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David Bakalar Transistor Museum Historic Profile |
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Recognizing Significant Contributions to 20th Century Semiconductor History and Technology |
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Notable Contributions |
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Transitron entered the silicon transistor market in 1957 with a series of devices that were similar in design and performance to the existing transistors available from Texas Instruments, which was the first and leading commercial supplier of silicon transistors at that time. Shown at top above is the cover of an August 1957 Transitron bulletin (#1353) which documented the current silicon transistor offerings and data sheets. The table shows all 15 types available from Transitron at that time, and the associated prices. Note that the most expensive type (ST33) costs $32, which is equivalent to almost $250 in 2010 dollars! Silicon transistor technology was at a very early stage of development in 1957, and the military was the primary consumer, so these high prices represented a lucrative market for companies that could produce the devices in quantity. Transitron used both proprietary device numbers (ST33 for example) and also the more common industry standard “2N” series, such as 2N335. The 1957 bulletin provided a cross reference chart to Transitron “ST” numbers, to TI proprietary “900” numbers to “2N” numbers.
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COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Jack Ward. All Rights Reserved. http://www.transistormuseum.com/ TRANSISTOR MUSEUM™ HISTORIC PROFILES – DAVID BAKALAR PAGE 8 |
