Cat whisker a fine metal thread resembling the arched shape of a cat's whisker used in early radio wave detecting crystal sets.

金属细线一种质地良好的金属线，类似于猫的胡须，呈拱形。早期应用于无线电波检测晶体装置。

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To create the point-contact transistor, Shockley's team modified the cat's whisker by placing two fine metal wires close together on the surface of a germanium crystal, turning it from a diode into a triode.

ECONOMIST: The middle age of the transistor

This device patented by a German scientist, Ferdinand Braun, in 1899 was made of a single metal wire, fondly called a cat's whisker, touching against a semiconductor crystal.

ECONOMIST: The middle age of the transistor