Vacuum tubes appeared at the break of the 20th century, giving birth to electronics [1]. By the 1930s, they had become established as a mature technology, spreading into areas such as radio communications, longdistance radiotelegraphy, radio broadcasting, telephone communication and switching, sound recording and playing, television, radar, and air navigation [2]. During World War II, vacuum tubes were used in the first electronic computers, which were built in the United Kingdom and the United States [3]. Although vacuum tubes had been a successful technology, they were also bulky, fragile, and expensive; had a short life; and consumed a lot of power to heat the thermo emitters. These drawbacks promoted the search for completely new devices. Alternative solutions had long been considered but without significant developments.

中文翻译：

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晶体管化七十年 [历史]

真空管出现在 20 世纪末，催生了电子产品 [1]。到1930年代，它们已经成为一种成熟的技术，扩展到无线电通信、长途无线电报、无线电广播、电话通信和交换、录音和播放、电视、雷达和空中导航等领域[2]。二战期间，第一台电子计算机中使用了真空管，这些计算机是在英国和美国制造的 [3]。尽管真空管是一项成功的技术，但它们也笨重、易碎且价格昂贵。生命短暂；并消耗大量电力来加热热发射器。这些缺点促进了对全新设备的搜索。长期以来一直在考虑替代解决方案，但没有取得重大进展。