TRANSISTOR
MUSEUM Historic Transistor Photo
Gallery |
||||||||
|
|
|||||||
HISTORIC
NOTES This was the first planar silicon transistor and its introduction at the 1960 WESCON by Fairchild was a truly historic event in semiconductor history. The planar technology was developed by Dr. Jean Hoerni at Fairchild and provided the basis for modern passivated surface silicon structures – this led to highly reliable transistors and shortly thereafter to the first Fairchild integrated circuits, an industry first. The high reliability performance of the planar structure (advertised as 5 million transistor hours by Fairchild at the launch of the 2N1613) was due to a protective layer of silicon oxide that covered the transistor surface. This same layer of silicon oxide also provided a stable, insulating structure ideally enabling the photolithographic process for integrated circuit construction. The 2N1613 was a very successful product, and the patented planar process provided substantial competitive advantage to Fairchild for several years. Other semiconductor companies began offering 2N1613 types by 1963. RCA, for example, offered a 2N1613 for $7.01 in the 1963 Arrow Electronics catalogue. |
||||||||
Copyright
© 2004 by Jack Ward http://www.transistormuseum.com |