Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments First Silicon Transistor
This page is dedicated to the development of the first silicon transistor at Texas Instruments on April 14th 1954. For the full history of Texas Instruments on this site please return to The Early History of Texas Instruments Semiconductors.
The following images are from the lab book of Mort Jones and are sourced from the website of the Smithsonian Museum Chip Collection.
On April 14, 1954 bars were cut from a silicon N-P-N grown junction crystal number A-130, grown the previous day. These bars were .040" x .080" x .200" with the junction perpendicular to the long dimension and approximately in the center of the bar as shown in sketch 1.
Further Information
Texas Instruments Types 200 and 201 Data
Text from the announcement of the Types 200 and 201 germanium grown junction transistors
Silicon Transistor Oil Bath Demonstration
Description of the demonstration first given by Gordon Teal of the high temperature performance of silicon transistors compared to germanium transistors
Making a Series 200 NPN Grown Junction Transistor
Details of on the basic processes for the production of these devices.
Grown Diffused Transistors used in the Regency TR-1
How Texas Instruments made higher performing transistors that made the Regency TR-1 four transistor portable possible.
How Texas Instruments created a more automated process to make grown diffused transistors needed for the Regency TR-1
Making a PNP Alloy Junction Transistor
Details on the basic process for making an alloy junction transistor
Making the 2N389 Silicon Diffused Transistor
Making Germanium Single Diffused Mesa Transistors
Details on the basis process that TI used to make single diffused high frequency transistors.
Important Early Correspondence
The first shipment of a Type A sample from Bell to GSI and the first shipment of Texas Instruments transistors.
The 25th Anniversary Observance of the Transistor Radio and the Silicon Transistor
This was held in 1980 twenty five years after the 1954 blockbuster year for Texas Instruments when it produced the design for the Regency TR-1, the transistors that would make it viable as well as the first commercial silicon transistors.
These bars were etched in CP-4 until clean, it was found that if the etching was not prolonged, the emitter end became shiney and the collector end remained dull. The base region was easily visible as the sharp line around the bar. The ends of the bars were lapped with #600 carboundum by holding them in tweezers and using a flat glass plate for lapping. The bars were then washed well to remove any lapping compound, dried, and futher cleaned by rubbing with bibulous paper.
Morton E. Jones May 6, 1954
A furnace used for making silicon diodes (notebook of E. Jackson) was modified slightly by removing the quarts crucible and heating coil and substituting a horizontal ribbon, .002" thick and 1/4" wide, of tungston. A thin wafer of graphite was placed on top of this ribbon and used as a boat for holding the base.
The base lead was put on each bar individually as follows:
a bar was placed on the graphite
a current of helium run through the furnace
an 0.005" diameter aluminium [sic] wire lowered to contact the surface of the silicon block at the base region (as observed through a microscope)
an electric current passed through the tungston ribbon heating element until the end of the aluminium wire had started to alloy into the ribbon
the current stopped
the block allowed to cool
removed from the furnace and the aluminium wire trimmed off leaving about 1/4" attached to the block
The bar at this point is shown in sketch 2 on the following page (p.48). The ends of the bar were then lowered into a solution containing nickelous ammonium sulfate, boric acid, ...
Morton E. Jones May 6, 1954
...ammonium chloride, and water containing a nickel electrode. The bar was gripped by a copper clip connected to the -terminal of a 6V power supply, the nickel electrode connected to the +terminal and the end of the bar nickel plated for five minutes. The total plating current was 0.5ma. Both ends of the bar were plated in this manner.
The plated bar was then soldered into a standard triode header as shown in sketch 3 (p.49). A Zn Cl2-NH4Cl flux was used on the ends of the bar and pure tin was used as solder. The aluminium wire was soldered to the base lead using a special A1 flux and pure tin solder. A CP-4 etch was used to clean the junction. The electrical properties were displayed on a curve tracer and looked comparable to similar germanium transistors. The current amplification factor was measured and found to be 0.900.
Morton E. Jones May 6, 1954
Other data on this transistor were measured and are in a folder on these units. Since the construction of this initial transistor about 150 more good units from about seven grown junction crystals have been constructed and their electrical characteristics measured. This data is also included in the folder. Since the intital unit, the process of lapping the ends of the bar has been changed to use a micro-sandblasting technique. This necessitates a rather thorough washing of the bar in soap & water to remove remaining sand.
Morton E. Jones May 6, 1954
X-ray picture of a silicon grown junction transistor
