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Early transistor related findings and patents vacuum tubes or valves, it had a huge impact on the understanding of semiconductors. Although this was initially directed towards thermionic devices, i.e. Later in the Second World War some more foundations were set in place as coper oxide and selenium rectifiers started to be used for rectifying AC power.Īlso work on point contact diodes enabled microwave signals to be detected or demodulated for the radar sets that were using ever higher frequencies.Ī further foundation that was set in place for the invention of the transistor in the 1920s and 1930s, was theoretical work on the sub-molecular physics. Even in the nineteenth century it had been observed that these semiconductors had a negative coefficient of resistivity, they were able to rectify electrical currents and they exhibited a photoelectric effect.Īn early application of semiconductors was with wireless sets where cat's whisker or crystal detectors were used. People had been familiar with Ohmic conductors for many years and understood how basic resistors operated, but there was a class of materials called semiconductors that were slightly different. There were many foundations that needed to be set in place before the invention of the transistor could be made. Old OC71 transistor - one of the first transistor types manufactured in the UK Transistor history foundations It is also a reminder, that although Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain are the names associated with the invention of the transistor, there were many people who supported them and many others who had set the foundations in place for the invention of the point contact transistor. The invention of the first transistor was a story of determination amidst a number of setbacks a story of perseverance and ultimate success. Thus the date for the invention of the transistor could be said to be 16th December 1947.
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It had been just a week since the team had first successfully managed to get the device to work. Nobody could have envisaged the major impact that the invention of the transistor would have on the electronics industry and in fact the whole world. It was just before Christmas, on the 23rd December 1947 when the team of Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated their new invention of a point contact transistor to senior management at Bell Laboratories in the USA. History of semiconductor technology development PN junction diode invention Invention of the integrated circuit Transistor history First silicon transistor Phototransistor invention FET invention
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Transistor Invention & History - when was the transistor invented When the first transistor was invented in 1947 it heralded the huge step change within electronics technology as it enabled semiconductor technology to take over from thermionic valves / vacuum tubes.
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