Vacuum tube 3D model

In electronics, a vacuum tube, an electron tube, or just a tube (North America), or valve (Britain and some other regions), is a device that controls electric current between electrodes in an evacuated container. Vacuum tubes mostly rely on thermionic emission of electrons from a hot filament or a cathode heated by the filament. This type is called a thermionic tube or thermionic valve. A phototube, however, achieves electron emission through the photoelectric effect. Not all electronic circuit valves/electron tubes are vacuum tubes (evacuated); gas-filled tubes are similar devices containing a gas, typically at low pressure, which exploit phenomena related to electric discharge in gases, usually without a heater.