Yes, transistors need Quantum Mechanics (QM). The following some remarkable facts illustrate why transistors depend on QM 1. Transistors are usually fabricated of crystalline solids. read more
Yes, transistors need Quantum Mechanics (QM). The following some remarkable facts illustrate why transistors depend on QM. Transistors are usually fabricated of crystalline solids. Crystalline solids are made of periodical and regular arrangement of atoms. Understanding the behavior of electrons present in such periodic potentials requires QM. read more
Usually transistor explanations are couched in this "classical" way of thinking, even though all of the supposedly classical laws are all based on quantum mechanics. The best discussion I've seen of semiconductors from first-principles (quantum mechanics) is in the Feynman Lectures on Physics (Vol III, chpts 13-14). read more
It's as correct as saying with out quantum mechanics there would be no atoms because electrons would have fall onto nuclei. There would be computers but not like the modern ones. The first (electrical) ones didn't depend on quantum mechanical effects, they used vacuum tubes in place of transitors. read more