

Making homemade transistors (or at least trying) - tmcb
http://josepino.com/diy/making-homemade-transistors

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CurtHagenlocher
We made transistors in a freshman class at Caltech in 1986. I seem to recall
that there was hydrofluoric acid and a furnace involved. HF is nasty stuff.

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joe_bleau
A few years ago, I scanned some of the lab and TA notes from that class (~1991
vintage) for a guy that wanted to DIY some semiconductors in his garage. Neat
project; I should try to locate him and see if he made any progress.

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hetman
I also enjoyed the early history of the transistor (pre Bell Labs) linked to
from that site: <http://www.porticus.org/bell/belllabs_transistor1.html>

It really does emphasise how most inventions are collective efforts building
on many incremental steps and seldom moments of sheer eureka type brilliance.

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tzs
Those who enjoy that might enjoy this video showing the making of a homemade
vacuum tube: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzyXMEpq4qw>

