Electronic devices and components

Early electronic components

Vacuum tubes were one of the earliest electronic components. They dominated electronics until the 1950s. Since that time, solid state devices have all but completely taken over. Vacuum tubes are still used in some specialist applications such as high power RF amplifiers, cathode ray tubes, and some microwave devices.

In electronic component is any physical entity in an electronic system used to affect the electrons or their associated fields in a manner consistent with the intended function of the electronic system. Components are generally intended to be connected together, usually by being soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), to create an electronic circuit with a particular function (for example an amplifier, radio receiver, or oscillator). Components may be packaged singly, or in more complex groups as integrated circuits. Some common electronic components are 

1) Capacitors,
2) Inductors, 
3) Resistors, 
4) Diodes, 
5) Transistors, etc. 


Components are often categorized as active (e.g. transistors and thyristors) or passive(e.g. resistors and capacitors).