Surface-barrier transistor

and produced at the Lansdale Tube Company-division of

Philco Corporation, which was capable of obtaining frequencies up to 60 MHz.[3]

2 Transistor radios

Philco Surface Barrier transistor developed and produced in

1953

The surface-barrier transistor is a type of transistor developed by Philco in 1953 as an improvement to the alloyjunction transistor and the earlier point-contact transistor. Like the modern Schottky transistor, it oered much
higher speed than earlier transistors and used metal
semiconductor junctions (instead of semiconductor
semiconductor junctions), but unlike the schottky transistor, both junctions were metalsemiconductor junctions.

Production process

Philco used a patented process of applying two tiny electrochemical jet streams of liquid indium sulfate (electrolyte solution) on opposite sides of a thin strip of Ntype germanium base material. This process would etch
away and form circular well depressions on each side of
the N-type germanium base material, until the germanium base material was ultra thin and having a thickness
of approximately a few ten-thousandths of an inch. After the etching process was nished, the polarity applied
to the electrolyte was reversed, resulting in metallic indium being electroplated into these etched circular well
depressions, forming the transistors emitter and collector
electrodes.[1][2] The Philco surface-barrier transistor was
the worlds rst high-frequency transistor was developed

Philcos Surface-Barrier transistor shown on Motor Life (Sept

1955) magazine cover, which was also used in Chryslers alltransistor car radio.

The worlds rst all-transistor car radio, was developed

and produced by Chrysler and Philco in 1955. Chrysler
oered this all-transistor car radio, Mopar model 914HR,
available as an option in the fall of 1955, for its new line
of 1956 Chrysler and Imperial cars. Philco was the manufacturer of these all-transistor car radios for the Chrysler
Corporation and had also used its surface-barrier transistors in the radios circuitry design.[4][5][6][7][8]
1

TRANSISTORIZED COMPUTERS

Commercial manufacturing li- 4 Military satellites

cense agreements

In 1956, Philco had developed an improved higherspeed version of its original surface-barrier transistor,
which was used in military applications and was called the
surface-barrier diused-base transistor (SBDT). Philco
had used surface diusion of a gaseous form of phosphorus atom particles, to penetrate the surface of the intrinsic semiconductor base material. The Philco SBDT transistor was capable of operating in the UHF range.[12][13]
Philcos SBDT improved surface-barrier transistor, was
used in the early prototype design of the 10-milliwatt
Minitrack satellite transistorized (radio beacon) transmitter, for the United States Navy Vanguard I satellite project
program.[14][15][16][17]

On January 31, 1958, the United States rst articial

Earth satellite was launched by the Army Ballistic Missile
Agency at Cape Canaveral in Florida, which was called
Explorer 1, and was developed by the California Institute
of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Explorer 1 satellites payload, consisted of a low-power Microlock transistorized (radio beacon) 108.00 MHz transmitter, which was used for tracking and telemetry, and
had consisted of a Philco high-frequency surface-barrier
transistor in its original circuitry designs.[18]

5 Transistorized computers

Sprague surface-barrier (SB100) transistor licensed by Philco

Corporation

Starting in 1955, Philco had decided to sell commercial

manufacturing license agreements with other large electronic semiconductor companies, which allowed them
the right to produce and sell its high-frequency surfacebarrier transistors. Sprague Electric Company was one
of the rst companies to purchase a license agreement
from Philco in late 1955 and started to manufacture
the surface-barrier transistors under its Sprague name,
in early 1956. Another company to purchase a license
agreement from Philco in early 1957, was Semiconductors Limited, a division of the British-based Plessey
Company.[7][9][10] In 1959, General Transistor Corporation had also purchased a license agreement from
Philco, to manufacture its complete line of high-speed
transistors.[11]

Philco SB100 surface-barrier transistor advertisement

The Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistor was

also the rst transistor that was suitable for high-speed
computers. Philco developed and produced a minia-

3
ture transistorized computer brain called the Transac
(models C-1000 and C-1100), for the Navys jet ghter
planes in 1955. Transac stood for Transistor Automatic Computer. They used Philcos high-frequency
surface-barriers transistors.[19][20][21][22]

United States Air Forces Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile defense system (ICBM). This transistorized
ground guidance Atlas computer system was designed
by Burroughs engineer Issac Auerbach and used Philcos
high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its circuitry
[37]
In 1955, MIT's Lincoln Laboratory researchers started design.
to design and build the rst transistorized general purpose programmable 18-bit computer, called the "TX-0.
It was an experimental computer, used to test transistor
logic circuitry and large capacity magnetic-core memory, and was completed and operational in April 1956.
The TX-0 computers circuitry consisted of 3600 transistors and used the Philco high-frequency L-5122 surfacebarrier transistor in its design. MITs Lincoln Laboratory commenced the design and construction of a largescale transistorized programmable 36-bit general purpose computer in 1957, which was called the "TX-2.
It was operational in 1958, and utilized 22,000 transistors that included Philco high-frequency surface-barrier
transistors.[23][24][25][26][27]
In June 1955, Philco was awarded a contract with the
National Security Agency to build a transistorized scientic computer, which was named the SOLO and used
high-frequency surface-barrier transistors. The SOLO
transistorized computer was the worlds rst completely
transistorized computer, and was later commercially marketed by Philco as the Transac S-1000 scientic computer
model. Also, later in 1955, Philco contracted with the
United States Navy David Taylor Basin Research Unit
to build a larger-scale fully transistorized computer using its high-frequency surface-barrier transistor technology, named the CPXQ model. It was later commercially
marketed by Philco as the Transac S-2000 electronic data
processing computer model.[28][29]

Univac TRANSTEC test transistorized computer with plug-in

logic circuit board using Philco surface-barrier transistors.

In 1956-57, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac-division

of Sperry Rand Corporation, had designed and built a
transistorized test computer for the United States Air
Force, which was called TRANSTEC. It was designed by Univacs St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and
used the Philcos high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its computers circuitry design. This was Univacs
rst computer designed with transistors and was used to
test transistor logic circuits and also its speed and reliability, compared to magnetic amplier (MAGSTEC)
and vacuum tube circuit computers. After Univac had
demonstrated the TRANSTEC computer to the United
During 1955-56, Ferranti-Canada was in charge of States Air Force, it was awarded a contract to build a
miniaturizing the Royal Canadian Navys DATAR (Dig- transistorized ground guidance (Athena) ICBM defense
ital Automatic Tracking and Resolving) seaborne tacti- computer.[38]
cal data defense computer. Ferranti-Canada had used
In 1957, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac-division
Philcos SB-100 surface barrier transistors in its experof Sperry Rand Corporation, had built a transistorized
[30][31]
imental transistorized prototype circuitry designs.
ground guidance Athena computer, for the United States
In late 1956, Ferranti-Canada had built the worlds rst Air Forces Titan 1 intercontinental ballistic missile deexperimental transistorized computer mail-sorting sys- fense system (ICBM). It was designed by Univacs St.
tem (Route Reference Computer). It was delivered to the Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and used the Philcos highCanadian Postal System in January 1957 and was capable frequency surface-barrier transistors in its computers cirof sorting 36,000 letters an hour. This experimental com- cuitry design.[39][40]
puterized mail-sorter had used the Philco surface-barrier
In March 1958, Remington Rand St. Paul Univac(SB-100) transistors in its circuitry design.[32][33]
division of Sperry Rand Corporation, had built and dePhilcos Transac models S-1000 scientic computer livered a transistorized 30-bit AN/USQ-17 computer, for
and S-2000 electronic data processing computer were the United States Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS).
the worlds rst commercially produced large-scale all- It was designed by Univacs St. Paul engineer Seymour
transistor computers, which were introduced in 1957 and Cray starting on January 1957, and used the Philcos
used these high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in high-frequency surface-barrier transistors in its comits circuitry designs.[20][34][35][36]
puters circuitry design.[41] [42]
In June 1957, the Burroughs Corporation transistorized Philcos high-frequency surface-barrier transistors was
ground guidance computer (AN/GSQ-33) was built and also used in the circuitry design of the rst transistorized
installed at Cape Canaveral missile test range, for the supercomputer. It was called the UNIVAC LARC (Liv-

REFERENCES

[10] Wall Street Journal, May 03, 1957, Article: Philco,

Plessey Form New Firm to Produce New Transistors in
England
[11] Philco News Company Magazine, October 1959 issue, Pg
2
[12] A High Frequency Transistor Analysis by James K. Keihner, 1956
[13] Electrical Engineering Magazine, October 1956, P.960,
Article Mechanized Process Mass Produces UHF Transistors
Univac LARC transistorized supercomputer memory-read amplier circuit board using Philcos surface-barrier transistors-1960

[14] U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Unclassied Project

Vanguard Report No.11 Progress Through November 15,
1956, Report dated: January 03, 1956, page 22

ermore Advanced Research Computer) that was built by

Remington Rand Philadelphia Univac-division of Sperry
Rand Corporation and was delivered to the Atomic Energy Commission-University of Californias Lawrence
Radiation Laboratory in May 1960. A second Univac LARC transistorized supercomputer, using Philcos
surface-barrier transistor technology, was contracted and
delivered in October 1960 to the United States NavyDavid Taylor Basin Research Unit.[28][43][44][45][46]

[15] U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Unclassied Project

Vanguard Report No.12 Progress Through December 15,
1956, Report dated: January 16, 1957, page 14
[16] Pacic Stars and Stripes Newspaper, September 08, 1956,
p.6
[17] 1956 Year-End Philco Annual Report, Research and Engineering, p.5
[18] Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Unclassied Technical Report
No. 32-31, Juno Final Report Volume 1, September 6,
1960, p.22

The surface-barrier transistor became obsolete in the

early 1960s with the development of the planar diusion
transistor.
[19] Inventing the Electronic Century, Author: Alfred Dupont
Chandler Jr., Page 40

References

[1] Wall Street Journal, Dec 04 1953, page 4, Article Philco

Claims Its Transistor Outperforms Others Now In Use
[2] Electronics magazine, January 1954, Article Electroplated Transistors Announced
[3] Proceeding of the IRE, Dec 1953, Author: W.E. Bradley
Philco Corp., Research Division, Volume 41 issue 12,
pages 17021706
[4] Wall Street Journal, Chrysler Promises Car Radio With
Transistors Instead of Tubes in '56, April 28th 1955,
page 1
[5] Los Angeles Times, May 08, 1955, page A20, Article:
Chrysler Announces New Transistor Radio
[6] Philco TechRep Division Bulletin, MayJune 1955, Volume 5 Number 3, page 28
[7] Walter
P.
Chrysler
Museum,
http://www.
chryslergroupllc.com/company/Heritage/Pages/
Chrysler-Heritage-1950.aspx
[8] Hirsh, Rick. Philcos All-Transistor Mopar Car Radio.
Allpar.com. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
[9] Sprague Log, Volume 18 No.7, March 1956, Annual report information for year ending 1955

[20] Saul Rosen (Jun 1991). PHILCO: Some Recollections

of the PHILCO TRANSAC S-2000 (Computer Science
Technical Reports / Purdue e-Pubs). Purdue University.
Here: page 2
[21] The Philco Serviceman, September 1955, Volume 23
No.9
[22] Wall Street Journal, Article: Radio Men Told Of Rapid
Counter, March 25, 1955
[23] http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1956
[24] MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics, TX-0 History,
RLE Technical Report 627, June 1999, Author: John A.
Mckensie
[25] Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History, Interview with Ken Olsen, September 2829, 1988
[26] Lincoln Laboratory MIT Report, The Lincoln TX-2 Computer Development by Wesley A. Clark, April 1, 1957
[27] Lincoln Laboratory Journal, Volume 19, Number 1, 2012,
The TX-2 Computer and Sketchpad, p 82
[28] Saul Rosen (Jul 1968). Electronic Computers - A Historical Survey in Print (Computer Science Technical Report). Purdue University Department.
[29] NSA Unclassied article report, Inuence of U.S. Cryptologic Organizations on the Digital Computer Industry,
Author: Samuel S. Snyder, Volume 7 No.4 and Volume 8
No.2

[30] IEEE Global History Network, DATAR - First Digital

Computer/Communications System for Anti-Submarine
Warfare
[31] The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National
Technological Competence, chapter 3, p.100, Author:
John N. Vardalas
[32] The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National
Technological Competence, Author: John N. Vardalas,
Pages 115-117
[33] Ferranti-Packard: Pioneers in Canadian Electrical Manufacturing, Authors: Norman R. Ball, John N. Vardalas,
Page 240
[34] Digital Computer Newsletter, Oce of Naval Research
(unclassied), April 1957, pages 78
[35] Chicago Tribune, March 23, 1958, Article: All Transistor Computer Put on Market by Philco, page A11
[36] Philco News Company Magazine, April 1957, Pg.2
[37] Unisys History Newsletter, Volume 3 Number 1, March
1999, Author: George Gray
[38] When Computers Went To Sea: The Digitization of the
United States Navy, Author: David L. Boslaugh, pp. 113115
[39] Unisys History Newsletter, Volume 3 Number 4, August
1999, Author: George Gray
[40] The Athena Computer-A Reliability Report, Authors:
L.W. Reid, G.A. Raymond, 1958, p.22
[41] IEEE Global History Network, First Hand:Testing The
Naval Tactical Data System, Chapter 5, Author: David
L. Boslaugh
[42] IEEE Global History Network, First Hand:Building the
U.S. Navys First Seagoing Digital System, Chapter 4, Author: David L. Boslaugh
[43] Article: The Remington Rand Univac LARC, Author:
Charles Cole, Website: www.computer-history.info
[44] Chicago Daily Tribune, May 05 1960, page D4, Article "
Univac Begins 5 Truck Move Across Nation
[45] Oce of Navy Research-Digital Computer Newsletter,
Volume 13 Nos.1 and 2, Jan. 1961, Unclassiedinformation released to general public
[46] http://www.vintchip.com/mainframe/UNIVACLARC/
UNIVACLARC.html

External links
Transistors, A. A. Vxrela, United States Patent number: 2843809
Transistor Process and Apparatus, Jjotlovarir
V.Gappert, United States Patent number: 2876184

Transistor Museum:
Gallery: Philco A01

Historic Transistor Photo

Transistor Museum: Historic Transistor Photo

Gallery: Surface Barrier Transistor

8 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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8.1

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