A Transistor Museum Interview with Wilf Corrigan Personal Reflections on Motorola’s Pioneering 1960s Silicon Transistor Development Program
Oral History – Wilf Corrigan (Continued)
2N338 Grown Junction “Bar” Transistor Adapted from [5]	Historic Silicon Transistors
TRANSITRON SILICON TRANSISTOR MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY IN 1960 Shown above is a representation of the silicon grown junction transistor technology that was “leading edge” in 1960, which was just prior to the introduction of both planar and epitaxial techniques.  In actual practice, the silicon “bar”, shown in Green above, was cut from a grown crystal which had been processed to include a thin base region, shown in Red.  By 1960, the base region was created using diffusion, although earlier devices used more archaic techniques.  The attachment of the base lead to the base junction in the bar was a critical, and very manual process.  Shown at right are sections of a Transitron Catalog of Semiconductor Devices from the 1960s, showing the current “state of the art” production equipment in use at the time.  Note the apparent labor intensive aspects of transistor manufacturing process.  This device technology represents the environment which was Wilf’s first exposure to transistors – it also well illustrates the almost unimaginable level of change that the industry has undergone during the 40+ years of Wilf’s career. ______________	Shown above are samples of 1961 vintage Transitron 2N338 grown junction transistors, of the type that were Wilf’s  first exposure to transistor technology. Making Silicon Transistors in 1960 at Transitron ______________ Go To Corrigan Oral History, Page 5
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