Surface-barrier transistor

The surface-barrier transistor is a type of transistor developed by Philco in 1953 as an improvement to the alloy-junction transistor and the earlier point-contact transistor. Like the modern Schottky transistor, it offered much higher speed than earlier transistors and used metal–semiconductor junctions (instead of semiconductor–semiconductor junctions), but unlike the schottky transistor, both junctions were metal–semiconductor junctions.

Philco Surface Barrier transistor developed and produced in 1953

Production process

Philco used a patented process of applying two tiny electrochemical jet streams of liquid indium sulfate (electrolyte solution) on opposite sides of a thin strip of N-type germanium base material. This process would etch away and form circular well depressions on each side of the N-type germanium base material, until the germanium base material was ultra thin and having a thickness of approximately a few ten-thousandths of an inch. After the etching process was finished, the polarity applied to the electrolyte was reversed, resulting in metallic indium being electroplated into these etched circular well depressions, forming the transistor's emitter and collector electrodes.[1][2] The Philco surface-barrier transistor was the world's first high-frequency junction transistor, which was capable of obtaining frequencies up to 60 MHz. It was developed and produced at the Lansdale Tube Company-division of Philco Corporation.[3] Philco Corporation had produced a late 1950s production film about its surface-barrier transistor manufacturing processes and product developments that was titled, "Philco Transistors - The Tiny Giants Of The Future".

Transistor radios
Philco's Surface-Barrier transistor shown on Motor Life (Sept 1955) magazine cover, which was also used in Chrysler's all-transistor car radio.

The Mopar model 914HR, the world's first all-transistor car radio, was developed and produced by Chrysler and Philco in 1955. Chrysler offered this radio as an option in the fall of 1955 for its new line of Chrysler and Imperial cars. Philco was the manufacturer of these all-transistor car radios for the Chrysler Corporation, and had also used its surface-barrier transistors in the radio's circuit design.[4][5][6][7][8]

Commercial manufacturing license agreements
Sprague surface-barrier (SB100) transistor licensed by Philco Corporation

Starting in 1955, Philco had decided to sell commercial manufacturing license agreements with other large electronic semiconductor companies, which allowed them the right to produce and sell its high-frequency surface-barrier transistors. Sprague Electric Company was one of the first companies to purchase a license agreement from Philco in late 1955 and started to manufacture the surface-barrier transistors under its Sprague name, in early 1956. Another company to purchase a license agreement from Philco in early 1957, was Semiconductors Limited, a division of the British-based Plessey Company.[7][9][10] In 1959, General Transistor Corporation had also purchased a license agreement from Philco, to manufacture its complete line of high-speed transistors.[11]

Military satellites

In 1956, Philco had developed an "improved" higher-speed version of its original surface-barrier transistor, which was used in military applications and was called the surface-barrier diffused-base transistor (SBDT). Philco had used surface diffusion of a gaseous form of phosphorus atom particles, to penetrate the surface of the intrinsic semiconductor base material. The Philco SBDT transistor was capable of operating in the UHF range.[12][13] Philco's SBDT improved surface-barrier transistor, was used in the early prototype design of the 10-milliwatt Minitrack satellite transistorized (radio beacon) transmitter, for the United States Navy Vanguard I satellite project program.[14][15][16][17]

On January 31, 1958, the United States first artificial Earth satellite was launched by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Cape Canaveral in Florida, which was called Explorer 1, and was developed by the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The Explorer 1 satellite's payload, consisted of a low-power Microlock transistorized (radio beacon) 108.00 MHz transmitter, which was used for tracking and telemetry, and had consisted of a Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistor in its original circuitry designs.[18]

Transistorized computers
See also: Philco computers
Philco SB100 surface-barrier transistor advertisement

The Philco high-frequency surface-barrier transistor was also the first transistor that was suitable for high-speed computers. Philco developed and produced a miniature transistorized computer called the "Transac" (models C-1000 and C-1100), for the Navy's jet fighter planes in 1955. "Transac" stood for "Transistor Automatic Computer." They used Philco's transistors.[19][20][21][22]

In 1955, MIT's Lincoln Laboratory researchers started to design and build the first transistorized general purpose programmable 18-bit computer, called the "TX-0." It was an experimental computer, used to test transistor logic circuitry and large capacity magnetic-core memory, and was completed and operational in April 1956. The TX-0 computer's circuitry consisted of 3600 transistors and used the Philco L-5122 transistor in its design. MIT's Lincoln Laboratory commenced the design and construction of a large-scale transistorized programmable 36-bit general purpose computer in 1957, which was called the "TX-2." It was operational in 1958, and utilized 22,000 transistors that included Philco surface-barrier transistors.[23][24][25][26][27]

In June 1955, Philco was awarded a contract with the National Security Agency to build a transistorized scientific computer, which was named the "SOLO". The SOLO transistorized computer was the world's first completely transistorized computer, and was later commercially marketed by Philco as the Transac S-1000 scientific computer model. Also, later in 1955, Philco contracted with the United States Navy David Taylor Basin Research Unit to build a larger-scale fully transistorized computer using its surface-barrier transistor technology, named the CPXQ model. It was later commercially marketed by Philco as the Transac S-2000 electronic data processing computer model.[28][29]

During 1955–56, Ferranti Canada was in charge of miniaturizing the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR (Digital Automatic Tracking and Resolving) seaborne tactical data defense computer. Ferranti Canada had used Philco's SB-100 surface barrier transistors in its experimental transistorized prototype circuitry designs.[30][31]

In late 1956, Ferranti Canada had built the world's first experimental transistorized computer mail-sorting system (Route Reference Computer). It was delivered to the Canadian Postal System in January 1957 and was capable of sorting 36,000 letters an hour. This experimental computerized mail-sorter used Philco SB-100 transistors.[32][33]

Philco's Transac models S-1000 scientific computer and S-2000 electronic data processing computer were the world's first commercially produced large-scale all-transistor computers, which were introduced in 1957 and used surface-barrier transistors.[20][34][35][36]

In June 1957, the Burroughs Corporation transistorized ground guidance computer (AN/GSQ-33) was built and installed at Cape Canaveral missile test range, for the United States Air Force's Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile defense system (ICBM). This system was designed by Burroughs engineer Issac Auerbach and used Philco's surface-barrier transistors.[37]

Univac TRANSTEC "test" transistorized computer with plug-in logic circuit board using Philco surface-barrier transistors.

In 1956–57, the Remington Rand St. Paul Univac division of Sperry Rand Corporation designed and built a transistorized "test" computer for the United States Air Force, which was called "TRANSTEC". It was designed by Univac's St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and used Philco's surface-barrier transistors in its design. This was Univac's first computer designed with transistors and was used to test transistor logic circuits and also its speed and reliability, compared to magnetic amplifier (MAGSTEC) and vacuum tube circuit computers. After Univac had demonstrated the TRANSTEC computer to the United States Air Force, it was awarded a contract to build a transistorized ground guidance (Athena) ICBM defense computer.[38]

In 1957, Univac built a transistorized ground guidance Athena computer, for the United States Air Force's Titan 1 intercontinental ballistic missile defense system (ICBM). It was designed by Univac's St. Paul engineer Seymour Cray, and used Philco's surface-barrier transistors.[39][40]

In March 1958, Univac built and delivered a transistorized 30-bit AN/USQ-17 computer, for the United States Navy Tactical Data System (NTDS). It was designed by Seymour Cray starting in January 1957, and used Philco's surface-barrier transistors.[41] [42]

Univac LARC transistorized supercomputer memory-read amplifier circuit board using Philco's surface-barrier transistors-1960

Philco's surface-barrier transistors were also used in the design of the first transistorized supercomputer, the UNIVAC LARC (Livermore Advanced Research Computer). It was delivered to the Atomic Energy Commission / University of California's Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in May 1960. A second Univac LARC transistorized supercomputer, using Philco's surface-barrier transistor technology, was contracted and delivered in October 1960 to the United States Navy David Taylor Basin Research Unit.[28][43][44][45][46]

References
  1. "Philco Claims Its Transistor Outperforms Others Now In Use". Wall Street Journal. 4 December 1953. p. 4.
  2. "Electroplated Transistors Announced". Electronics magazine. January 1954.
  3. Bradley, W.E. (December 1953). "The Surface-Barrier Transistor: Part I-Principles of the Surface-Barrier Transistor". Proceedings of the IRE. 41 (12): 1702–6. doi:10.1109/JRPROC.1953.274351. S2CID 51652314.
  4. "Chrysler Promises Car Radio With Transistors Instead of Tubes in '56". Wall Street Journal. 28 April 1955. p. 1.
  5. "Chrysler Announces New Transistor Radio". Los Angeles Times. 8 May 1955. p. A20.
  6. Philco TechRep Division Bulletin, May–June 1955, Volume 5 Number 3, page 28
  7. Walter P. Chrysler Museum, http://www.chryslergroupllc.com/company/Heritage/Pages/Chrysler-Heritage-1950.aspx
  8. Hirsh, Rick. "Philco's All-Transistor Mopar Car Radio". Allpar.com. Retrieved 2015-02-14.
  9. Sprague Log, Volume 18 No.7, March 1956, Annual report information for year ending 1955
  10. "Philco, Plessey Form New Firm to Produce New Transistors in England". Wall Street Journal. 3 May 1957.
  11. Philco News Company Magazine, October 1959 issue, Pg 2
  12. A High Frequency Transistor Analysis by James K. Keihner, 1956
  13. "Mechanized Process Mass Produces UHF Transistors". Electrical Engineering Magazine. October 1956. p. 960.
  14. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Unclassified Project Vanguard Report No.11 Progress Through November 15, 1956, Report dated: January 03, 1956, page 22
  15. U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Unclassified Project Vanguard Report No.12 Progress Through December 15, 1956, Report dated: January 16, 1957, page 14
  16. Pacific Stars and Stripes Newspaper, September 08, 1956, p.6
  17. 1956 Year-End Philco Annual Report, Research and Engineering, p.5
  18. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Unclassified Technical Report No. 32-31, Juno Final Report Volume 1, September 6, 1960, p.22
  19. Chandler, Alfred Dupont Jr. (2009). Inventing the Electronic Century. Harvard University Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780674029392., Page 40
  20. Rosen, Saul (June 1991). PHILCO: Some Recollections of the PHILCO TRANSAC S-2000 (Technical report). Purdue University. p. 2. CSD-TR-91-051.
  21. The Philco Serviceman, September 1955, Volume 23 No.9
  22. "Radio Men Told Of Rapid Counter". Wall Street Journal. 25 March 1955.
  23. "1956". Timeline of Computer History. Computer History Museum.
  24. Mckensie, John A. (June 1999) [1974]. TX-0 History (PDF) (Technical report). MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics. hdl:1721.1/4132. RLE-TR-627.
  25. "The TX-0 Computer". Interview with Ken Olsen. Division of Information Technology & Society, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History. September 28–29, 1988.
  26. Lincoln Laboratory MIT Report, The Lincoln TX-2 Computer Development by Wesley A. Clark, April 1, 1957
  27. "The TX-2 Computer and Sketchpad". Lincoln Laboratory Journal. 19 (1): 82. 2012.
  28. Rosen, Saul (July 1968). Electronic Computers — A Historical Survey in Print (Report). Purdue University Department.
  29. NSA Unclassified article report, "Influence of U.S. Cryptologic Organizations on the Digital Computer Industry, Author: Samuel S. Snyder, Volume 7 No.4 and Volume 8 No.2
  30. "DATAR — First Digital Computer/Communications System for Anti-Submarine Warfare". IEEE Global History Network.
  31. Vardalas, John N. (2001). "3. Complexity and the Military Imperative to Miniaturize". The Computer Revolution in Canada: Building National Technological Competence. MIT Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780262264983.
  32. Vardalas 2001, pp. 115–7
  33. Ball, Norman R.; Vardalas, John N. (1994). "8. Birth of the Electronics Division". Ferranti-Packard: Pioneers in Canadian Electrical Manufacturing. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 240. ISBN 9780773563810.
  34. Digital Computer Newsletter, Office of Naval Research (unclassified), April 1957, pages 7–8
  35. "All Transistor Computer Put on Market by Philco". Chicago Tribune. 23 March 1958. p. A11.
  36. Philco News Company Magazine, April 1957, Pg.2
  37. George Gray (March 1999). "Some Burroughs Transistor Computers". Unisys History Newsletter. 3 (1). Archived from the original on October 1, 2016.
  38. Boslaugh, David L. (2003). When Computers Went To Sea: The Digitization of the United States Navy. Wiley. pp. 113–5. ISBN 9780471472209.
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  40. The Athena Computer-A Reliability Report, Authors: L.W. Reid, G.A. Raymond, 1958, p.22
  41. Boslaugh, David L. (2021). "5. Testing The Naval Tactical Data System". No Damned Computer Can Tell Me What To Do! The Story of the Naval Tactical Data System, NTDS. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  42. Boslaugh 2021, 4. Building the U.S. Navy's First Seagoing Digital System
  43. Article: The Remington Rand Univac LARC, Author: Charles Cole, Website: www.computer-history.info
  44. "Univac Begins 5 Truck Move Across Nation". Chicago Daily Tribune. 5 May 1960. p. D4.
  45. Office of Navy Research-Digital Computer Newsletter, Volume 13 Nos.1 and 2, Jan. 1961, Unclassified-information released to general public
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