Locator: 48832CHIPS.
This blog needs to be completed to include links and background; right now, it's for my benefit as I continue to read John Orton's book.
Development of the transistor from John Orton's book, c. 2004.
So many advances were serendipitous, fortuitous, or lucky.
Tag: serendipity.
Examples:
First: early on, Brattain attacked a condensation problem by substituting an alcohol for water ….pure serendipity … p. 52
Second: in washing the sample before attempting to make measurements, Brattain inadvertently dissolved the oxide film and ended up with not one but two metal contact directly on the Ge surface. Again, pure serendipity. That was even more bizarre than Brattain's first serendipitous breakthrough .. again, the result was favourable -- by applying a positive voltage to the Au dot and negative to the point contact the observed voltage amplification at frequencies up to 10kHz! From p. 52.
Third: selecting Ge early on in the process was entirely fortuitous. Begins bottom of page 53 and top of page 54.
Fourth: The Metal Oxide Silicon (MOS) transistor was yet another product of the fertile ground cultivated by Bell Telephone Laboratories and, once again, it involved just a small element of good fortune. The critical step in its invention was the (accidental!) discovery that the Si surface can be oxidized to from a highly stable insulating film which possesses excellent interface qualities (i.e. the interface between the oxide layer and the underlying silicon).
