He later explained that he was "just being lazy" but, to his surprise, the wet device immediately showed a slight level of amplification. Rather than take the time to reset everything, Brattain took the counterintuitive move of immersing the experiment in water. Because condensation would continuously build up on the silicon component of the device, Brattain realized he needed to conduct the experiment in a vacuum environment.
Most transistor series#
Then one afternoon, Brattain was conducting a series of tests on how electrons acted on the surface of a semiconductor, investigating why the way they acted made an amplifier impossible. With his field effect idea effectively stalled out, Shockley assigned fellow physicists John Bardeen - destined to become the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice - and Walter Brattain to figure out what was causing all of the problems.Īfter almost two years, the team had still failed to come up with a working semi-conductor amplifier. In early 1945, Shockley designed a semi-conductor amplifier that he hoped would successfully operate on the basis of "field effect." The device consisted of a small cylinder with a thin coat of silicon mounted next to a metal plate.Īlas, Shockley's revolutionary design at first led only to repeated failures. They also had a reputation for "exuberant" parties and lunches. Working closely, members regularly bounced ideas and problems off of one another. Composed of brilliant individuals from diverse scientific disciplines, the group had great chemistry. Kelly handed the problem off to the company's Solid State Physics group, a highly creative team headed by renowned physicist William Shockley. He had done some reading on the development of a new class of materials called semi-conductors and decided they had potential. Mervin Kelly, President of Bell Laboratories, a subsidiary of AT&T, was actively searching for a sturdier and more efficient alternative to vacuum tubes. They also generated lots of heat and often burned out, costing a great deal of money to replace. There was however a problem with using vacuum tubes to amplify signals: The tubes were too often unreliable, as they took time to warm up before operating. With regular amplification along a line, people could participate in telephone conversations over vast distances. Since 1907, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company ("AT&T") had used vacuum tubes to amplify voice signals along their lines. Considered the most important invention of the 20th century, this itty-bitty technology has literally transformed every field of industry and improved the lives of every man, woman, and child on Earth.Īs with almost every great invention, transistors were born out of need in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Good things, as they say, come in small packages and nothing smaller or better has ever arrived than the transistor.
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