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“We were using gl[y]coborate as the electrolyte and
izoticed an anodic oxide film growing on the surface
of the germanium so we anodized the surface of a piece of germanium, washed off the glycoborate and
evaporated the gold spots on it. As it turned out the
germanium oxide was soluble in water and we had also washed it 081 So these experiments were done
on a freshly anodized surface of germanium, and the
first transistor was made on one of these samples anodized in this way! ’’ Nevertheless, Brattain continued experimenting on Dec. 15‘h with various combinations of voltage polarities on both the gold electrode and the point- contact electrode, the latter having been moved adjacent (just outside) the former electrode. One such combination had the gold electrode positively biased and the point-contact negatively biased, resulting in a voltage amplification of holes emitted from the gold electrode and collected at the point-contact (see 15- December entry in Table two); modulation was achieved by varying the potential of the emitting gold electrode. Bray has suggested Bardeen and Brattain might have utilized ac signals on both electrodes, with appropriate phases, (over and above the modulation effect at the emitter), thereby “explaining” their “selection” of the above choice of voltages and polarities that gave semiconductor amplification (transistor action) (41). In any case, the observed effect (with the gold electrode positively biased and the point contact negatively biased) was the opposite to what would have been expected if the oxide were present. In that case, a positive voltage applied to the gold electrode would have been expected to electrostatically induce electrons in the p- type inversion layer with a resultant decrease in the hole flow to the negatively biased point contact. Bardeen and Brattain had discovered “that it is possible to increase the conductivity by current flow from an appropriate contact on the germanium (31).” This was the first observation of semiconductor amplification (i.e., the transistor effect.) Although there was no power gain, there was a 2x voltage gain, independent of frequency up to lo4 Hz (23). Bardeen and Brattain concluded that the observed voltage gain was due to holes emitted from the positively-biased gold electrode into the germanium’s p-type inversion layer and collected at the negatively-biased collector. A signal applied between the emitter and the base electrode appeared in amplified form across a high- resistance load between the collector and the base (10). This observation resulted in the conception of the point-contact semiconductor amplifier and Bardeen and Brattain’s “035” patent disclosure (36)
(see entry No. 4 in Table one). Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson have noted that although Bardeen and Brattain failed to observe any power amplification with this configuration, Bardeen suggested a power gain should occur if two narrow contacts could be spaced only a few mils apart (23).
Historic Day - December 16,
The Dec. 15Ih experiment quickly led to the experimental configuration utilized by Bardeen and
Brattain on Dec. 16‘h, as shown in Figure 5.
Specifically, Bardeen and Brattain utilized the same piece of germanium as used for the gold ring studies (Le., n-type polycrystalline germanium with a chemically induced p-type inversion layer) (10,ll). The germanium sample into which the plastic wedge pressed two stripes of gold foil is about half a centimeter long (42). The emitter was biased positively and emitted holes; the collector was biased negatively and collected the emitted holes. Both voltage and current amplification of an input signal, up to lo3 Hz with a power gain of about 2 dB, was achieved (see 16-December entry in Table two). One can clearly see the evaporated gold electrode in
Figure 5 (from the Dec. 15Ih experiment) adjacent to
the plastic wedge utilized for the definitive transistor experiment. Brattain has described how he achieved the point- contact separation - two parallel lines spaced about 50 pm apart - by cutting an evaporated strip of gold
foil with a razor blade (43): “ I accomplished it by
getting my technical aide to cut me a polystyrene triangle which had a smart, narrow, flat edge and I cemented a piece of gold foil on it. After I got the gold on the triangle, very firmly, and dried, and we
made contact to both ends of^ the gold,^ I^ took^ a^ razor
and very carefully cut the gold in two at the apex of
the triangle. 1 could tell when I had separated the
gold. That’s all I did. I cut carefully with the razor
until the circuit opened and put it on a spring and put
it down on the same piece of germanium that had
been anodized but standing around the room now f o r pretty near a week probably. I found that if1 wiggled
it just right so that I had contact with both ends of the
gold that I could make one contact an emitter and the other a collector, and that I had an amplifer with the
order of magnitude of 100 amplification, clear up to
the audio range.”
FIGURE 5. Bardeen and Brattain’s point-contact semiconductor amplifier with the n-type polycrystalline germanium (note the ring electrode from the experiment performed on Dec. 15Ih)and two line-contacts of gold affixed to the plastic wedge [used with permission of the Estate of John Bardeen].
Bardeen and Brattain utilized the terminology of an emitter and collector contact as well as the notation of a base contact to explicitly describe the physical structure of their invention, based on Shockley’s utilization of these terms in analogy to a vacuum tube (9,44). The polarity of the emitter was positive (forward-bias) which causes a current of minority-carriers (holes) to be emitted into the n-type semiconductor’s inversion layer; this may be regarded as equivalent to valence-band electrons transferring from the semiconductor into the metal point contact. Concurrently, the polarity of the collector was negative (reverse-bias) which further bent the energy bands at the collector to facilitate the collection (or attraction) of the holes which had been introduced by the emitter into the n-type semiconductor’s inversion layer. It should be noted that the collector polarity essentially blocks the majority-carrier (electron) collection at the collector contact. The input impedance at the emitter is reduced to about 25 ohms or so while “the collector, being operated in the reverse direction as a rectifier, has a high impedance (= lo4 - lo5 ohms) and may be matched to a high impedance load” (10). Power amplification of the input signal was thereby obtained inasmuch as the emitter and collector currents were rather similar in magnitude, although examples whereby the current amplification factor could be
greater than unity due to “forming” (i..e, the passage of a large current which changes the “height of the potential barrier opposite to the change imposed during forming by the applied voltage” (8) so as to enhance the collection efficiency of the collector point contact) was noted (lo). Modulation of the flow of minority carriers (holes) in the semiconductor amplifier with a frequency of 15 MHz was accomplished by varying the potential of the emitter and collector relative to the base electrode, for this particular biased configuration. Subsequent experiments produced power gains of 20 dB with 25 mW output at frequencies up to 10 MHz (43). Bardeen and Brattain had amplified both power and currentholtage at audio frequencies - a solid-state amplifier - about one month after Brattain and Gibney’s Nov. 1 7‘h breakthrough. Semiconductor amplification was also subsequently observed in adjacent single crystal grains of polycrystalline silicon (10). The device was exhibited to top executives of AT&T on Dec. 23rd and shown to exhibit oscillator behavior, a critical test to prove the existence of power gain, on Dec. 24‘h.
‘ 2 N TYPE %e
I t
FIGURE 7. Figure 1A from the Bardeen and Brattain point-contact semiconductor amplifier patent [after (36)].
The barrier here refers to the boundary between the p-type inversion layer and the depleted n-type material relative to the bulk n-type material. Interestingly, Bardeen and Brattain later note in their patent (46): “The potential probe measurements discussed above indicate that the concentration of holes, and thus the conductivity, in the vicinity of the emitter point, increase with increasing forward current. This hole current spreads out in all directions from the emitter 5 before crossing the high resistance barrier 4. With the collector circuit open, it then makes its way throughout the body of the
block, to the plated lower surface 2. (In the N-type
body of the block, the current may take the form of a flow of electrons upward to neutralize the downward
flow of holes from the P-type layer.) In the absence of
the collector electrode 6, this current is the only current. Its path is indicated in Fig. l a by stream lines 13. ’’
“Now when the collector 6 contact is made, and a negative bias potential is applied to it, of from -5 to - 50 volts, a strong electrostatic field appears across the P-type layer 3, and across the high resistance barrier 4, being maintained by the fixed positive charges in the N-type body material in the immediate vicinity of the collector. The barrier and the P-type
layer together are believed to be of the order of
cm in thickness. Thus with 10 volts across a space of the average strength of this field is of the order of Id volts per cm, being greatest at the collector and extending in all directions from the collector, and is indicated in Fig. l a by the broken line 14, within which some of the fixed positive charges are indicated by plus signs.”
“Now when the current of positive holes as indicated by stream lines 15 comes within the influence of this field, the holes are attracted to the region of lowest
potential, namely, to the point at which the collector electrode 6 makes contact with the layer 3.... ” So, while Bardeen and Brattain were cognizant of the transport of holes into the bulk, for the particular geometrical structure they utilized, the electric field at the collector was sufficiently strong to ensure significant collection of the holes emitted just beneath the emitter via their transport along the surface p-type inversion layer. The collector’s electric field could penetrate sufficiently into the n- type bulk material, however, to collect those emitted holes traversing the inversion layer-bulk n-type material interface and transported through the bulk material and collected by their traversing the bulk n- type-inversion layer interface en route to the collector. The reverse-biased collector-base structure is expected to exhibit a significant portion of its depletion region within the n-type base material inasmuch as the germanium resistivity was 10 ohm-cm, which is about 1.3 x 1014 electrons per cm3 (47). In addition, germanium (and silicon) are in- direct energy-gap semiconductors which facilitated the component of holes transported as minority carriers through the n-type bulk material to survive and reach the collector, in spite of the expected recombination processes in n-type germanium (48). An assessment as to whether the minority-carrier holes emitted into the large grained polycrystalline, n-type germanium (or silicon) sample were mainly transported from the emitter to the collector along the p-type inversion layer or exhibited some non-trivial transport as minority carriers through the n-type bulk sample, may be assessed by a model calculation (49). Taking the room-temperature minority-carrier (hole) lifetime and diffusion coefficient in the n-type, large-
grained polycrystalline germanium as = 10 ,us and
49 cm2/s (48,50), respectively, an upper limit of the hole diffusion length of about 225 pm is obtained,
(see eqs. 6 and 7), almost five times the 50 pm spatial
separation between the emitter and collector gold contact metal tips (10) (probe separations as much as 250 pm were also utilized).
where k is Boltzmann’s constant, T is the absolute
temperature and q is the absolute value of the
electronic charge. Even if the two probes were placed in adjacent polycrystalline grains and the hole lifetime and diffusion coefficient were reduced, as a result of
intergranular scattering, to = 1 ps and 12 cm2/s (48),
respectively, the resulting diffusion length of about
35 pm would still be comparable to the probe separation of 50 pm. One might, therefore, anticipate some fraction of bulk minority-carrier transport, concurrent with transport in the inversion layer. In other words, the holes introduced at the emitter could flow as minority carriers, relative to the reverse- biased collector contact, either along the inversion layer or through the n-type bulk material as noted above. In that regard, there has been speculation that Bardeen and Brattain’s n-type bulk sample did not exhibit a p-type surface inversion layer and, in point of fact, exhibited a component of hole flow through the bulk of the n-type germanium to a much greater extent than indicated in their 1948 papers (51). Further complicating this retrospective analysis is Shockley’s recollection of a “most trying week somewhere in late Dec. [1947] or early Jan. [1948]
when for some reason the [surface] treatments failed and no transistors worked’ (20). It should be noted that Bardeen and Brattain’s publications (10,ll) were submitted and their “035” patent (36) was re-filed (the original patent submission date was February 26, 1948 and did not include their observation of current gain, see entry No. 4 in Table one) after John Shive described his double-surface transistor (52) experiment at a meeting of several BTL scientific personnel on February 18, 1948 (23,35). Shive explicitly illustrated the influence of the transistor geometry on the transport path of the minority carriers by illustrating the importance of the bulk transport in comparison to the surface transport of the minority carriers (52). Shive placed the emitter and collector on the opposite surfaces (approximately 100 pm separation through the bulk material) of a thin triangular piece of germanium as schematically illustrated in Figure 8 (3,52). Shive’s results clearly favored the dominance of the transport of minority carriers through the bulk material, rather than along the surface, for his material (which was not prepared with a chemically induced inversion layer) and experimental configuration. Bardeen has described his excitement upon Shive’s explicit experimental proof that minority carriers could flow “appreciable distances through the bulk of n-type germanium” as well as along the inversion layer from the emitter to the collector (53).
Emitter A Collector
Signal
toad res istor
FIGURE 8. Schematic illustration of Shive’s double-surface transistor experiment ( 5 2 ) [after (3)J.
Recapitulation
In summary, it should be noted that instead of the introduction of electrons into the p-type inversion layer of the n-type germanium bulk sample by a positive voltage on the gate electrode (separated from the germanium by the presumed oxide film) via the field effect, the positive voltage applied to the gate electrode (now referred to as the emitter) introduced holes directly into the surface (inversion layer) of the n-type germanium. Some component of the emitted holes flowed to the collector along the p-type inversion layer with the remaining (non-zero) portion apparently flowing through the bulk to be collected at the collector. This admixture is very dependent on the device configuration as shown by Shive (52). In any case, the solid-state amplifier invented by Bardeen and Brattain “was completely different in principle and function from the field-effect transistor proposed by Shockley [envisioned as a majority-carrier device] but served the original desired function as a triode amplifier” (24). It should be noted, furthermore, that the field effect would have introduced electrons, majority carriers, into the semiconductor; the actual device introduced holes, minority carriers, into the semiconductor, irrespective of the spatial location of the emitted carriers. It is indeed fortunate that germanium and silicon are in-direct semiconductors, which facilitated a sufficiently long bulk diffusion length so as to allow the minority carriers to traverse the base (n-type bulk material) in both the Shive and, to some extent, the Bardeen and Brattain experiments. Indeed, as noted above, there has been speculation that Bardeen and Brattain’s n-type bulk sample did not exhibit a p-type surface inversion layer and, in point of fact, exhibited bulk transport to a much greater extent than indicated in their 1948 papers (51). This series of research events has been described (27,67): “Bardeen and Brattain .... had, in effect, struggled with their point-contact system f o r more than a year in a kind of technical wilderness valying the nature of the two probes. The results they found along the way were obtained by an admixture of accident, brilliant insight and luck .... The fact that the results were the reverse of what they had expected initially in the given case, namely that minority, rather than majority-carriers, were modulated, is irrelevant. Accident had favored their prepared minds! They were amply prepared to understand and exploit the breakthrough .... ’’ Bray has concurred, observing that “Bardeen’s focus on the surface states and the inversion layer unexpectedly generated the point-contact transistor configuration,” while noting Bardeen and Brattain’s attentiveness to pick up the implications of their invention (38). The switch from Si to Ge, utilization
of two point contacts (i.e., whiskers) “close” together and Brattain’s accidental destruction (in his mind) of the GeOz film (subsequently realized not present) were also instrumental. Gorton has summarized the series of events relating to the invention of the point- contact semiconductor amplifier in 1949 for the official BTL records (40); related notes by Fisk (78) and Brattain (79) are appended to Gorton’s summary.
Naming the Invention
Several versions as to the origin of the name “transistor” have been described. John Pierce at BTL suggested transistor since the electric field modulating the resistance was transverse to the minority-carrier current (67). A complementary interpretation attributed to Pierce was that since the point-contact semiconductor amplifier was the dual of the vacuum tube from a circuit point of view, the electrical dual of transconductance, an important parameter of the vacuum tube, was transresistance, shortened to transistor (62,80), since “a number of device names terminated in the sequence ‘or,’ as conductor, resistor, varistor, thermistor” (80). Another interpretation, however, noted the prefix “trans” designates the translational property of the device, while the root “istor,” similar to the previous case, classified it as a solid circuit element (81).
Patents
The patent application applied by BTL for the point-contact transistor initially included Shockley’s field-efect transistor, albeit the effect was extremely small as noted above. A patent search by AT&T attorney’s, however, found previous patents awarded for rather similar field-effect amplifiers to both Lillenfeld (82-84) (as early as 1930) and Heil (85,86) (as early as 1935). Accordingly, Shockley was not included in the point-contact transistor patent application, which was a severe disappointment to Shockley (9,20,21,23,32,35,87). Sah (32) has extensively analyzed both Lilienfeld and Heil’s patents, noting that both men had anticipated a number of modern solid-state devices. Sah explicitly noted (32) that Lilienfeld understood the conductivity modulation principle of the metal-oxide- semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), based on electrostatics, at a time when quantum mechanics was just beginning to be applied to the properties of solids (and the semiconductor concept of Wilson (88-91) had yet to be enunciated). Bill Sweet (92) has summarized the essence of Lilienfeld’s first patent which was issued on January 18, 1930 (82): “The invention relates to a method of and apparatus f o r controlling the flow of an electric current between two terminals of an electrically
conducting solid by establishing a third potential between said terminals; and is particularly adaptable to the amplification of oscillating currents such as prevail, f o r example, in radio communications. Heretofore, thermionic tubes or valves have been generally employed f o r this purpose; and the present invention has f o r its object to dispense entirely with devices relying upon the transmission of electrons through an evacuated space and especially to devices of this character wherein the electrons are given off from an incandescent filament. The invention has f o r a further object a simple, substantial and inexpensive relay or amplifier not involving the use of excessive
voltages, and in which no filament or equivalent
element is present. More particularly, the invention consists in affecting, as by suitable incoming oscillations, a current in an electrically conducting solid of such characteristics that said current will be affected by and respond to electrostatic changes. ” Bardeen has also noted the importance of Lilienfeld’s work, although Bardeen’s reference to semiconductors was in retrospect (92): “Lilienfeld deserves great credit f o r his pioneering efforts to make a semiconductor amplifier. This was not long after copper oxide and copper sulfide rectifiers were discovered. He [Lilienfeld] had the basic concept of controlling the flow of current in a semiconductor to make an amplibing device. It took many years of development of theory and materials technology to make his dream a reality.” Sah has noted, however, that neither Lilienfeld nor Heil recognized the necessity of the inversion layer for the operation of their proposed devices (32): “The inversion channel idea was first recognized by Bardeen in 1947 (32).” In point of fact, Shockley’s disappointment became the major impetus for his subsequent p-n junction theory and junction transistor theory (9,20,2 1,23,32,35,87) and seminal minority-carrier injection concept (55). It should explicitly be noted, however, that transistor action was discovered by Bardeen and Brattain (42). The role of minority carriers and the first two transistors - point-contact and junction - and the differing approaches of Bardeen and Brattain vis-&vis Shockley has been discussed (23,35). Finally, Bardeen comprehended that it was not efficient to modulate the conductivity of a slab of semiconductor via the field effect and, thereby, patented the first modern transistor device. This was an insulating gate modulating an n-type inversion layer via the field effect, utilizing the inversion layer to confine the minority-carrier transport, in series with a reverse-biased n-p junction. Bardeen received the “033” patent (29) for the effect, which resulted in the first recorded power gain in a solid-state amplifier (29-31). Sah (32) has described Bardeen’s device as a sourceless MOS transistor and noted that Bardeen’s
patent is “the first modern transistor patent ...” The
device has become the basis of, for example, subsequent metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) microprocessor applications. Bardeen has confirmed the importance of his patent (92): “ ... Nearly all present-day field-effect transistors make use of controlling the flow in an inversion layer of opposite conductivity o p e adjacent to the suface (such as an
n-type inversion layer on p-@pe silicon.) I have the
basic patent on use of an inversion layer to confine
the jlow. Present-day bipolar transistors are of the junction type and are based on a patented structure Shockley invented while planning experiments to elucidate the dynamics of the point-contact transistor. The Bell Laboratories patent department was unable to obtain a patent on Shockley’s field- effect invention because of Lilienfeld’s patents and others. ’’ Shockley described Bardeen’s “033” patented device (29) in 1973 as “an insulated gate field-effect transistor (IGFET) with an inversion layer channel” (20) but re-canted this description in 1976 (9), since he noted that Bardeen’s “033” patent referred to Gibney’s “792” patent (33) for chemically preparing the inversion layer on the bulk semiconductor, rather than dynamically inducing the inversion layer by a gate voltage. Bardeen, however, had shown that the inversion layer in the device could be formed by either method (see the 8-December entry in Table two where the inversion layer was formed by an applied gate voltage whereas the other dates utilized a surface chemical preparation technique).
BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR
Background
Shockley developed the “diffusion theory of minority current to a reverse biased p-n junction” and
the “behavior of minority electrons in a uniform p-
layer” on April 24, 1947, as described in his review of the path to the conception of the junction transistor (9). Shockley’s analysis was an important step forward in clarifying the concept of minority-carrier diffusion in steady-state, non-equilibrium conditions in a medium where majority carriers concurrently existed. This one-dimensional analysis was additionally important inasmuch as the point-contact transistor was a three-dimensional device in which surface properties were integral to its operation. Shockley has noted, however, that his analysis of the large reverse-biased p-n junction, “simplified the boundary condition at the edge of the space-charge layer to zero minority-carrier density, but it prevented
J r JP
+ 7
A - OISTANCE, X ..--)
(g 1
+’
t
- A
DISTANCE, X r
( h)
FIGURE 9. Bipolar p-n-p junction transistor. The left hand side (a,c,e and g) corresponds to the zero-bias case while the right hand side (b,d,f and h) corresponds to the forward-biasedcase (8) [after W. Shockley, Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors, New York, D. Van Nostrand, 19501.
The electrons injected from the emitter into the base, where they were now minority carriers, flowed in the presence of the majority carrier, holes, en route to the reverse-biased base-collector junction where they would be accelerated to the collector. The possibility of current flow between two outer layers by minority-carriers diffusing through the middle layer was “recognized [and] that one of the p-n
junctions could be reverse biased ...^ and that the minority carriers could control the reverse current” (20). The p-n junction semiconductor amplifier was
later called the (bipolar) junction transistor (20).
Even as Shockley was developing his conception of a
bulk junction transistor, Bardeen and Brattain were planning to extend their research to an analogous bulk type junction transistor structure, but by then
Shockley had apparently covered these approaches in his research ( 2 3 ) and subsequent patent application
(54). It was now recognized that the three key concepts of the bipolar junction transistor involved: (a) minority-carrier injection over the potential barrier, which is exponentially reduced during forward bias at the emitter-base interface, as
described in eq. 8 (8,9,22), (b) the high impedance at
the base-collector interface developed as a result of the large reverse bias and (c) favorable geometry and doping levels to obtain good emitter to collector efficiency.
where I, is the saturation current, V is the applied bias, k is Boltzmann’s constant, T is the absolute
temperature and q is the absolute value of the
electronic charge. Since the minority carriers flowed in the presence of the dominant majority carriers in the base region, it was also recognized that the minority-carrier survival during transit in the base was strongly dependent on the properties of the semiconductor (48). It should be noted, however, that Boris Davidov apparently had already suggested the importance of what we now call minority carriers in 1938 (87).
Davidov had essentially derived eq. 8, obtained by
Shockley a decade later, in his work explaining rectification (87), a major scientific challenge in the 1930’s. It has been suggested, though, that Davidov did not explicitly ensure the self-consistency of his analysis with the field equations (93). The success of the contemporaneous space-charge theory of rectification by Schottky (94-97), Mott (98,99), Davydov (100) and Bethe (101), also referred to as the “one current” theory of rectifiers, however, made further scientific discussion of minority carriers at the time moot (86). Riordan, Hoddeson and Conyers Herring, who are currently developing a more extensive analysis of Davydov’s work (102), have noted (87): “... the work of Boris Davydov on rectifying characteristics of semiconductors seems to have eluded notice until after the War, even though it was available in English-language publications (103,104). Working at the Ioffe Physico-Technical lnstitute in Leningrad, he [Davydov] came up with a model of rectification in copper oxide in 1938 that foreshadowed Shockley ’s work on p-n junctions more than a decade later. His idea involved the existence of a p-n junction in the oxide, with adjacent layers of excess and deficit semiconductor forming spontaneously due to an excess or deficit of copper relative to oxygen in the crystal lattice. Non- equilibrium concentrations of electrons and holes ... could survive briefly in each other’s presence before
recombining. Using this model, Davydov successfully derived the current-voltage characteristics of copper- oxide rect$ers; his formula was essentially the same one that Shockley would derive a decade later f o r p-n junctions (22). But his cumbersome mathematics and assumptions may have obscured the importance of his physical ideas to later workers. Bardeen, f o r example, was aware of Davydov’s publications by 1947 but does not seem to have recognized their significance until a f e w years later.” Finally, as stated above, Bardeen has noted (92): “. .. Present day bipolar transistors are of the junction type and are based on a patented structure Shockley invented while planning experiments to elucidate the dynamics of the point-contact transistor.. ..” Nevertheless, the influence of an inversion layer on the performance of a two-junction structure without a gate was shown by Brown to be an important consideration in the junction structure’s performance (105). The announcement of transistor action was made to the press on June 30, 1948 and reported on p.46 in “The News of Radio” section of the New York Times on July 1, 1948. Several key concepts, however, were developed after the invention of the junction theory transistor. These included the explicit demonstration of minority-carrier injection by Haynes and Shockley (57) and the reduction of the bulk resistance of n-type Ge due to hole injection by Ryder and Shockley (76). Shockley’s “347” patent (54) was filed on June 26, 1948 and his extended p-n junction theory and junction transistor theory were published in 1949 (22). In the junction transistor, the emitter and collector of the point-contact transistor are replaced by two p-n planar junctions, one on either side of the n-type (or p-type) base material as in Figures 9a and 9b (8). Morgan Sparks and Robert Mikulyak presented an experimental “existence proof’ of a Ge p-n-p (non-colinear) transistor (with a power gain of
- on April 7, 1949 (9). It was not until April, 1950, however, that p-n and n-p-n large area, planar junctions, grown by sequential single- and double- doping techniques during crystal growth, were fabricated (10-15 watts audio power I 20 KHz was achieved for the transistors), as part of Gordon Teal’s single-crystal research (with Ed Buehler and Morgan Sparks) (9,48). The microwatt n-p-n junction transistor was subsequently developed ( 106).
EVOLVING DIRECTIONS
The point-contact transistor was manufactured for ten years starting in 1951 by the Western Electric Division of AT&T (107). The apriori tuning of the point-contact transistor parameters, however, was not simple inasmuch as the device was very dependent on the detailed surface structure and, therefore, very
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