The Origins of Diffused-Silicon Technology at Bell Labs, 1954-55

摘要

Silicon-based transistor and integrated circuit technology has grown so large and become so important that it is difficult to recognize how it all began. In spite of the obvious differences between germanium and silicon, it was not evident during the early 1950s in what form and substance the transistor would prevail. What was the need for silicon-at the time such an intractable, peculiar new technology? In 1954-55, however, the requirement for low-leakage switching devices at Bell Telephone Laboratories led directly to the exploration of impurity-diffusion and aluminum-metallization technology to make silicon transistors and p-n-p-n switches. This technology, a more or less ideal thin-layer technology that can be referenced from a single surface, led to the 1955 discovery of the protective silicon-dioxide layer, oxide masking and patterning, and ultimately to the silicon integrated circuit.