The invention of the Transistor by Bell Labs

They managed to successfully switch in and out of an audio circuit for people to clearly understand the amplified sound from the invention. Unlike vacuum tubes that were used at the time as a standard electronic device, this new invention had an instantaneous amplification and needed no warm up before being started. People must understand that the very first demonstration for a transistor was done by Mervin Kelly in 1963. This was a guy who had only been promoted for Director of Research position in the company. He had successfully formed a research group that dealt with solid state physics. The focus of the group was largely based on the field-effect especially by Shockley while Brattain and Bardeen were tasked with the role of investigating the right methods of ensuring proper reduction of the impacts of the surface states in coming up with a quite viable solid-state device for the company (Yamaguchi et al.

pp 35). Bardeen and Brattain were the first to come up with a solution and came up with a solid state device with an electrical and amplified signal that used a point-contact semiconductor amplifier. Bell Labs later came up with the name of the device to the transistor. It was the showed to the leadership of Bell Labs. The main problem with the first suggestion was the silicon condensation and suggested its submergence on water. This necessitated the original prototype in having a mental point to push the silicon that is submerged in distilled water. However, the amplification was quite minimal (Kester pp 33). This was then followed by a suggested experiment in replacing silicon with germanium. This rapidly increased the amplification. The director of Bells Labs research at the time, Mervin Kelly played quite an important role in guiding the physicists to study semiconductors to study whether it is possible to successfully create an alternative that is durable and offer a replacement of the relay-tube combination (Kester pp 31).

This is considered one of the best inventions in the history of science and technology. It is obvious to most people taking this course that semiconductors are artificial products made of elements such as silicon or germanium although natural products such as lead sulfide have been quite common in the industry. Conductors such as metals have free electrons and easily carry electric current yet artificial products have fewer charge carriers. In most cases, doping has been used in changing the charge carriers (Kester pp 31). Further, even though AT&T was the first commercial production line and therefore the Bell Lab’s parent, it did not limit other companies from licensing the transistor. Instead, it allowed free licensing at a reasonable fee of $25, 000.

People must understand to note that the licensing was based on symposia. The first symposia were held in September 1951. Its main engage in showcasing the know-how on the transistor. AT &T firsts developed an in-house use in a cared translator that was relied on in for long distance calls especially in 1954 for the military. For the civilian purposes, in 1952 AT &T developed a hearing aid that was the first of that kind to be used by the consumers (Khan pp 14). Despite the rollout of the hearing aids, what captured the public attention was the transistor radio that was developed in 1952. The work on the radio transmitter later received an award for the 1956 Nobel Prize for the achievement. Even though there was an advancement in technology and the purpose for developing a transistor seemed to change to other uses that were less predicted, Bell Lab’s did not forget the first research they conducted in 1936.

The leadership under Thornton C. Fry was an important aspect that could not be ignored. Employees who were found unfit for the needed position were not allowed to leave the company but rather were given other opportunities to prove their worth to the respective department in the organization, most of the people who had shown interests were taken in as in-house attendants. More specifically, Fry’s leadership gave his juniors the power and opportunity to pick their choice to work alongside them as chemists, physicists, and lab engineers but only if they were fit enough and deserved the position in the company (Kazmerski et al. pp 21). Instead, the innovation was important because it led to other innovative technologies that had foundations in it because of the economic importance of such technologies and the pressures that were already mounting to keep the production costs low as well as increasing the level of efficiency transmitters.

This lecture has significantly explained how transistors were scaled to the level of deca-nanometer regime especially during its last decades of inventions. The invention downscaled the device dimensions and how it accessed some physical limits more so where transistor fabrication and design have been limited for some reasons. People must understand that some of the challenges linked to the transistor device use were linked to the old and poorly designed design geometrics the count design encompassed properly designed new materials with clever geometrics through innovative research nanotechnologies. The current research has been necessary for the effort to open up new opportunities. Khan, Hassan N. , David A. Hounshell, and Erica RH Fuchs. "Science and Research Policy at the End of Moore’s Law.