TRANSISTOR MUSEUM™ Historic Transistor Photo Gallery
Transistor Size (3/8”L X 1/8”W X 1/2”H) No Model Number or Date Code Indicated   Handwritten “C”ollector and “E”mitter Leads See Page 2 for More SA001 Photos	CENTRALAB TYPE SA001 TYPE Germanium PNP Fused Junction Transistor Assembly USAGE Mass Production Transistor Demonstrator   DATE INTRODUCED Mid 1950s CASE STYLES White Ceramic AVAILABILITY Very Rare (Prototype)
HISTORIC NOTES In 1952, Western Electric held an industry symposium on the current techniques of transistor manufacturing technology.  This seminar was attended by companies eager to enter the field and willing to pay the required $25,000 licensing fee.  One of the companies attending this seminar was Centralab, a division of Globe-Union.  The firm’s representative to the transistor symposium was Jack Kilby, who left Centralab in 1958 and moved on to TI and the Nobel Prize for the development of the integrated circuit. (See “Crystal Fire”, by Riordon and Hoddeson).  Centralab had been active since the mid 1940s in developing miniaturized electronic assemblies using printed circuit technology with ceramic substrates. (See U.S. Army historical link).  The device shown in photos above represents a unique Centralab technology from the mid 1950s, which combines an embedded germanium alloy junction transistor with a fused ceramic substrate, with the goal of developing a miniature, highly manufacturable semiconductor circuit.   This device was developed and patented by Jack Kilby while at Centralab. (See 1956 patent 2,272,001).  It is likely that only a very few of these pre-IC semiconductor assemblies were manufactured and distributed. (See SA001 Photo Gallery Page 2 for more information about this unique and historic device).
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