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More
on Nuvistors
RCA was a key player in two
unique electronic technologies in the 1950s and 1960s – germanium
transistors and Nuvistors. Second
only to Bell Labs/Western Electric in early transistor patents, RCA was
very active in basic research and early commercialization of germanium
transistors. Beginning in 1953, RCA
was selling alloy junction and point contact germanium transistors – the
2N33 shown in the photo to the right is a point contact unit from
1953. RCA was also one of the
premier vacuum tube manufacturers and continued major research and
production in this field, even as semiconductor devices began to supercede
tubes in overall performance. In
1959, RCA pioneered the Nuvistor vacuum tube type, which can be seen as one
of the last major successful tube technologies. Shown on the right is an RCA 6CW4 Nuvistor (next to the 2N33 transistor for size
comparison). Shown in the lower
photo are the packages from these two devices. It is interesting to note that only 10 years (Late 1940s to
late 1950s) separated the pioneering work at RCA on these two unique
technologies.
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Mendelson
Oral History, Page 7
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