Language of Electronics

First use by F.V. Hunt and R.W. Hickman in a 1939 article. They discuss circuits for application in what they call "low-voltage" (130V-600V) stabilizers. They describe two triodes in cascade, and think of it as a pentode replacement. Hence they thought of the name "cascode".

This name applies to a cascade of a common-cathode triode stage and a common-grid triode stage. This particular cascade configuration became very popular, and it still is. The term "cascode" also became very popular. Not only the circuit, but also its name evidently filled a need. Engineers liked the name, and still like it, because it distinguishes this popular stage from other cascade circuits. Later, in 1948, Wallman, MacNee, and Gadsen describe this as a stage which has the low noise factor of a triode and the gain of a pentode.

So "cascode" is a word play between "cascade", "triode", and "pentode".

It is not completely clear where this term comes from. The first written use we found stems from 1950. Before that time it must have been a colloquial term, deemed unsuitable for written use. The first written use is very furtive, but it became more accepted soon after this. The term still has a limited popularity nowadays.

A pair with a long tail. This is a pair of vacuum tubes or transistors with the cathodes or emitters or sources connected, and biased with a current source connected to this common node. One way of realizing this current source is to use a high-valued resistor, which can become very long because of its high value, which explains the length of the tail. Even though this expression stems from long before the integration age, the tail is especially long in an integrated implementation if it consists of a resistor.

Probably the most abused word lately. Many people who don't know what they are talking about use the term in the imagined, glorious meaning of "school of thought", "way of thinking", as in "this design method is a new paradigm for the future". Everybody copies everybody, and no-one takes the small trouble to consult a dictionary.

Fortunately, you are reading this, so you will know better. Any dictionary will tell you that "Paradigm" means "Example", no more and no less. It stems from the Greek paradeiknunai which means "to compare", from para "along" and deiknunai "to show". A paradigm is especially an example of verb conjugation.

Then again, if everybody will use the word consistently in a wrong way, the wrong meaning will become official, in the same way as "premises" now means "building".

For more information, see these Paradigms of paradigms.

This term bears the assumption that the quantity described is expressed in Volts. The same way that some people say "mileage" in stead of "distance". After all, who has ever heard about the "meter" as unit of length or distance?

It is a shame that the old term "Electromotive Force" (or "EMF") is out of usage. "Potential Difference" or "tension" would be acceptable too. A good thing is that "current" is not called "Amperage", at least not generally.