View source for Engineering:History of the transistor

{{Short description|Semiconductor device history}}
{|class=wikitable style="float:right;"
|+ Transistor technology timeline (summary)
!Year
!Technology
!Organization
|-
|1947||[[Engineering:Point-contact transistor|Point contact]]||[[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]]
|-
|1948||[[Engineering:Grown-junction transistor|Grown junction]]||Bell Labs
|-
|1951||Alloy junction||[[Company:General Electric|General Electric]]
|-
|1953||[[Engineering:Surface-barrier transistor|Surface barrier]]||[[Company:Philco|Philco]]
|-
|1953||[[Engineering:JFET|JFET]]|||Bell Labs
|-
|1954||Diffused base||Bell Labs
|-
|1954||Mesa||Bell Labs
|-
|1959||Planar||[[Company:Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild]]
|-
|1959||[[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]]||Bell Labs
|}

A '''[[Engineering:Transistor|transistor]]''' is a [[Physics:Semiconductor device|semiconductor device]] with at least three terminals for connection to an electric circuit. In the common case, the third terminal controls the flow of current between the other two terminals. This can be used for amplification, as in the case of a [[Engineering:Radio receiver|radio receiver]], or for rapid switching, as in the case of digital circuits. The transistor replaced the vacuum-tube [[Engineering:Triode|triode]], also called a (thermionic) valve, which was much larger in size and used significantly more power to operate. The first transistor was successfully demonstrated on December 23, 1947, at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Bell Labs was the research arm of American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). The three individuals credited with the invention of the transistor were [[Biography:William Shockley|William Shockley]], [[Biography:John Bardeen|John Bardeen]] and Walter Brattain. The introduction of the transistor is often considered one of the most important inventions in history.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2538123/the-transistor--the-most-important-invention-of-the-20th-century-.html |title=The transistor: The most important invention of the 20th century? |first=Sharon |last=Gaudin | magazine =ComputerWorld}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Transistor |url=https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/transist.htm |website=www.sjsu.edu |access-date=17 January 2021}}</ref>

Transistors are broadly classified into two categories: ''bipolar junction transistor'' (BJT) and ''field-effect transistor'' (FET).<ref>{{cite web |title=Types of Transistors – Junction Transistors and FETs |url=https://www.electronicshub.org/transistors-classification-and-types/ |website=Electronics Hub |access-date=17 January 2021 |date=23 April 2019}}</ref>

The principle of a [[Engineering:Field-effect transistor|field-effect transistor]] was proposed by [[Biography:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]] in 1925.<ref>{{cite web |title=What is a FET: Field Effect Transistor » Electronics Notes |url=https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/electronic_components/fet-field-effect-transistor/what-is-a-fet-types-overview.php |website=www.electronics-notes.com |access-date=16 January 2021}}</ref> [[Biography:John Bardeen|John Bardeen]], Walter Brattain and [[Biography:William Shockley|William Shockley]] invented the first working transistors at [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]], the [[Engineering:Point-contact transistor|point-contact transistor]] in 1947. Shockley introduced the improved [[Engineering:Bipolar junction transistor|bipolar junction transistor]] in 1948, which entered production in the early 1950s and led to the first widespread use of transistors.

The [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]] (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor), also known as the MOS transistor, was invented by Mohamed Atalla and [[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]] at Bell Labs in 1959. MOSFETs use even less power, which led to the mass-production of MOS transistors for a wide range of uses. The MOSFET has since become the most widely manufactured device in history.

==Origins of transistor concept==
[[File:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld (1881-1963).jpg|thumb|150px|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld, circa 1934]]
The first [[Social:Patent|patent]]<ref>{{patent|US|1745175|[[Biography:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]]: "Method and apparatus for controlling electric current" first filed in Canada on 22.10.1925, describing a [[Engineering:Field-effect transistor|field-effect transistor]]}}</ref> for the [[Engineering:Field-effect transistor|field-effect transistor]] principle was filed in Canada by [[Place:Austria-Hungary|Austrian-Hungarian]] [[Physicist|physicist]] [[Biography:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]] on October 22, 1925, but Lilienfeld published no research articles about his devices, and his work was ignored by industry. In 1934 German physicist Dr. [[Biography:Oskar Heil|Oskar Heil]] patented another field-effect transistor.<ref>{{patent|GB|439457|[[Biography:Oskar Heil|Oskar Heil]]: "Improvements in or relating to electrical amplifiers and other control arrangements and devices" first filed in Germany on March 2, 1934}}</ref> There is no direct evidence that these devices were built, but later work in the 1990s show that one of Lilienfeld's designs worked as described and gave substantial gain. Legal papers from the [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]] patent show that [[Biography:William Shockley|William Shockley]] and a co-worker at Bell Labs, Gerald Pearson, had built operational versions from Lilienfeld's patents, yet they never referenced this work in any of their later research papers or historical articles.<ref name="ieee_ESEJ_Oct 98">{{cite journal |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/730824 |author=Arns, R. G. |title=The other transistor: early history of the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor |journal= Engineering Science and Education Journal |date=October 1998 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=233–240 |access-date=October 28, 2012 |format=PDF |doi=10.1049/esej:19980509}}</ref>

[[File:Bardeen Shockley Brattain 1948.JPG|thumb|John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs, 1948]]
The Bell Lab's work on the transistor emerged from war-time efforts to produce extremely pure [[Chemistry:Germanium|germanium]] "crystal" mixer [[Engineering:Diode|diode]]s, used in [[Engineering:Radar|radar]] units as a [[Frequency mixer|frequency mixer]] element in [[Physics:Microwave|microwave]] radar receivers. UK researchers had produced models using a tungsten filament on a germanium disk, but these were difficult to manufacture and not particularly robust.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ase-museoedelpro.org/Museo_Edelpro/Catalogo/tubes/Family_descr_doc/Radar%20tube%20development.pdf |title=Radar tube development}}</ref> Bell's version was a single-crystal design that was both smaller and completely solid. A parallel project on germanium diodes at [[Organization:Purdue University|Purdue University]] succeeded in producing the good-quality germanium semiconducting crystals that were used at Bell Labs.<ref name=purdue_semi_history>Bray, Ralph "[http://www.physics.purdue.edu/about_us/history/semi_conductor_research.shtml The Origin of Semiconductor Research at Purdue]". Purdue University, Department of Physics.</ref> Early tube-based circuits did not switch fast enough for this role, leading the Bell team to use solid-state [[Engineering:Diode|diode]]s instead.

After the war, Shockley decided to attempt the building of a [[Engineering:Triode|triode]]-like semiconductor device. He secured funding and lab space, and went to work on the problem with Bardeen and Brattain. [[Biography:John Bardeen|John Bardeen]] eventually developed a new branch of [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanics]] known as surface physics to account for the "odd" behavior they saw, and Bardeen and Walter Brattain eventually succeeded in building a working device.

The key to the development of the transistor was the further understanding of the process of the [[Physics:Electron mobility|electron mobility]] in a semiconductor. It was realized that if there was some way to control the flow of the electrons from the emitter to the collector of this newly discovered diode (discovered 1874; patented 1906), one could build an [[Engineering:Amplifier|amplifier]]. For instance, if one placed contacts on either side of a single type of crystal, the current would not flow through it. However, if a third contact could then "inject" electrons or holes into the material, the current would flow.

Actually doing this appeared to be very difficult. If the crystal were of any reasonable size, the number of electrons (or holes) required to be injected would have to be very large, making it less useful as an amplifier because it would require a large injection current to start with. That said, the whole idea of the crystal diode was that the crystal itself could provide the electrons over a very small distance, the depletion region. The key appeared to be to place the input and output contacts very close together on the surface of the crystal on either side of this region.

Brattain started working on building such a device, and tantalizing hints of amplification continued to appear as the team worked on the problem. Sometimes the system would work, but then stop working unexpectedly. In one instance a non-working system started working when placed in water. The electrons in any one piece of the crystal would migrate about due to nearby charges. Electrons in the emitters, or the "holes" in the collectors, would cluster at the surface of the crystal, where they could find their opposite charge "floating around" in the air (or water). Yet they could be pushed away from the surface with the application of a small amount of charge from any other location on the crystal. Instead of needing a large supply of injected electrons, a very small number in the right place on the crystal would accomplish the same thing.

Their understanding solved the problem of needing a very small control area to some degree. Instead of needing two separate semiconductors connected by a common, but tiny, region, a single larger surface would serve. The emitter and collector leads would both be placed very close together on the top, with the control lead placed on the base of the crystal. When current was applied to the "base" lead, the electrons or holes would be pushed out, across the block of semiconductor, and collect on the far surface. As long as the emitter and collector were very close together, this should allow enough electrons or holes between them to allow conduction to start.

An early witness of the phenomenon was Ralph Bray, a young graduate student. He joined the germanium effort at Purdue University in November 1943 and was given the tricky task of measuring the spreading resistance at the metal–semiconductor contact. Bray found a great many anomalies, such as internal high-resistivity barriers in some samples of germanium. The most curious phenomenon was the exceptionally low resistance observed when voltage pulses were applied. This effect remained a mystery because nobody realised, until 1948, that Bray had observed minority-carrier injection{{snd}} the effect that was identified by William Shockley at Bell Labs and made the transistor a reality.

Bray wrote: "That was the one aspect that we missed, but even had we understood the idea of minority carrier injection... we would have said, 'Oh, this explains our effects.' We might not necessarily have gone ahead and said, 'Let's start making transistors,' open up a factory and sell them... At that time the important device was the high back voltage rectifier".<ref>R. Bray, interview with P. Henriksen, 14 May 1982, Niels Bohr Library, American Institute of Physics, New York.</ref>

Shockley's research team initially attempted to build a field-effect transistor (FET), by trying to modulate the conductivity of a [[Physics:Semiconductor|semiconductor]], but was unsuccessful, mainly due to problems with the [[Physics:Surface states|surface states]], the [[Physics:Dangling bond|dangling bond]], and the [[Chemistry:Germanium|germanium]] and [[Chemistry:Copper|copper]] compound materials. In the course of trying to understand the mysterious reasons behind their failure to build a working FET, this led them to instead inventing the bipolar [[Engineering:Point-contact transistor|point-contact]] and junction transistors.<ref name="Lee">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Thomas H. |title=The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits |date=2003 |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |isbn=978-1-139-64377-1 |url=https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/ee/ee214/ee214.1032/Handouts/HO2.pdf}}</ref><ref name="Puers">{{cite book |last1=Puers |first1=Robert |last2=Baldi |first2=Livio |last3=Voorde |first3=Marcel Van de |last4=Nooten |first4=Sebastiaan E. van |title=Nanoelectronics: Materials, Devices, Applications, 2 Volumes |date=2017 |publisher={{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}} |isbn=978-3-527-34053-8 |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JOqVDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA14}}</ref>

==First working transistor==
{{anchor|Bell}}[[Image:Replica-of-first-transistor.jpg|thumb|A stylized replica of the first transistor]]
The Bell team made many attempts to build such a system with various tools, but generally failed. Setups where the contacts were close enough were invariably as fragile as the original cat's whisker detectors had been, and would work briefly, if at all. Eventually they had a practical breakthrough. A piece of gold foil was glued to the edge of a triangular plastic wedge, and then the foil was sliced with a razor at the tip of the triangle. The result was two very closely spaced contacts of gold. When the plastic was pushed down onto the surface of a crystal and voltage applied to the other side (on the base of the crystal), current started to flow from one contact to the other as the base voltage pushed the electrons away from the base towards the other side near the contacts. The [[Engineering:Point-contact transistor|point-contact transistor]] had been invented.

On 15 December 1947, "When the points were very close together got voltage amp about 2 but not power amp. This voltage amplification was independent of frequency 10 to 10,000 cycles".<ref>W. H. Brattain, entry of 15 December 1947, laboratory notebook, case 38139-7. Bell Laboratories archives.</ref>

On 16 December 1947, "Using this double point contact, contact was made to a germanium surface that had been anodized to 90 volts, electrolyte washed off in H<sub>2</sub>O and then had some gold spots evaporated on it. The gold contacts were pressed down on the bare surface. Both gold contacts to the surface rectified nicely... The separation between points was about 4x10<sup>−3</sup> cm. One point was used as a grid and the other point as a plate. The bias (D.C.) on the grid had to be positive to get amplification... power gain 1.3 voltage gain 15 on a plate bias of about 15 volts".<ref>Brattain, entry of 16 December 1947 (ibid)</ref>

Brattain and H. R. Moore made a demonstration to several of their colleagues and managers at Bell Labs on the afternoon of 23 December 1947, often given as the birth date of the transistor. The "PNP point-contact germanium transistor" operated as a speech amplifier with a power gain of 18 in that trial. In 1956 [[Biography:John Bardeen|John Bardeen]], [[Biography:Walter Houser Brattain|Walter Houser Brattain]], and William Bradford Shockley were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect".

Twelve people are mentioned as directly involved in the invention of the transistor in the Bell Laboratory.<ref>W. S. Gorton, "Genesis of the Transistor," written in December 1949 and intended for volume 3 of A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System.</ref>

{{anchor|Duodiode|Transistron}}At the same time some European scientists were led by the idea of solid-state amplifiers. The German physicist [[Biography:Herbert Mataré|Herbert F. Mataré]] (1912–2011) had conducted experiments at [[Company:Telefunken|Telefunken]] with what he called "{{lang|de|Duodiode}}" (double diode) from 1942, when he first observed transconductance effects with silicon diodes manufactured for German radar equipment for [[Social:World War II|WWII]]. Finally on 13 August 1948, Mataré and [[Biography:Heinrich Welker|Heinrich Welker]] (1912–1981), working at Compagnie des Freins et Signaux Westinghouse in Aulnay-sous-Bois, {{wipe|France}} applied for a patent on an amplifier based on the minority carrier injection process which they called the "Transistron".<ref>{{patent|FR|1010427|H. F. Mataré/H. Welker/Westinghouse: "Nouveau système cristallin à plusieurs électrodes réalisant des effects de relais électroniques" filed on 13.08.1948}}</ref><ref>{{patent|US|2673948|H. F. Mataré/H. Welker/Westinghouse: "Crystal device for controlling electric currents by means of a solid semiconductor" FR priority 13.08.1948}}</ref><ref name=Dormael-CHE-2004>{{cite journal|url=http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center/conferences/che2004/VanDormael.pdf |author=Van Dormael, Armand |title=The "French" Transistor |journal=Proceedings of the 2004 IEEE Conference on the History of Electronics, Bletchley Park |date=June 2004 |access-date=October 28, 2012  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310102910/http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center/conferences/che2004/VanDormael.pdf |archive-date=March 10, 2012 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1948-European.html "Transistron image"]. Computer History Museum</ref> The device was shown publicly on 18 May 1949. Transistrons were commercially manufactured for the French telephone company and military, and in 1953 a solid-state radio receiver with four transistrons was demonstrated at the [[Place:Düsseldorf|Düsseldorf]] Radio Fair.

As Bell Labs did not make a public announcement of their transistor before June 1948, the transistron was an independent parallel discovery and development.

==Etymology==
Bell Telephone Laboratories needed a generic name for the new invention: "Semiconductor Triode", "Surface States Triode", "Crystal Triode", "Solid Triode" and "Iotatron" were all considered, but "Transistor," coined by John R. Pierce, was the clear winner of an internal ballot (owing in part to the affinity that Bell engineers had developed for the suffix "-istor").<ref name=GertnerIdeaFac>{{cite book|last=Gertner|first=Jon|title=The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation|year=2012|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=978-0-14-312279-1|page=98}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRJZtuqCoMw&t=57 The Genesis of the Transistor, with Bonus Introduction (AT&T Archives video, posted 2012Jul19)]</ref> The rationale for the name is described in the following extract from the company's Technical Memorandum calling for votes:

{{blockquote|Transistor. This is an abbreviated combination of the words "[[Transconductance|transconductance]]" or "transfer", and "[[Engineering:Varistor|varistor]]". The device logically belongs in the varistor family, and has the transconductance or transfer impedance of a device having gain, so that this combination is descriptive.|Bell Telephone Laboratories — [https://web.archive.org/web/20080528164454/http://users.arczip.com/rmcgarra2/namememo.gif Technical Memorandum (May 28, 1948)]}}

Pierce recalled the naming somewhat differently:

{{blockquote|The way I provided the name, was to think of what the device did. And at that time, it was supposed to be the dual of the [[Physics:Vacuum tube|vacuum tube]]. The vacuum tube had transconductance, so the transistor would have 'transresistance.' And the name should fit in with the names of other devices, such as varistor and thermistor. And. . . I suggested the name 'transistor.'|John R. Pierce, interviewed for [https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/pierce/index.html PBS show "Transistorized!"]}}

The Nobel Foundation states that the term is a combination of the words "transfer" and "[[Engineering:Resistor|resistor]]".<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/function/firsttransistor.html Nobelprize.org – The Transistor]</ref>

== Early conflict ==
Shockley was upset about the device being credited to Brattain and Bardeen, who he felt had built it "behind his back" to take the glory.  Matters became worse when Bell Labs lawyers found that some of Shockley's own writings on the transistor were close enough to those of an earlier 1925 patent by [[Biography:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]] that they thought it best that his name be left off the patent application.

== Improvements in transistor design ==
===Switch to silicon===
Germanium was difficult to purify and had a limited operational temperature range. Scientists theorized that [[Chemistry:Silicon|silicon]] would be easier to fabricate, but few bothered to investigate this possibility. Morris Tanenbaum et al. at Bell Laboratories<ref>{{cite journal |author=M. Tanenbaum |author2=L. B. Valdes |author3=E. Buehler |author4=N. B. Hannay |title=Silicon ''n''‐''p''‐''n'' Grown Junction Transistors |journal=J. Appl. Phys. |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=686–692 |year=1955 |doi=10.1063/1.1722071|bibcode=1955JAP....26..686T }}</ref> were the first to develop a working silicon transistor on January 26, 1954.<ref>IEEE Spectrum, The Lost History of the Transistor, Author: [[Biography:Michael Riordan (physicist)|Michael Riordan]], May 2004, pp. 48–49.</ref> A few months later, Gordon Teal, working independently at [[Company:Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments]], developed a similar device. Both of these devices were made by controlling the doping of single silicon crystals while they were grown from molten silicon. A superior method was developed by Morris Tanenbaum and Calvin S. Fuller at Bell Laboratories in early 1955 by the [[Physics:Gaseous diffusion|gaseous diffusion]] of donor and acceptor impurities into single crystal silicon chips.<ref>Bell System Technical J., 35, 1–34, 1955.</ref>

Up until the late 1950s, however, [[Chemistry:Germanium|germanium]] remained the dominant [[Physics:Semiconductor|semiconductor]] material for transistors and other semiconductor devices. Germanium was initially considered the more effective semiconductor material, as it was able to demonstrate better performance due to higher carrier mobility.<ref name="Dabrowski6">{{cite book |last1=Dabrowski |first1=Jarek |last2=Müssig |first2=Hans-Joachim |chapter=6.1. Introduction |title=Silicon Surfaces and Formation of Interfaces: Basic Science in the Industrial World |date=2000 |publisher=[[Company:World Scientific|World Scientific]] |isbn=978-981-02-3286-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/siliconsurfacesf0000dabr/page/344 344–346] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlefXcP3tQAC&pg=PA344 |url=https://archive.org/details/siliconsurfacesf0000dabr/page/344 }}</ref><ref name="Heywang">{{cite book |last1=Heywang |first1=W. |last2=Zaininger |first2=K. H. |chapter=2.2. Early history |title=Silicon: Evolution and Future of a Technology |date=2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-662-09897-4 |pages=26–28 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qxj_CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA26}}</ref> The relative lack of performance in early silicon semiconductors was due to [[Physics:Electrical conductivity|electrical conductivity]] being limited by unstable [[Physics:Quantum mechanics|quantum]] [[Physics:Surface states|surface states]],<ref name="Feldman">{{cite book |last1=Feldman |first1=Leonard C. |chapter=Introduction |title=Fundamental Aspects of Silicon Oxidation |date=2001 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-41682-1 |pages=1–11 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sV4y2-mWGNIC&pg=PA1}}</ref> preventing [[Physics:Electricity|electricity]] from reliably penetrating the surface to reach the semiconducting silicon layer.<ref name="atalla">{{cite web |title=Martin (John) M. Atalla |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/martin-john-m-atalla |website=National Inventors Hall of Fame |year=2009 |access-date=21 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="kahng">{{cite web |title=Dawon Kahng |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/dawon-kahng |website=National Inventors Hall of Fame |access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref>

===Silicon surface passivation===
{{Main|Engineering:Surface passivation}}

In 1955, Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derick at Bell Telephone Laboratories (BTL) accidentally discovered that silicon dioxide (SiO2) could be grown on silicon. They showed that oxide layer prevented certain dopants into the silicon wafer, while allowing for others, thus discovering the passivating effect of oxidation on the semiconductor surface.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bassett|first=Ross Knox|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA22|title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology|date=2007-02-22|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3|language=en}}</ref> In the 1950s, Mohamed Atalla, picked up Frosch's work on oxidation, investigated the surface properties of silicon semiconductors at [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]], where he proposed a new method of [[Engineering:Semiconductor device fabrication|semiconductor device fabrication]], coating a silicon wafer with an insulating layer of silicon oxide so that electricity could reliably penetrate to the conducting silicon below, overcoming the surface states that prevented electricity from reaching the semiconducting layer. This is known as [[Engineering:Surface passivation|surface passivation]], a method that became critical to the [[Engineering:Semiconductor industry|semiconductor industry]] as it later made possible the mass-production of silicon [[Engineering:Integrated circuit|integrated circuit]]s.<ref name="atalla"/> He presented his findings in 1957.<ref name="Lojek120">{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |url=https://archive.org/details/historysemicondu00loje_697 |url-access=limited |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historysemicondu00loje_697/page/n128 120]}}</ref> He studied the passivation of [[Physics:P-n junction|p-n junction]]s by [[Chemistry:Oxide|oxide]], and published his experimental results in 1957 BTL memos.<ref name="Lojek120"/> Atalla's surface passivation method was later the basis for two inventions in 1959: the MOS transistor by Atalla and [[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]], and the [[Engineering:Planar process|planar process]] by Jean Hoerni.<ref name="Bassett46"/>

===Planar process===

At a 1958 [[Organization:Electrochemical Society|Electrochemical Society]] meeting, Atalla presented a paper about the [[Engineering:Surface passivation|surface passivation]] of PN junctions by oxide (based on his 1957 BTL memos),<ref name="Lojek120"/> and demonstrated silicon dioxide's passivating effect on a silicon surface.<ref name="Bassett46">{{cite book |last1=Bassett |first1=Ross Knox |title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology |date=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA46}}</ref> Jean Hoerni attended the same meeting, and was intrigued by Atalla's presentation. Hoerni came up with a "planar idea" one morning while thinking about Atalla's device.<ref name="Lojek120"/> Taking advantage of silicon dioxide's passivating effect on the silicon surface, Hoerni proposed to make transistors that were protected by a layer of silicon dioxide.<ref name="Lojek120"/>

The planar process was developed by Jean Hoerni while working at [[Company:Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild Semiconductor]], with a first patent issued in 1959.<ref>{{patent|US|3025589|Hoerni, J. A.: "Method of Manufacturing Semiconductor Devices" filed May 1, 1959}}</ref><ref>{{patent|US|3064167|Hoerni, J. A.: "Semiconductor device" filed May 15, 1960}}</ref> The [[Engineering:Planar process|planar process]] used to make these transistors made mass-produced monolithic silicon [[Engineering:Integrated circuit|integrated circuit]]s possible.

===MOSFET===
{{Main|Engineering:MOSFET}}
In 1959, the MOSFET was introduced and in 2020 it was still the dominant transistor type in use, with  an estimated total of 13{{nbsp}}sextillion ({{Val|1.3|e=22}}) MOSFETs manufactured between 1960 and 2018. The key advantages of a MOSFET transistors over BJTs are that they consume no current ''except'' when switching states and they have faster switching speed (ideal for digital signals).

==Early commercialization==
The world's first commercial transistor production line was at the [[Company:Western Electric|Western Electric]] plant on Union Boulevard in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Production began on Oct. 1, 1951 with the point contact germanium transistor.<ref name="Bonner2007">{{cite web
| title = Transistor transition began in Allentown
| first= Jeanne | last = Bonner
| work = The Morning Call
| date = 2007-03-04
| access-date = 2023-07-10
| url = https://www.mcall.com/2007/03/04/transistor-transition-began-in-allentown-electronic-marvel-was-first-produced-at-what-would-become-agere-first-1951-transistor-production-line/
| quote = On Oct. 1, 1951, the world's first commercial transistor production line went live at the Western Electric plant on Union Boulevard in Allentown.
}}</ref>

The first commercial application of transistors in [[Engineering:Telecommunication|telecommunication]] was in the Fall of 1952 in tone generators for multifrequency signaling of the No. 5 Crossbar switching system in the Englewood, NJ installation, used for the first field trial of direct distance dialing (DDD).<ref>''Transistors Enter Telephone Service'', Bell Laboratory Record, Volume 30(11), p.439 (November 1952)</ref>

By 1953, the transistor was being used in some products, such as [[Engineering:Hearing aid|hearing aid]]s and [[Engineering:Telephone exchange|telephone exchange]]s, but there were still significant issues preventing its broader application, such as sensitivity to moisture and the fragility of the wires attached to germanium crystals.<ref name="time53">{{cite news | title = Problem Child | publisher = {{wipe|Time (magazine)}} | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818829,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071114122228/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,818829,00.html  | archive-date = November 14, 2007 | date = 1953-09-07 | access-date = 2009-05-28}}</ref> [[Biography:Donald G. Fink|Donald G. Fink]], [[Company:Philco|Philco]]'s director of research, summarized the status of the transistor's commercial potential with an analogy:  "Is it a pimpled adolescent, now awkward, but promising future vigor? Or has it arrived at maturity, full of languor, surrounded by disappointments?"<ref name="time53"/>

Semiconductor companies initially focused on junction transistors in the early years of the [[Engineering:Semiconductor industry|semiconductor industry]]. However, the junction transistor was a relatively bulky device that was difficult to manufacture on a mass-production basis, which limited it to a number of specialised applications.<ref name="Moskowitz">{{cite book |last1=Moskowitz |first1=Sanford L. |title=Advanced Materials Innovation: Managing Global Technology in the 21st century |date=2016 |publisher={{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}} |isbn=978-0-470-50892-3 |pages=165–168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2STRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA165}}</ref>

=== Transistor radios ===
{{main|Engineering:Transistor radio}}
[[Image:Regency TR-1.jpg|thumb|The Regency TR-1 which used Texas Instruments' NPN transistors was the world's first commercially produced transistor radio.]]

Prototypes of all-transistor AM radio receivers were demonstrated, but were really only laboratory curiosities. However, in 1950 Shockley developed a radically different type of solid-state amplifier which became known as the [[Engineering:Bipolar junction transistor|bipolar junction transistor]], which works on a completely different principle than the [[Engineering:Point-contact transistor|point-contact transistor]]. [[Biography:Morgan Sparks|Morgan Sparks]] made the bipolar junction transistor into a practical device.<ref name=LCSN>{{cite news |author= Melanie Dabovich (Associated Press)|title= Former Sandia labs director dies|url= http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9170909|publisher= Las Cruces Sun-News|location=New Mexico|date= 2008-05-06|access-date=2008-05-07 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080510080412/http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9170909 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2008-05-10}}</ref><ref name=PBS>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/transistor/album1/sparks/index.html |title=Morgan Sparks |access-date= 2008-05-06|publisher=PBS}}</ref> These were also licensed to a number of other electronics companies, including [[Company:Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments]], who produced a limited run of [[Engineering:Transistor radio|transistor radio]]s as a sales tool. Early transistors were chemically unstable and only suitable for low-power, low-frequency applications, but as transistor design developed, these problems were slowly overcome.

There are numerous claimants to the title of the first company to produce practical transistor radios. [[Company:Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments]] had demonstrated all-transistor AM radios as early as 1952, but their performance was well below that of equivalent vacuum tube models. A workable all-[[Engineering:Transistor radio|transistor radio]] was demonstrated in August 1953 at the [[Place:Düsseldorf|Düsseldorf]] Radio Fair by the German firm Intermetall. It was built with four of Intermetall's hand-made transistors, based upon the 1948 invention of Herbert Mataré and Heinrich Welker.<!--<ref name=Dormael-CHE-2004></ref> --> However, as with the early Texas units (and others) only prototypes were ever built; it was never put into commercial production.

The first transistor radio is often incorrectly attributed to [[Company:Sony|Sony]] (originally Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo), which released the TR-55 in 1955. However, it was predated by the Regency TR-1, made by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A. (Industrial Development Engineering Associates) of Indianapolis, Indiana, which was the first practical transistor radio.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}} The TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954, and put on sale in November 1954 for US$49.95 (the equivalent of about US$500 in year-2020 dollars) and sold about 150,000 units.{{citation needed|date=October 2010}}

The TR-1 used four Texas NPN transistors and had to be powered by a 22.5-volt battery, since the only way to get adequate [[Engineering:Radio frequency|radio frequency]] performance out of early transistors was to run them close to their collector-to-emitter [[Physics:Breakdown voltage|breakdown voltage]]. This made the TR-1 very expensive to run, and it was far more popular for its novelty or status value than its actual performance, rather in the fashion of the first [[MP3 player]]s.

Still, aside from its indifferent performance, the TR-1 was a very advanced product for its time, using [[Engineering:Printed circuit board|printed circuit board]]s, and what were then considered micro-miniature components.

Masaru Ibuka, co-founder of the Japanese firm [[Company:Sony|Sony]], was visiting the United States when Bell Labs announced the availability of manufacturing licenses, including detailed instructions on how to manufacture junction transistors. Ibuka obtained special permission from the Japanese Ministry of Finance to pay the $50,000 license fee, and in 1955 the company introduced their own five-transistor "coatpocket" radio, the TR-55, under the new brand name [[Company:Sony|Sony]]. This product was soon followed by more ambitious designs, but it is generally regarded as marking the commencement of Sony's growth into a manufacturing superpower.

The TR-55 was quite similar to the Regency TR-1 in many ways, being powered by the same sort of 22.5-volt battery, and was not much more practical. Note: according to the schematic, the TR-55 used a 6 volt supply.<ref>[http://www.radiomuseum.org/schemaviewer/japan_sony_tr55_sch_1.pdf radiomuseum.org]</ref> Very few were distributed outside Japan. It was not until 1957 that Sony produced their ground-breaking "TR-63" shirt pocket radio, a much more advanced design that ran on a standard 9-volt battery and could compete favorably with vacuum tube portables. The TR-63 was also the first transistor radio to use all miniature components. (The term "pocket" was a matter of some interpretation, as Sony allegedly had special shirts made with oversized pockets for their salesmen.)

[[File:Chrysler Imperial all transistor car radio audio sound news clip.oga|left|thumb|1955 Chrysler–Philco all transistor car radio – "Breaking News" radio broadcast announcement]]

In the April 28th 1955 edition of the Wall Street Journal, Chrysler and Philco announced that they had developed and produced the world's first all-transistor car radio.<ref>Wall Street Journal, "Chrysler Promises Car Radio With Transistors Instead of Tubes in '56", April 28th 1955, page 1</ref> Chrysler made the all-transistor car radio, Mopar model 914HR, available as an "option" in Fall 1955 for its new line of 1956 Chrysler and Imperial cars, which hit the showroom floor on October 21, 1955. The all-transistor car radio was a $150 option.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allpar.com/stereo/Philco/index.html |title=1955: Chrysler's All-Transistor Mopar Car Radio |date=November 16, 2020 |website=www.allpar.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/philco_mopar_914_hr_ch_c_5690hr.html |title=Mopar 914-HR Ch= C-5690HR Car Radio Philco, Philadelphia |language=de |publisher=Radiomuseum.org |access-date=2021-11-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fcanorthamerica.com/company/Heritage/Pages/Chrysler-Heritage-1950.aspx |title=Heritage 1950-1959 |website=[[Company:Fiat Chrysler Automobiles|FCA]] North America  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402062327/http://www.fcanorthamerica.com/company/Heritage/Pages/Chrysler-Heritage-1950.aspx |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref>

The Sony TR-63, released in 1957, was the first mass-produced transistor radio, leading to the mass-market penetration of transistor radios.<ref name="Skrabec">{{cite book | last1  = Skrabec | first1 = Quentin R. Jr. | title  = The 100 Most Significant Events in American Business: An Encyclopedia | publisher = ABC-CLIO  | date   = 2012 | pages  = 195–7 | url    = https://books.google.com/books?id=2kc69qrid9oC&pg=PA195 | isbn   = 978-0-313-39863-6 }}</ref> The TR-63 went on to sell seven million units worldwide by the mid-1960s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Snook |first1=Chris J. |title=The 7 Step Formula Sony Used to Get Back On Top After a Lost Decade |url=https://www.inc.com/chris-j-snook/sonys-7-step-formula-for-entrepreneurial-success-business-longevity.html |work=Inc. |date=29 November 2017}}</ref>  With the visible success of the TR-63, Japanese competitors such as [[Company:Toshiba|Toshiba]] and [[Company:Sharp Corporation|Sharp Corporation]]  joined the market.<ref name=lane94>{{cite book | title = Transistor Radios: A Collector's Encyclopedia and Price Guide | author1 = David Lane | author2 = Robert Lane | name-list-style = amp | publisher = Wallace-Homestead Book Company | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-87069-712-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/transistorradios0000lane }} pages 2-7</ref> Sony's success with transistor radios led to transistors replacing vacuum tubes as the dominant electronic technology in the late 1950s.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Kozinsky |first1=Sieva |title=Education and the Innovator's Dilemma |url=https://www.wired.com/insights/2014/01/education-innovators-dilemma/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=14 October 2019 |date=8 January 2014}}</ref>

===Hobby use===
The  first low-cost junction transistor available to the general public was the CK722, a PNP germanium small signal unit introduced by [[Company:Raytheon|Raytheon]] in early 1953 for $7.60 each. In the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds of hobbyist electronics projects based around the CK722 transistor were published in popular books and magazines.<ref name = "PM Oct 1953">{{Cite magazine  | title = How to Build Experimental Transistor Receivers  |magazine= Popular Mechanics  | volume = 100  | issue = 4  | pages =246–248  | publisher = Popular Mechanics Co. | location = Chicago   | date = October 1953  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=P9wDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA246}}</ref><ref name = "PM Nov 1957">{{Cite magazine |last = Garner | first = Lou | title = Transistorized Instrument Amplifier  |magazine= Popular Mechanics  | volume = 108  | issue = 5  | pages =160–162  | publisher = Popular Mechanics Co. | location = Chicago   | date = November 1957  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oeEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA160}}</ref> Raytheon also participated in expanding the role of the CK722 as a hobbyist electronics device by publishing "Transistor Applications" and "Transistor Applications- Volume 2" during the mid-1950s.

===Transistor computers===
{{Main|Engineering:Transistor computer}}

The world's first [[Engineering:Transistor computer|transistor computer]] was built at the University of Manchester in November 1953. The computer was built by Richard Grimsdale, then a research student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and later a professor of Electronic Engineering at Sussex University. The machine used point-contact transistors, made in small quantities by STC and Mullard. These consisted of a single crystal of germanium with two fine wires, resembling the crystal and cat's whisker of the 1920s. These transistors had the useful property that a single transistor could possess two stable states. ... The development of the machine was severely hampered by the unreliability of the transistors. It consumed 150 watts.<ref>[http://www.computer50.org/ The University of Manchester Celebrates the Birth of the Modern Computer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120504133240/http://www.computer50.org/ |date=2012-05-04 }} from Computer50.org</ref>

Metropolitan Vickers Ltd rebuilt the full 200 transistor (& 1300 diode) design in 1956 using junction transistors (for internal use).<ref>[http://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/kgill/transistor/trans.html The Transistor Computer]</ref>

The IBM 7070 (1958), IBM 7090 (1959), and [[CDC 1604]] (1960) were the first computers (as products for sale) based on transistors.

==MOSFET (MOS transistor)==
{{Main|Engineering:MOSFET}}

{{multiple image
 | align  = right
 | image1 = Atalla1963.png
 | width1 = 139
 | image2 =
 | width2 = 144
 | footer = Mohamed Atalla (left) and [[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]] (right) invented the [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]] in November 1959.
}}

Building on his silicon [[Engineering:Surface passivation|surface passivation]] method, Mohamed Atalla developed the metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) process in the late 1950s.<ref name="atalla"/> He proposed the MOS process could be used to build the first working silicon [[Engineering:Field-effect transistor|field-effect transistor]] (FET), which he began working on building with the help of [[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]] at [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]].<ref name="atalla"/>

[[file:MOSFET Structure.png|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]], showing [[Physics:Metal gate|gate]] (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink).]]

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) was invented by Atalla and Kahng at Bell Labs.<ref name="computerhistory">{{cite journal|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/|title=1960 - Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated|journal=The Silicon Engine|publisher=Computer History Museum}}</ref><ref name="Lojek">{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |url=https://archive.org/details/historysemicondu00loje_697 |url-access=limited |date=2007 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historysemicondu00loje_697/page/n327 321]–3}}</ref> They [[Engineering:Semiconductor device fabrication|fabricated]] the device in November 1959,<ref name="Bassett22">{{cite book |last1=Bassett |first1=Ross Knox |title=To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology |date=2007 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8639-3 |page=22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUbB3d2UnaAC&pg=PA22}}</ref> and presented it as the "silicon-silicon dioxide field induced surface device" in early 1960.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atalla |first1=M. |last2=Kahng |first2=D. |title=Silicon-silicon dioxide field induced surface devices |journal=IRE-AIEE Solid State Device Research Conference |date=1960}}</ref> With its high scalability,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Motoyoshi |first1=M. |s2cid=29105721 |title=Through-Silicon Via (TSV) |journal=Proceedings of the IEEE |date=2009 |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=43–48 |doi=10.1109/JPROC.2008.2007462 |issn=0018-9219}}</ref> and much lower power consumption and higher density than bipolar junction transistors,<ref>{{cite news |title=Transistors Keep Moore's Law Alive |url=https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1334068 |access-date=18 July 2019 |work=EETimes |date=12 December 2018}}</ref> the MOSFET made it possible to build high-density [[Engineering:Integrated circuit|integrated circuit]]s (ICs),<ref name="computerhistory-transistor">{{cite web |title=Who Invented the Transistor? |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/who-invented-the-transistor/ |website=Computer History Museum |date=4 December 2013 |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref> allowing the integration of more than 10,000 transistors in a single IC.<ref name="Hittinger">{{cite journal |last1=Hittinger |first1=William C. |title=Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Technology |journal=Scientific American |date=1973 |volume=229 |issue=2 |pages=48–59 |issn=0036-8733|jstor=24923169 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0873-48 |bibcode=1973SciAm.229b..48H }}</ref>

The first gallium-arsenide Schottky-gate field-effect transistor ([[Engineering:MESFET|MESFET]]) was made by [[Biography:Carver Mead|Carver Mead]] and reported in 1966.<ref>{{cite journal
| author = C. A. Mead
| title = Schottky barrier gate field effect transistor
| journal = Proceedings of the IEEE
| volume = 54
| issue = 2
| pages = 307–308
| date = February 1966
| doi = 10.1109/PROC.1966.4661
| url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/54042/1/01446591.pdf
}}</ref> The first report of a [[Engineering:Floating-gate MOSFET|floating-gate MOSFET]] (FGMOS) was made by Dawon Kahng and Simon Sze in 1967.<ref>D. Kahng and S. M. Sze, "A floating-gate and its application to memory devices", ''The Bell System Technical Journal'', vol. 46, no. 4, 1967, pp. 1288–1295</ref>

The MOSFET has since become the most widely manufactured device in history.<ref name="computerhistory2018">{{cite web |title=13 Sextillion & Counting: The Long & Winding Road to the Most Frequently Manufactured Human Artifact in History |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/13-sextillion-counting-the-long-winding-road-to-the-most-frequently-manufactured-human-artifact-in-history/ |date=April 2, 2018 |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=28 July 2019}}</ref><ref name="Baker">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=R. Jacob |title=CMOS: Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation |date=2011 |publisher={{wipe|John Wiley & Sons}} |isbn=978-1-118-03823-9 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kxYhNrOKuJQC&pg=PA7}}</ref>  As of 2018, an estimated total of 13{{nbsp}}sextillion MOS transistors have been manufactured.<ref name="computerhistory2018"/>

===PMOS and NMOS===
There were originally two types of MOSFET logic, [[PMOS logic|PMOS]] (p-type MOS) and [[NMOS logic|NMOS]] (n-type MOS).<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/metal-oxide-semiconductor-mos-transistor-demonstrated/|title=1960 - Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Transistor Demonstrated|journal=The Silicon Engine|publisher=Computer History Museum}}</ref> Both types were developed by Atalla and Kahng when they originally invented the MOSFET, [[Engineering:Semiconductor device fabrication|fabricating]] both PMOS and NMOS devices with a [[Engineering:10 µm process|20{{nbsp}}µm process]].<ref name="Lojek"/>

===CMOS===
{{Main|Engineering:CMOS}}

A new type of MOSFET logic, [[Engineering:CMOS|CMOS]] (complementary MOS), was invented by Chih-Tang Sah and Frank Wanlass at [[Company:Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild Semiconductor]], and in February 1963 they published the invention in a research paper.<ref name="computerhistory1963">{{cite web |title=1963: Complementary MOS Circuit Configuration is Invented |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/complementary-mos-circuit-configuration-is-invented/ |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=6 July 2019}}</ref><ref name="sah">{{cite conference |last1=Sah |first1=Chih-Tang |last2=Wanlass |first2=Frank |title=Nanowatt logic using field-effect metal-oxide semiconductor triodes |conference=1963 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. Digest of Technical Papers |date=1963 |volume=VI |pages=32–33 |doi=10.1109/ISSCC.1963.1157450}}</ref>

===Self-aligned gate===
The [[Engineering:Self-aligned gate|self-aligned gate]] (silicon-gate) MOSFET transistor was invented by Robert Kerwin, Donald Klein and John Sarace at Bell Labs in 1967. [[Company:Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild Semiconductor]] researchers [[Biography:Federico Faggin|Federico Faggin]] and Tom Klein later used self-aligned gate MOSFETs to develop the first silicon-gate MOS [[Engineering:Integrated circuit|integrated circuit]].<ref name="computerhistory1968">{{cite web |title=1968: Silicon Gate Technology Developed for ICs |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/silicon-gate-technology-developed-for-ics/ |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref>

==MOSFET commercialization==

The [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]], also known as the MOS transistor, was the first truly compact transistor that could be miniaturised and mass-produced for a wide range of uses.<ref name="Moskowitz"/> It revolutionized the wider electronics industry,<ref name="Chan">{{cite book |last1=Chan |first1=Yi-Jen |title=Studies of InAIAs/InGaAs and GaInP/GaAs heterostructure FET's for high speed applications |date=1992 |publisher=[[Organization:University of Michigan|University of Michigan]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sV4eAQAAMAAJ |page=1 |quote=The Si MOSFET has revolutionized the electronics industry and as a result impacts our daily lives in almost every conceivable way.}}</ref> including [[Engineering:Power electronics|power electronics]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Rethink Power Density with GaN |url=https://www.electronicdesign.com/power/rethink-power-density-gan |access-date=23 July 2019 |work=Electronic Design |date=21 April 2017}}</ref> [[Engineering:Consumer electronics|consumer electronics]], control systems, and [[Computer|computer]]s.<ref name="Grant">{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Duncan Andrew |last2=Gowar |first2=John |title=Power MOSFETS: theory and applications |date=1989 |publisher=[[Company:Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |isbn=978-0-471-82867-9 |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiZTAAAAMAAJ |quote=The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is the most commonly used active device in the very large-scale integration of digital integrated circuits (VLSI). During the 1970s these components revolutionized electronic signal processing, control systems and computers.}}</ref> The MOSFET has since become the most common type of transistor in the world, with uses including computers, electronics,<ref name="kahng"/> and communications technology (such as smartphones).<ref name="uspto">{{cite web |title=Remarks by Director Iancu at the 2019 International Intellectual Property Conference |url=https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/remarks-director-iancu-2019-international-intellectual-property-conference |website=United States Patent and Trademark Office |date=June 10, 2019 |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref> The MOS transistor has been described as the "workhorse of the electronics industry" due to being the building block of every [[Engineering:Microprocessor|microprocessor]], memory chip and [[Engineering:Telecommunication circuit|telecommunication circuit]] in use.<ref name="Colinge2016">{{cite book |last1=Colinge |first1=Jean-Pierre |last2=Greer |first2=James C. |title=Nanowire Transistors: Physics of Devices and Materials in One Dimension |date=2016 |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}} |isbn=978-1-107-05240-6 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FvjUCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2}}</ref> Billions of MOS transistors are manufactured every day, as of 2013.<ref name="computerhistory-transistor"/>

===Integrated circuits===
[[Engineering:General Microelectronics|General Microelectronics]] introduced the first commercial MOS [[Engineering:Integrated circuit|integrated circuit]]s in 1964, consisting of 120 p-channel transistors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/semiconductor/timeline/1964-Commecial.html|title=1964 – First Commercial MOS IC Introduced|website=Computer History Museum}}</ref> It was a 20-bit [[Shift register|shift register]], developed by Robert Norman<ref name="computerhistory-digital">{{cite web |title=Tortoise of Transistors Wins the Race - CHM Revolution |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/279 |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> and Frank Wanlass.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kilby |first1=J. S. |title=Miniaturized electronic circuits [US Patent No. 3,138, 743] |journal=IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Newsletter |date=2007 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=44–54 |doi=10.1109/N-SSC.2007.4785580 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/245509003 |issn=1098-4232}}</ref> In 1967, [[Organization:Bell Labs|Bell Labs]] researchers Robert Kerwin, Donald Klein and John Sarace developed the [[Engineering:Self-aligned gate|self-aligned gate]] (silicon-gate) MOS transistor, which [[Company:Fairchild Semiconductor|Fairchild Semiconductor]] researchers [[Biography:Federico Faggin|Federico Faggin]] and Tom Klein used to develop the first silicon-gate MOS IC.<ref name="computerhistory1968"/>

By 1972, MOS [[Engineering:Very Large Scale Integration|LSI]] (large-scale integration) circuits were commercialized for numerous applications, including automobiles, trucks, home appliances, [[Business machine|business machine]]s, electronic musical instruments, computer peripherals, cash registers, calculators, [[Data transmission|data transmission]] and [[Engineering:Telecommunication|telecommunication]] equipment.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Design News |journal=Design News |date=1972 |volume=27 |issue=1–8 |page=275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5w-AQAAIAAJ |publisher=Cahners Publishing Company |quote=Today, under contracts with some 20 major companies, we're working on nearly 30 product programs—applications of MOS/LSI technology for automobiles, trucks, appliances, business machines, musical instruments, computer peripherals, cash registers, calculators, data transmission and telecommunication equipment.}}</ref>

===Semiconductor memory===
{{Further|Computer memory|Memory cell (computing)|Engineering:Semiconductor memory}}

The first modern [[Memory cell (computing)|memory cells]] were introduced in 1965, when John Schmidt designed the first 64-bit MOS [[Static random-access memory|SRAM]] (static [[Random-access memory|RAM]]).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kG4rAQAAIAAJ&q=John+Schmidt|title=Solid State Design - Vol. 6|date=1965|publisher=Horizon House}}</ref> In 1967, Robert H. Dennard of [[Company:IBM|IBM]] filed a patent for a single-transistor [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]] (dynamic RAM) memory cell, using a [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Dennard |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Dennard |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=8 July 2019}}</ref>

The earliest practical application of [[Engineering:Floating-gate MOSFET|floating-gate MOSFET]] (FGMOS) was floating-gate memory cells, which [[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]] and Simon Sze proposed could be used to produce [[Engineering:EPROM|reprogrammable ROM]] ([[Read-only memory|read-only memory]]).<ref name="computerhistory1971">{{cite web |title=1971: Reusable semiconductor ROM introduced |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/reusable-semiconductor-rom-introduced/ |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref> Floating-gate memory cells later became the basis for [[Non-volatile memory|non-volatile memory]] (NVM) technologies including [[Engineering:EPROM|EPROM]] (erasable programmable ROM), [[EEPROM]] (electrically erasable programmable ROM) and [[Flash memory|flash memory]].

===Microprocessors===
The [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]] is the basis of every [[Engineering:Microprocessor|microprocessor]].<ref name="Colinge2016"/> The [[Microprocessor chronology|earliest microprocessors]] were all MOS microprocessors, built with MOS LSI circuits. The first multi-chip microprocessors, the Four-Phase Systems AL1 in 1969 and the Garrett AiResearch MP944 in 1970, were developed with multiple MOS LSI chips. The first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the [[Engineering:Intel 4004|Intel 4004]], was developed by [[Biography:Federico Faggin|Federico Faggin]], using his silicon-gate MOS IC technology, with [[Company:Intel|Intel]] engineers Marcian Hoff and Stan Mazor, and Busicom engineer [[Biography:Masatoshi Shima|Masatoshi Shima]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1971: Microprocessor Integrates CPU Function onto a Single Chip {{!}} The Silicon Engine |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/microprocessor-integrates-cpu-function-onto-a-single-chip/ |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> With the arrival of [[Engineering:CMOS|CMOS]] microprocessors in 1975, the term "MOS microprocessors" began to refer to chips fabricated entirely from [[PMOS logic]] or fabricated entirely from [[NMOS logic]], contrasted with "CMOS microprocessors" and "bipolar bit-slice processors".<ref name="cushman">{{cite web|first=Robert H.|last=Cushman|url=http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/Microprocessors/EDN_Sep_20_1975_6502.pdf|title=2-1/2-generation μP's-$10 parts that perform like low-end mini's|publisher=EDN |date=20 September 1975}}</ref>

===Pocket calculators===
One of the earliest influential consumer electronic products enabled by MOS transistors was the electronic pocket calculator.<ref name="Hittinger"/> In 1965, the Victor 3900 desktop calculator was the first MOS LSI [[Engineering:Calculator|calculator]], with 29 MOS LSI chips.<ref name="vintage">{{cite web |author=Nigel Tout |url=http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/sharp_qt-8d.html |title=Sharp ''QT-8D "micro Compet"'' |work=Vintage Calculators Web Museum |access-date=September 29, 2010}}</ref> In 1967 the [[Company:Texas Instruments|Texas Instruments]] Cal-Tech was the first prototype electronic handheld calculator, with three MOS LSI chips, and it was later released as the [[Company:Canon Inc.|Canon]] Pocketronic in 1970.<ref name="hand-held">{{cite web |title=Hand-held Calculators |url=http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/hand-held_calculators.html |website=Vintage Calculators Web Museum |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> The Sharp QT-8D desktop calculator was the first mass-produced LSI MOS calculator in 1969,<ref name="vintage"/> and the Sharp EL-8 which used four MOS LSI chips was the first commercial electronic handheld calculator in 1970.<ref name="hand-held"/> The first true electronic pocket calculator was the Busicom LE-120A HANDY LE, which used a single MOS LSI [[System on a chip|calculator-on-a-chip]] from [[Company:Mostek|Mostek]], and was released in 1971.<ref name="hand-held"/>

===Personal computers===
In the 1970s, the MOS microprocessor was the basis for [[Engineering:Home computer|home computer]]s, [[Microcomputer|microcomputer]]s (micros) and [[Engineering:Personal computer|personal computer]]s (PCs). This led to the start of what is known as the personal computer revolution or [[Engineering:Microcomputer revolution|microcomputer revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Malmstadt |first1=Howard V. |last2=Enke |first2=Christie G. |last3=Crouch |first3=Stanley R. |title=Making the Right Connections: Microcomputers and Electronic Instrumentation |date=1994 |publisher=[[Organization:American Chemical Society|American Chemical Society]] |isbn=978-0-8412-2861-0 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyJGAQAAIAAJ |quote=The relative simplicity and low power requirements of MOSFETs have fostered today's microcomputer revolution.}}</ref>

===Power electronics===
The [[Engineering:Power MOSFET|power MOSFET]] is the most widely used power device in the world.<ref name="aosmd"/> Advantages over [[Engineering:Bipolar junction transistor|bipolar junction transistor]]s in [[Engineering:Power electronics|power electronics]] include MOSFETs not requiring a continuous flow of drive current to remain in the ON state, offering higher switching speeds, lower switching power losses, lower on-resistances, and reduced susceptibility to thermal runaway.<ref name="mouser">{{cite web |title=Power Supply Technology - Buck DC/DC Converters |url=https://www.mouser.co.uk/applications/power-supply-topology-buck/ |website=Mouser Electronics |access-date=11 August 2019}}</ref> The power MOSFET had an impact on power supplies, enabling higher operating frequencies, size and weight reduction, and increased volume production.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Duncan Andrew |last2=Gowar |first2=John |title=Power MOSFETS: theory and applications |date=1989 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-0-471-82867-9 |page=239 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiZTAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

The power MOSFET, which is commonly used in [[Engineering:Power electronics|power electronics]], was developed in the early 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Irwin |first1=J. David |title=The Industrial Electronics Handbook |date=1997 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-8343-4 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0k9kGs5bHYC&pg=PA218}}</ref> The power MOSFET enables low gate drive power, fast switching speed, and advanced paralleling capability.<ref name="aosmd">{{cite web |title=Power MOSFET Basics |url=http://www.aosmd.com/res/application_notes/mosfets/Power_MOSFET_Basics.pdf |website=Alpha & Omega Semiconductor |access-date=29 July 2019}}</ref>

===Sustainable transistors===
In late April 2023, researchers at [[Organization:Linköping University|Linköping University]] and KTH Royal Institute of Technology successfully developed the world's first wooden transistor, potentially paving the way for more sustainable electronics and even the control of electronic plants, according to an article on Hackster.io. The team created a functional transistor to switch electronic signals using cellulose-based electrolyte and lignin-derived [[Chemistry:Organic semiconductor|organic semiconductor]]s. This breakthrough could lead to further research in creating environmentally friendly electronic devices and exploring the possibility of integrating electronics into living plants for monitoring and control purposes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Halfacree|first=Gareth|title=Researchers Build the World's First Wooden Transistor, Aim at Control of Electronic Plants|url=https://www.hackster.io/news/researchers-build-the-world-s-first-wooden-transistor-aim-at-control-of-electronic-plants-e64c1513ed0e|website=Hackster.io|access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref>

==Patents==
* {{patent|US|1745175|[[Biography:Julius Edgar Lilienfeld|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld]]: "Method and apparatus for controlling electric current" first filed in Canada on 1925-10-22, describing a [[Engineering:Field-effect transistor|field-effect transistor]]}}
* {{patent|US|1900018|Julius Edgar Lilienfeld: "Device for controlling electric current" filed on 1928-03-28, a thin film field-effect transistor}}
* {{patent|GB|439457|[[Biography:Oskar Heil|Oskar Heil]]: "Improvements in or relating to electrical amplifiers and other control arrangements and devices" first filed in Germany on 1934-03-02}}
* {{patent|US|2524035|[[Biography:John Bardeen|John Bardeen]] et al.: "Three-electrode circuit element utilizing semiconductive materials" oldest priority 1948-02-26}}
* {{patent|US|2569347|[[Biography:William Shockley|William Shockley]]: "Circuit element utilizing semiconductive material" oldest priority 1948-06-26}}
* {{patent|US|3206670|Mohamed Atalla: "Semiconductor devices having dielectric coatings" filed in 1960-08-03, describing a [[Engineering:MOSFET|MOSFET]]}}
* {{patent|US|3102230|[[Biography:Dawon Kahng|Dawon Kahng]]: "Electric field controlled semiconductor device" filed in 1960-08-03, describing a MOSFET}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Books and literature==
* {{cite book
 | author = Gertner, John
 | title = The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
 | publisher = Penguin Books
 | year = 2012
 | isbn = 978-0-14-312279-1
 | title-link = The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
 }} A history of Bell Laboratories and its technological innovations
* {{cite book
 | title = Crystal Fire
 | publisher = W.W Norton & Company Limited
 | year = 1998
 | isbn = 978-0-393-31851-7
 }} The invention of the transistor & the birth of the information age
* {{Cite journal
 | author = Kai Handel
 | date = 1999-06-29
 | title = Anfänge der Halbleiterforschung und -entwicklung. Dargestellt an den Biographien von vier deutschen Halbleiterpionieren.
 | journal = PhD Thesis RWTH Aachen
 | url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/2149254/Kai-Christian-Handel-Anfange-der-Halbleiterforschung-und-entwicklung-Dissertation-RWTH-Aachen-29-06-1999
}}
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/019505329X Out of the Crystal Maze] Chapters from The History of Solid State Physics (728s)
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0252023838/ Electronic Genie: THE TANGLED HISTORY OF SILICON] (304s)
* [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684835290 The INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: HOW A SMALL GROUP OF RADAR PIONEERS WON THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND LAUNCHED A TECH] (576s)

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928041118/http://www.porticus.org/bell/belllabs_transistor.html The Bell Systems Memorial on Transistors].
* [http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/The_Transistor_and_Portable_Electronics ''IEEE Global History Network, The Transistor and Portable Electronics'']. All about the history of transistors and integrated circuits.
* [https://www.pbs.org/transistor/ ''Transistorized'']''. Historical and technical information from the Public Broadcasting Service
* [http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200011/history.cfm ''This Month in Physics History: November 17 to December 23, 1947: Invention of the First Transistor'']. From the [[Organization:American Physical Society|American Physical Society]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070714010051/http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/1997/Dec/hour1_121297.html ''50 Years of the Transistor'']. From Science Friday, December 12, 1997
* Jack Ganssle "[https://www.embedded.com/the-transistor-sixty-years-old-and-still-switching/ ''The transistor: 60 years old and still switching'']". EEtimes article, November 28, 2007
* John Markoff "[https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/24/business/a-parallel-inventor-of-the-transistor-has-his-moment.html?pagewanted=all&src=pmA ''Parallel Inventor of the Transistor Has His Moment'']." New York Times, 24 February 2003
* Michael Riordan "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080214002109/http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/print/2155 ''How Europe Missed The Transistor'']". IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 42, Issue 11 S. 52 - 57 November 2005
* Armand Van Dormael "[http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/images/e/e6/VanDormael.pdf  ''The 'French' Transistor'']". {{doi|10.1109/MSPEC.2005.1526906}}
* Mark P D Burgess (2008) "[http://sites.google.com/site/transistorhistory/faraday-to-shockley ''Semiconductor History: Faraday to Shockley'']"

{{Electronic components}}

[[Category:Transistors]]
[[Category:History of technology|Transistor]]

{{Sourceattribution|History of the transistor}}