TO-3 at Motorola around 1955. The lead spacing was originally intended to allow plugging the device into a then-common tube socket. The metal package can be attached to a heat sink, making it suitable for devices dissipating several watts of heat. Thermal compound is used to improve heat transfer between the device case and the heat sink. Since the device case is one of the electrical connections, an insulator may be required to electrically isolate the component from the heatsink. Insulating washers may be made of mica or other materials with good thermal conductivity. The case is used with high-power and
Metal earlier. Since 1952, elements 101 (mendelevium) to 117 (tennessine) have been synthesized. The most recently synthesized element is 118 (oganneson). Its status as a metal or a nonmetal—or something else—is not yet clear. A metallic glass (also known as an amorphous or glassy metal) is a solid metallic material, usually an alloy, with disordered atomic-scale structure. Most pure and alloyed metals, in their solid state, have atoms arranged in a highly ordered crystalline structure. Amorphous metals have a non-crystalline glass-like structure. But unlike common glasses, such as window glass, which are typically electrical insulators, amorphous metals have good electrical conductivity.