Mosfets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Plural form of transistors that control current by an electric field across an insulated gate, widely used as switches and amplifiers in electronic circuits
2. Semiconductor devices, each a field-effect transistor with an oxide-insulated gate, that regulate electrical current in computers and power supplies
3. Electronic components built from metal, oxide and semiconductor layers that act as voltage-controlled switches or signal amplifiers in circuitry

Etymology: MOSFET is an initialism, not a word that developed through ordinary speech, so its history is a matter of engineering naming. It stands for "metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor," and the device it names was first proposed by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, who patented a field-effect transistor concept in 1925, though no working version was built at the time. The first working MOSFET was demonstrated at Bell Labs in 1959 by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng, and the term took hold in the following years as the design became the basis of most modern integrated circuits. The plural "MOSFETs" is simply the acronym with an ordinary English "s" added at the end, the same way "CPUs" or "LEDs" are formed. Pronounced as a word, it is usually said "moss-fets," with the letters read as a single unit.

Synonyms: MOSFET, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor