-netcom-dot-com/~tonyh3/speck.html
 The World Blender Society: Devoted to the pursuit of a homogenous planet!