I was digging around in the LM311 (and LM111, LM211) comparator data sheet, and came across this unusual voltage reference (diag right). It consists of an npn cascsode pair of transistors, the top one ...

If we were to identify one component as “the building block of computers,” it would have to be the Transistor. Invented at Bell Labs in 1947, the transistor is a small electronic device used in all ...