They called one point the “emitter” and the other point the “collector,” while a third contact, known as the “base,” was applied to the back side of the germanium sliver. Their device featured two closely spaced metal points jabbed delicately into a germanium surface-hence its name, the “point-contact” transistor. Minutes later, a Raytheon engineer was overheard in the lobby shouting into a telephone: “They’ve got the silicon transistor down in Texas!”Īt the time, the silicon transistor seemed to be one of the first major breakthroughs in transistor development not to occur at Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., where physicists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain had invented the transistor in December 1947. A crowd stampeded back to get them, leaving the final speaker of the session without an audience. But when he repeated his demonstration immersing a silicon transistor instead, the music played on without faltering.Īs his talk ended, Teal mentioned that copies of his paper on the subject, innocuously titled “Some Recent Developments in Silicon and Germanium Materials and Devices,” were available near the rear door. Then, in a bit of quaint but effective razzle-dazzle, he cranked up a record player, which began blaring out the swinging sounds of Artie Shaw’s big-band hit, “Summit Ridge Drive.” Amplified by germanium transistors, the music died out instantly as Teal dunked one into a beaker of hot oil.

“Yes, we have three types of silicon transistors in production,” Teal replied, pulling several out of his pocket to the general amazement and envy of the crowd.

“Did you say you have silicon transistors in production?” asked a stupefied listener about 10 rows back in the audience, which now began to perk up noticeably. made his surprising announcement-and jaws dropped in disbelief. But that was before Gordon Teal of Texas Instruments Inc. Amid the torpor, scattered attendees were stifling yawns, glancing at watches, and nodding off. There, a parade of engineers and scientists were lamenting the sobering challenges of developing and eventually manufacturing silicon transistors. Ī long and till-then uneventful session on silicon devices had been winding down at the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) National Conference on Airborne Electronics, in Dayton, Ohio. Yes-among the few in the world at that moment. Silicon transistors? Did he say silicon transistors? “Contrary to what my colleagues have told you about the bleak prospects for silicon transistors,” he proclaimed in his matter-of-fact voice, “I happen to have a few of them here in my pocket.” The speaker’s words were at once laconic and electrifying. Photo: Texas Instruments (Teal, Shepherd, and Transistor) Morris Tanenbaum Morris Tanenbaum (far right) at Bell Labs actually made the first silicon transistor, but he felt “it didn’t look attractive” from a manufacturing point of view. TI’s silicon device (second from right) with its three long leads became famous, making the Texas upstart the sole supplier of silicon transistors for several years in the 1950s.

William Shockley (second from left) led the team at Bell Telephone Laboratories that developed the very first transistor, which was made of germanium.

In the Beginning: Gordon Teal (far left) directed the development of the silicon transistor at Texas Instruments.

Transistor radio 1950s