After researching the topic quite thoroughly, we found it quite difficult to give a clear yes-no answer to the question proposed. Opinions differ greatly on the subject matter as it is always difficult to speculate about the future of a technology. Even our group was unable to come to complete agreement of whether tubes would survive!

However, the majority of us agreed that tubes fulfil specialised roles that they are well suited to such as the magnetron and the employment of TWTs for high frequency high power amplification. In this case it is likely that they are not going to be replaced anytime soon because no existing technology can compete. Having said that, the prospect of traditional tubes gaining any major commercial application seems bleak. This can be attributed to inherent flaws such as high power consumption, which is frowned upon in today’s energy conscious world.

There are however, exciting technologies that could lead to a revival of sorts. Alternative field emitters could expand the current limited applications of valves. This is because with the advance of new technologies, such as carbon nanotubes, these valves could potentially be miniaturized to micro-scale levels as well as overcome other disadvantages of traditional valves. However, it is worth noting the distinction between these two technologies. These new type of tubes utilize field and not thermionic emission, in that sense they cannot be classified as ‘thermionic valves’. However, they very much are vacuum tubes and in our group’s opinion, despite several technical challenges that must be overcome, are most likely to prevent vacuum tubes from becoming obsolete in the 21st century.