Other types: Tetrode A tetrode is an electronic device having four active electrodes.

The term most commonly applies to a twogrid vacuum tube. It has the three electrodes of a triode and an additional screen grid which significantly changes its behaviour.

Only three components have been added: the screen grid, the screen grid dropping resistor, and the screen grid bypass capacitor (Csg)

Control Grid Operation: The grid nearest the cathode is the "control grid"; the voltage applied to it causes the anode current to vary. In normal operation, with a resistive load, this varying current will result in varying (AC) voltage measured at the anode. With proper biasing, this voltage will be an amplified (but inverted) version of the AC voltage applied to the control grid, thus the tetrode can provide voltage gain. Screen Grid Operation: The second grid, called "screen grid" or sometimes "shield grid", provides a screening effect, isolating the control grid from the anode, reducing the parasitic capacitance between the two. This helps to suppress unwanted oscillation, and to reduce an undesirable effect in triodes called the "Miller effect", where the gain of the tube causes a feedback effect which increases the apparent capacitance of the tube's grid, limiting the tube's high-frequency gain. In normal operation the screen grid is connected to a positive voltage, and bypassed to the cathode with a capacitor. This shields the grid from the anode, reducing Miller capacitance between those two electrodes to a very low level and improving the tube's gain at high frequencies. Applications: High-frequency performance of transistors has been greatly improved by several modifications of the basic n-p-n junction transistor. External dimensions have been decreased, the p-layer made very thin, and a fourth lead attached. The resulting tetrode transistor is expected to have important applications in high-frequency, broadband transmission systems. Pentode A pentode is an electronic device having five active electrodes. The term most commonly applies to a three-grid [1] vacuum tube (thermionic valve), which was invented by the Dutchman Bernhard D.H. Tellegen in 1926. Pentodes [2] (termed "triple-grid amplifiers" in some early literature ) are closely related to beam tetrodes, and an improvement over conventional tetrodes, which were themselves a development of triodes.

Operation: The problem of secondary emission associated with the screen grid of a tetrode has been reduced byyou guessed it, the addition of another grid. This third grid, called a SUPPRESSOR GRID, is placed between the screen grid and the plate. The suppressor grid is normally connected either internally or externally to the cathode and bears the same charge as the cathode. This is shown in the last illustration. Because of its negative potential (relative to individual electrons), any electrons that are emitted by the plate, through secondary emission, are repelled back toward the plate. Application: It is used in certain applications including high-power radio transmitters and (because of their well-known valve sound) in high-end and professional audio applications, microphone preamplifiers and electric guitar amplifiers. Special Types: Beam power tubes In the beam power tube, the basic four-element structure of the tetrode was maintained, but the grid and screen wires were carefully arranged along with a pair of auxiliary plates to create an interesting effect: focused beams or "sheets" of electrons traveling from cathode to plate. These electron beams formed a stationary "cloud" of electrons between the screen and plate (called a "space charge") which acted to repel secondary electrons emitted from the plate back to the plate. A set of "beam-forming" plates, each connected to the cathode, were added to help maintain proper electron beam focus. Grid and screen wire coils were arranged in such a way that each turn or wrap of the screen fell directly behind a wrap of the grid, which placed the screen wires in the "shadow" formed by the grid. This precise alignment enabled the screen to still perform its shielding function with minimal interference to the passage of electrons from cathode to plate.

Operation:

The tube is short and stocky to insure mechanical ruggedness. With shorter active electrodes, alignment is more readily maintained. This is especially important in a beam power tube where electrode configuration has the additional function of beam formation in order to produce the high density electron cloud in the screen-plate space for the suppression of secondary emission from the plate. Application: Beam power tube designed for use as an RF power amplifier, oscillator, regulator, distributed amplifier, or linear RF power amplifier in mobile or fixed equipment. Miniature Tubes Early tubes used a metal or glass envelope atop an insulating bakelite base. In 1938 a technique was developed to [8] instead use an all glass construction with the pins fused in the glass base of the envelope. This was used in the design of a much smaller tube outline, known as the miniature tube, having 7 or 9 pins. Making tubes smaller reduced the voltage that they could work at, and also the power of the filament.

Operation: A sketch of the 1V6 and its connections is shown. On the press seal, there is a red dot that identifies what I have called pin 1. The filament is located at the center of the tube, with the pentode on one side and the triode on the other. The triode shows a of about 10, rp = 18.6 kO, and gm = 440 S. The pentode has gm as high as 694 S above 500 A plate current, but it drops considerably at lower plate currents. The two devices can be tested as usual, taking care not to exceed 45V or 1 mA. Note that the pentode and the triode share the same filamentary cathode. Application: Sub-miniature tubes with a size roughly that of half a cigarette were used in hearing-aid amplifiers. These tubes did not have pins plugging into a socket but were soldered in place. The "acorn" valve (named due to its shape) was also very small, as was the metal-cased nuvistor, about the size of a thimble. The small size supported especially highfrequency operation; nuvistors were used in UHF television tuners until replaced by high-frequency transistors. Compactrons One of the last innovations in vacuum tubes for consumer electronics was the compactron that appeared in the 1960's as television receivers became transistorized. These were much like enlarged miniature tubes, but with a 12pin base, and the exhaust tip at the bottom instead of the top. They included two or more units, making use of the increased number of connections or the larger envelope. The heater connections were regularly to pins 1 and 12. In a typical small black-and-white receiver of 1970, three vacuum tubes might remain, such as a 9-pin miniature triodepentode for the sync separator and horizontal oscillator, a compactron diode-beam power for the horizontal output and damper, and a compactron triode-pentode for the vertical oscillator and ouput. The heaters were connected in series with a ballast, and drew 0.45A. These functions were the most difficult to transistorize that remained. The RF and IF amplifiers, mixers, detectors and audio amplifiers were, of course, easy to transistorize. Operation:

An example of a compactron is the 15AF11, a dual-triode pentode, making use of all 12 connections, as shown. The heater takes 13.7V at 0.45A, and seemed to work satisfactorily with a 12.6V transformer. The triodes are not symmetrical. Unit A has = 72, gm = 3.8 mS, while Unit B has = 48, gm = 3.2 mS (by test; these are not the advertised values). The pentode Unit C showed the typical tetrode dips at low plate voltages. The transconductance was 5.9 mS at 8 mA, 4.9 mS at 5 mA, and 3.5 at 3 mA. The plate resistance was 60 kO at 10 mA, 130 kO at 7 mA (all by measurement).

Application: Television sets were a primary application. Cathode ray tube The Cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a source of electrons) and afluorescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam, used to create images in the form of light emitted from the fluorescent screen. Operation: The construction of an electron-ray tube is shown. The target is a part of a cone of an angle of about 100, 22 mm in diameter at the top, 8 mm in diameter at the bottom, and 5 mm high. A cathodoluminescent coating on the inside of the target creates an annular ring of greenish light about 6 mm in projected width around the 9 mm diameter light shield. The cylindrical cathode thimble is at the center, with heater inside, and is surrounded by a helical accelerating grid that acts just like the screen grid of a tetrode to create the target current of a few milliamperes. At one side is a ray-control electrode, a flat metal strip insulated from the other components. The electrons are accelerated from the space charge region by the accelerating electrode, and then pass into a nearly field-free region where they drift in straight lines to the target, creating light when they strike the phosphor.

Application: Probably the best-known application of a cathode-ray tube is as the picture tube in a television. Other applications include use in oscilloscopes, radar screens, computer monitors, and flight simulators. Thyratron

A thyratron is a type of gas filled tube used as a high energy electrical switch and controlled rectifier. Triode, tetrode and pentode variations of the thyratron have been manufactured in the past, though most are of the triode design. Because of the gas fill, thyratrons can handle much greater currents than similar hard vacuum valves/tubes since the positive ions carry considerable current. Gases used include mercury vapor, xenon, neon, and (in special high-voltage applications or applications requiring very short [1] switching times) hydrogen. Unlike a vacuum tube, a thyratron cannot be used to amplify signals linearly. Operation: A typical hot-cathode thyratron uses a heated filament cathode, completely contained within a shield assembly with a control gridon one open side, which faces the plate-shaped anode. When positive voltage is applied to the anode, if the control electrode is kept at cathode potential, no current flows. When the control electrode is made slightly positive, gas between the anode and cathode ionizes and conducts current. The shield prevents ionized current paths that might form within other parts of the tube. The gas in a thyratron is typically at a fraction of the pressure of air at sea level; 15 to 30 millibars (1.5 to 3 kPa) is typical. Both hot- and cold-cathode versions are encountered. A hot cathode is at an advantage, as ionization of the gas is made easier; thus, the tube's control electrode is more sensitive. Once turned on, the thyratron will remain on (conducting) as long as there is a significant current flowing through it. When the anode voltage or current falls to zero, the device switches off. Application: Modern applications include pulse drivers for pulsed radar equipment, high-energy gas lasers, radiotherapy devices,particle accelerators and in Tesla coils and similar devices. Thyratrons are also used in high-power UHF televisiontransmitters, to protect inductive output tubes from internal shorts, by grounding the incoming high-voltage supply during the time it takes for a circuit breaker to open and reactive components to drain their stored charges. This is commonly called a "crowbar" circuit.