Dematerialisation circuit
A dematerialisation circuit, sometimes shortened to demat circuit, (AUDIO: The Beginning) was an essential part of a TARDIS which enabled it to dematerialise from normal space into the Time Vortex and rematerialise back from it. The Doctor's Type 40 TARDIS used a Mark I model dematerialisation circuit, while the Master's first TARDIS used a Mark II. (TV: Terror of the Autons) According to the Second Doctor, overloading the circuit was supposed to be impossible, making it difficult to repair when it was damaged. (AUDIO: Daughter of the Gods)
On his first trip in the TARDIS, the First Doctor removed the circuit from his TARDIS and kept it on his person while he and Susan went out exploring, ensuring Stoyn couldn't use the ship to return to Gallifrey. (AUDIO: The Beginning)
When the First and Second Doctor's TARDISes collided, both dematerialisation circuits burned out and they became stranded on Urbinia. The First Doctor constructed a new one during his three-month stay. He gave it to the Second Doctor so the latter could use it to avert the creation of their present timeline in which the Daleks attacked the planet. (AUDIO: Daughter of the Gods)
During his exile on Earth, the Time Lords removed the dematerialisation codes from the Third Doctor's mind and deactivated the dematerialisation circuit of his TARDIS. He coveted the Master's working dematerialisation circuit, and when the opportunity struck he swapped it for his own defective circuit. Although he learned he could not use the Mark II circuit with his TARDIS, the Doctor was cheered to realise that the Master was now as trapped on Earth as he. (TV: Terror of the Autons, PROSE: The Eight Doctors)
However, the Doctor lost the Master's dematerialisation circuit following the destruction of the Keller Machine. Shortly afterwards, the Doctor received a telephone call from the Master, who had his dematerialisation circuit back and was now free to leave Earth once more, while the Doctor had to remain in exile. (TV: The Mind of Evil)
Once the Time Lords had rescinded the Doctor's exile as thanks for his defeat of the renegade Time Lord Omega, they also restored his knowledge of the dematerialisation codes and provided him with a new circuit. (TV: The Three Doctors)
The Third Doctor took a part of his dematerialisation circuit with him when he took the Brigadier's godson Albert to a London zoo. The young boy stole it from the Doctor's pocket and used it to transport himself into the animal pens, but when he entered the tiger's cage, it caught his hand in its mouth. The Doctor entered the cage, then instructed Albert how to use the circuit to free himself. (AUDIO: Walls of Confinement)
Dalek time travel devices also contained mini-dematerialisation circuits. (TV: Day of the Daleks)
When the Doctor's first TARDIS escaped Gallifrey and crash-landed on Valderon, its dematerialisation circuit was one of many circuits destroyed in the attempt. The Type 50 stole the Doctor's Type 40's dematerialisation circuit as a temporary replacement, instantly condemning it for being unreliable and almost burnt out. The dematerialisation circuit was later returned when the Type 50 was dying. (AUDIO: Prisoners of Fate)
During the Last Great Time War, the Time Lords deduced that the Daleks had derived their time technology from their own and so their technical division postulated that it may be possible to retroactively insert a "Trojan Horse" program into dematerialisation circuits at a time period prior to the Daleks' acquisition of the technology, thus giving the Time Lords a shut-down option that would deprive the Daleks of time travel capability. Whilst the War Council agreed that it would be an effective defense, the possibility was recognised that the Daleks could discover such a program and potentially use it against the Time Lords. A subcommittee looked into the ramifications of this course of action and was to report back once its findings had been analysed. (PROSE: Dalek Combat Training Manual)
The dematerialisation circuit of the Master's TARDIS was destroyed as a result of the Saxon Master's attempt to escape a Mondasian colony ship which was being pulled into a black hole. Ultimately, the Master would come across his future incarnation, Missy, who provided him with a spare dematerialisation circuit which she had remembered to keep on hand as a result of their encounter. (TV: The Doctor Falls)
