
The Transistor, Part 2: Out Of The Crucible - akakievich
https://technicshistory.wordpress.com/2018/02/28/the-transistor-part-2-out-of-the-crucible/
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sokoloff
Great read. For those who want to start at Part 1:

[https://technicshistory.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/the-
transis...](https://technicshistory.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/the-transistor-
part-1-groping-in-the-dark/)

Related: a modern day teen who makes low transistor count ICs in his garage:
[https://interestingengineering.com/this-teen-is-building-
diy...](https://interestingengineering.com/this-teen-is-building-diy-
integrated-circuits-in-his-garage)

AmpHour Podcast episode on the teen: [https://theamphour.com/390-an-interview-
with-sam-zeloof/](https://theamphour.com/390-an-interview-with-sam-zeloof/)

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jacquesm
What I found super interesting from part I is that they envisioned the FET
first (which is closer in analogy to a vacuum tube), ended up building the
contact point transistor and then much later the FET idea returned and became
extremely important.

This passage:

"Just as Lee De Forest had taken a vacuum tube rectifier and placed an
electrified grid between the source and the sink of the current, so did
Brattain and Becker imagine inserting a grid into the interface between the
copper and copper oxide, where the act of rectification was presumed to occur.
However, given the thinness of this layer, it seemed to them impossible to
actually do this, and they made no real headway."

Clearly presages the FET.

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Upvoter33
I didn't know Shockley's strange roll and behavior in all of this. A wonderful
article.

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godelmachine
Shockley aspired to take on more executive roles at corporations but was
relegated to take up academic roles, for which he was more suitable.

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mozumder
Great overview

