triode, electron tube consisting of three electrodes—cathode filament, anode plate, and control grid—mounted in an evacuated metal or glass container. It has been used as an amplifier for both audio and radio signals, as an oscillator, and in electronic circuits. Currently, small glass triodes are used primarily in low-distortion audio amplifiers, while larger triodes, made of metal-ceramics for ruggedness, are used in radio transmitters and in the generation of radio frequency for industrial heating applications.
The triode is the fundamental form of vacuum tube; variants, such as the tetrode or the pentode, incorporate additional grids. Because of its amplification function, the control grid is generally the most important and critical electrode in a vacuum tube. A small variable voltage applied to the grid can greatly modulate the flow of electrons reaching the plate. The control grid is normally a wire mesh that intercepts little or no current, even though on occasion it may be actually positive relative to the cathode.