22 Jun
2004
22 Jun
'04
1:43 p.m.
On Tue, 22 Jun 2004, Tony Duell wrote:
I am not convinced. I remember reading that the tiny field-emission
vavles etched into a silicon chip (which, BTW, are smaller than the mean
free path of an electron in air at stmospheric pressure so they don't
need to be evacuated) are considerably more radiation hard than
conventional transistors on the same chip.
-tony
I'm not convinced either...
I think the problem with semiconductors is that the radiation ionizes (creates
carrier pairs) in the semiconductor, in a vacuum tube, there is nothing to
ionize (though photo-electric currents are possible)
Peter Wallace
(I suspect) much of a valve's rad-hardening is due
to sheer size,
It is.