TRANSISTOR MUSEUM™ Historic Transistor Photo Gallery
Transistor Size (9/16”H X 3/4”OD) Top View – No Markings or Packaging	MOTOROLA POWER PROTOTYPE TYPE Germanium PNP Alloy Junction Power Transistor (5 Watt) USAGE Prototype Audio Power Output Amplifier DATE INTRODUCED 1954/55 CASE STYLES Blue Painted Metal AVAILABILITY Very Rare (Prototype)
HISTORIC NOTES Motorola became a major semiconductor manufacturer in the late 1950s. The primary product that contributed to Motorola’s initial success was the germanium audio power transistor. There was a huge market for this type of device, and that was the automotive radio market. Transistor technology offered many advantages to the vacuum tube auto radios of the day and Motorola, already a major provider of radios, was ideally suited to move into this new high growth market. The transistor shown above is a sample of a prototype germanium power transistor built at Motorola’s Phoenix Semiconductor products Division in the mid 1950s. Technical details and photos of this style of prototype are provided in a 1955 Motorola technical publication, “THE TRANSISTOR - A Reliable Circuit Component”. By mid 1956, this prototype work led directly to the commercial introduction of the 2N176 transistor by Motorola. The 2N176 was an immediate sales success, with over 1,000,000 units produced within the first year of manufacture. The prototype shown above represents an experimental stage of development and provides a useful historical link to the 2N176 and related germanium power devices.
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