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pcbWhyisthecircuitboardabreviationfortransistor"Q"?ElectricalEngineeringStackExchange

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WhyisthecircuitboardabreviationfortransistorQ?
Oncircuitboards,Iseethattransistorsare"Q",butwhyQ?Shouldn't"TR"betransformer,sotransistorcanbe"T"because
transistorsseemtobemorecommonthentransformers.
pcb

terminology
editedApr25'13at5:25

DarenW
3,214

askedApr25'13at1:56

skyler
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3,898

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Andforthatmatter,whyareICs"U"? HikeOnPastApr25'13at2:34

1 @hikeOnPastu=GreekMuuICasin"Microintegratedcircuit"(fromthe50's)DrFriedPartsApr25
'13at2:36
Earlyinthetransistorera,IoccasionallysawschematicswithtransistorsdesignatedasTRnnn.
JohnR.StrohmApr25'13at12:28
@HikeOnPastICsareoftencalledICnn.starblueApr25'13at20:02
Inthe1975schematicsforaSiemensOscillarM07107oscilloscopetheyuseTsNNN.starblueOct19'15
at13:06

3Answers

Thereareclaimsthat,afterinitialchaos,eventuallytheletterQwaschosen
becauseofthepopularTO18/TO39casestyles.

Justlookatitfromthebottom:

Andofcourse,'T'hadbeenusedfortransformerssincedecadesearlier.

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21/8/2016

pcbWhyisthecircuitboardabreviationfortransistor"Q"?ElectricalEngineeringStackExchange

Now,findingtrustworthysourcesavailableontheweb...well,ithasn'tbeenalucky
fewminutesforme,butIknowIreadthissomewhereinprintyearsago.
editedApr25'13at19:24

zebonaut
13.4k

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answeredApr25'13at6:17

DarenW
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1 Ouch,that2ndimagecameoutbiggerthanintended!DarenWApr25'13at6:17
1 ImageSize:FTFY.zebonautApr25'13at19:28

Here'stherumorIhavereadsomewhere:Whentransistorswerenew,theywere
thatstrangepartnoonewasreallyusingyet."T"wasalreadytaken(transformer),
andthenotsooftenusedletter"Q"was(i)notusedforanythingelseand(ii)
seemedappropriateforanotsooftenusedtypeofcomponent.
Ihavestoppedworryingabouthowtocallparts.Thelettersarenotused
consistentlyindifferentpartsoftheworld"Q"fortransistors,forinstance,isan
AmericantraditionEuropeansoftencalltransistors"T".ExceptforGermany,where
discretesemiconductors(diodes,transistors)tendtobecalled"V"insome
companieseventhoughthestandardDINEN60617suggestingtheletter"V"isnot
evenvalidanymore,iirc.Thecurrentstandard,DINEN61346,suggeststheletter
"K"fortransistors,butI'vemetnoonewhoisreallyhardcoreenoughtoactually
useit.
Oh,andI'vejustfoundoutthatDINEN61346hasbeenwithdrawnandreplacedby
IEC81346 .TheGermanwikipediaarticlehasacompletelistaboutallthe
suggestedreferencedesignators,andyoucanclearlyseehowthegoaloffinding
onebigclassification,validforeverythingandanythingfromboardleveldesignto
industrialautomationinlargeinstallations,hasledtoabigtablethathasFUBARed
everything.Searchfortheterm"transistor"inthewikipediaarticle,andyou'llfind
thatyou'resupposedtouse"KF"!
editedApr25'13at7:50

answeredApr25'13at7:11

zebonaut
13.4k

31

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Thereareenoughtube("valve")amplifiersstillaround,especiallyforguitarplayers,thatVnnn(for
"valve")willbearoundforalong,longtimeyet.JohnR.StrohmApr25'13at12:30

TLDR
Theshortansweris"because[someone]saidso!"(Shockley?Moore?)andthen
itwascodified
MightrefertotheQpoint("quiescent"point)asloadlineanalysis(Qpoint
analysis,orbiasanalysis)cameofagearoundthesametimeastheadventof
thetransistor
FYI:"T"istransformeraccordingtoANSI/IEEE

(My)SummaryoftheCodificationHistory:
1950'sMilitarydefinesstandardsfordraftingtofacilitatewhatwenowcall"lifecycle
management"
1970'sIEEE/ANSItriestogetinontheactionandsetawidereachingcommercial
standard
1990'sIEEEtriestoupdateit,butrealizesitspointless(e.g.goodenough)
FromWikipedia(emphasismine):
IEEE2001975"StandardReferenceDesignationsforElectricalandElectronics
PartsandEquipments"isastandardthatwasusedtodefinereferencingnaming
systemsforcollectionsofelectronicequipment.IEEE200wasratifiedin1975.
TheIEEErenewedthestandardinthe1990s,butwithdrewitfromactivesupport
shortlythereafter.ThisdocumentalsohasanANSIdocumentnumber,ANSI
Y32.161975.Thisstandardcodifiedinformationfrom,amongothersources,a
UnitedStatesmilitarystandardMILSTD16whichdatesbacktoatleastthe
1950sinAmericanindustry.
editedApr25'13at7:29

answeredApr25'13at2:29

ThomasW

DrFriedParts

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protectedbyDaveTweed Jul20'14at10:54

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