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Documenting Over 30 Years of
Major Contributions by RCA to Transistor
Development
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The transistor was
invented by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs
in December 1947. Several major U.S. companies responded to this initial
work with large scale research and manufacturing programs which transformed
the early “lab curiosity” aspects of the transistor into a mature,
ever-evolving technology, responsible for billions of dollars in commerce and
providing the technological basis for the modern electronics and computer
industries. RCA was an early and substantial contributor to the
development of the transistor. This publication documents many of these
major RCA accomplishments. Interviews and correspondences with engineers
and scientists who were involved form the basis for this material. You’ll
also find photographs of prototype and early production units, as well as a
comprehensive coverage of early RCA transistor literature.
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This photo
shows one of the earliest RCA commercial transistors, a 2N32 point contact
germanium unit from 1953 – there is a similar junction unit shown in the
photo in the upper right, which has been taken from a 1953 RCA publication
extolling the virtues and future of this new technology.
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Biographies and Oral Histories
Actual
Interviews and Written Comments From Many of the Key Technical Contributors
to the RCA Early Transistor Program, Including:
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From
these early, historic “handmade” devices, RCA pioneered an impressive number
of semiconductor developments over the next three decades. It has been quite
a historic journey for the scientists and engineers at RCA, all the way from
the Harrison NJ pilot transistor production line in 1952 to the myriad of
devices now in use, including the 1802 Rad-Hardened" microprocessors
currently controlling the Galileo spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter. RCA
devices were also used in some of the first hearing aids, transistor radios,
television sets, computers, the Apollo program Lunar Excursion Module and the
International Space Station.
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