HISTORY OF

TRANSISTORS

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 A Brief History of
Transistors
The transistor was invented by a
team of three men at Bell
laboratories in 1947
It was invented by John Bardeen,
Walter Brattain and William
Shockley
1948 When it is officially
announced in the public

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History of Transistor
Although this first transistor was not
a bipolar junction device, it was the
beginning of a technological
revolution that is still continuing.
New device that had characteristics
which could overcome many of the
fundamental limitations of vacuum
tubes.

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 1947
First transistor (Point
Contact Type)
invented at Bell Labs,
credited to Shockley,
Bardeen and Brattain.

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 1948
First public
announcement of the
invention of the
transistor.
Raytheon CK703 is first
commercially available
transistor.
Junction transistor theory
developed by William
Shockley at Bell Labs.
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 1949
. Type A point contact
transistor enters limited
production at Bell Labs.
W. MacWilliams builds the
Transistor Gating Matrix at
Bell Labs, using 40 Type A
transistors; this is the first
functional transistor
application.
First transistor hobbyist
article, Build a Transistor,
by R. Turner, published in
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 1950
First grown junction
transistor created at Bell
Labs.
First transistor radio
construction article, Crystal
Receiver with Transistor
Amplifier, by R. Turner,
published in Radio and
Television News magazine

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 1951
Bell Labs Transistor
Symposium at Murray Hill,
with topics including point
contact and grown junction
germanium transistors and
circuits.
30 Companies licensed by
Western Electric to
manufacture transistors.
First alloy junction transistors
developed at GE and RCA.
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 1952
RCA Transistor Symposium
at Princeton demonstrates
commercial potential of
transistors, including first
experimental transistor TV
receiver.
Raytheon produces 10,000
CK718 hearing aid transistors.
Hearing aids become first
commercial product to use
transistors.
GPC markets the first
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 1953
GE, Philco, Radio
Receptor, Raytheon, RCA,
Sylvania and Texas
Instruments all prepare
for large scale production
of germanium junction
transistors.
Raytheon introduces the
CK722 hobbyist
transistor.
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Total U.S. transistor
 1954 Regency and TI develop
and market the first all-
transistor radio (TR-1).
TI markets the first
commercial silicon
transistor (900 series).
Raytheon manufactures
its 1,000,000th
germanium transistors.
Bell Labs develops
prototype high frequency
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 1955
GE introduces the
2N107 hobbyist
transistor.
Additional companies
market transistor radios
(GE, Raytheon, Zenith,
Sony).
GEs USAF 2N43A is the
first transistor qualified
for military service.
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 GE introduces the 2N170
1956 hobbyist transistor.
TIs USN 2N117 is the first
silicon transistor qualified for
military service.
Fisher introduces the first Hi-Fi
transistor product (TR1 preamp).
14 U.S. companies have
registered a total of 164 2N
transistor types.
Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain
awarded the Nobel Prize for the
invention of the transistor.

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 1957
10th anniversary of
invention of the transistor.
Annual U.S. shipments of
29,000,000 units.
Fairchild semiconductor
division founded by
engineers and scientists
originally hired by William
Shockley at Shockley
Semiconductor Laboratory.
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 1958
Explorer 1, the first
U.S. satellite, uses
germanium and
silicon transistors.
Fairchild begins
commercial transistor
shipments.

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 1959
Fairchild develops
planar process, used
first for high reliability
transistors, later for
monolithic ICs.
Texas Instruments
introduces first
commercial
integrated circuit.
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 The First
Germanium
Hobbyist
Transistors

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 Early transistor manufacturing processes
were very inefficient, with low
yields and resultant large quantities of
out of spec transistors which were ideal
for the hobbyist market
There was a large demand by hobbyists
for the new transistor technology, and
commercial devices were too expensive
for experimenters
Many of the first transistor manufacturing
companies also had established
Applications/Publications groups that
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 Hobbyist
Transistor
Companies

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 Raytheon
Raytheon was the
first company to
actively pursue the
transistor hobbyist
market.

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 In 1953, Raytheon was
the first company to
actively pursue the
transistor hobbyist
market
In early 1953,
Raytheon began
supplying the
substandard hearing
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aid transistors, now
 Raytheon published a
low cost compilation of
these articles on
CK722 applications.
In 1957, Raytheon
developed CK721

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 General Electric
Became a major supplier of
transistors in the 1950s, and
maintained this leadership
position into the 1960s
The first GE junction
transistors were introduced in
mid 1953, with the very
successful 2N43/44/45 line of
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 In 1955, GE introduced the
2N107, which was a low cost
transistor intended for the
hobbyist market
General Electric introduced
the 2N170 in June 1956.

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 RCA
In 1955, RCA developed 2N109
The 2N109 was ideally suited
for this hobbyist market and
was heavily promoted by RCA
for use in such hobbyist type
projects as audio amplifiers,
radios, preamps, and code
practice oscillators
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 RCA supported the transistor
hobbyist market throughout
the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
The 2N109 remained the
primary RCA hobbyist device,
although later products, such
as integrated circuits and
Nuvistor vacuum tubes, were
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also promoted.
 Sylvania
Sylvania introduced the first
commercial germanium crystal
diode, the 1N34, in 1946.
Sylvania was most successful
with the 1953 launch of the
2N34 and 2N35 general
purpose audio transistors.
Sylvania did maintain an
important role in germanium
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 PHILCO
Philco is best remembered by
transistor hobbyists for
developing the surface barrier
transistor
In 1953, Philco announced the
commercial release of surface
barrier transistors (SBT) such
as the SB100 series.
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 The first commercial all transistor
television was developed by Philco in
the late 1950s, and used SBTs.
Another important commercial
product for Philco was the Transac line
of digital computers, developed in the
1950s
Philco was active in supplying
products to the US military

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 Transistor was then described
as:
a)Has very long life
b)Small
c)Lightweight
d)Mechanically Rugged
e)Required no filament
current
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 First types of transistors in
1950 were made form
germanium element
known as semiconductor.
Semiconductors are ideally
suited for the construction
of amplifying crystals.
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 Silicon is the next
semiconductor used,
recognized that transistors
fabricated from silicon would
have superior performance at
higher operating temperatures.
1954 When silicon transistors
are introduced to the public
with the use of instruments.
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 During these first two decades of
transistor history, a variety of
different device types were
developed and this diversity of
technologies has lead to a rich
historical backdrop of early transistor
shapes, sizes, specifications and
circuits.

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 Semiconductor
Material
1940 There was an established Germanium
business.
1946 Sylvania created the well known 1N34
device.
Silicon diodes had been developed during
World War II for use as radar mixers.
Mid 1950 First commercial silicon was
developed but limited to few expensive
devices.
1960 Germanium was dominant
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 Manufacturing
Technology
Extensive transistor research led to
a variety of unique (and now
obsolete) device types and
manufacturing technologies; there
were frequent breakthroughs as new
types were developed and
introduced commercially.
Point contact device, first transistor
technology.
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 Case
Material
There was experimentation with transistor
case shape and material during the 1950s.
Type A metal cartridge devices
M1752 used a plastic epoxy case
Until 1950, both plastic and metal cases
Plastic cases was lessen knowing that it
will degrade over time due to moisture
penetration
1960 widespread use of successfully
produced plastic cases and metal
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 Electrical
Polarity
Early transistors were produced
using semiconductor material that
had been processed during
manufacturing with the addition of
small amounts of chemical impurities,
such as arsenic or antimony, known
as doping.
Doping is required in order to create
proper crystalline structure in the
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 Performance
Category
Early transistor types represented the
first stages of development for this new
technology, and the first devices were
quite limited in performance
capabilities.
Such operational characteristics as
noise level, gain, operating frequency
and power handling capability were all
at low levels of performance for the first
few years of transistor development,
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 QUESTIO
NS ?

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