Semiconductor Devices

The semiconductor art began early in the nineteenth century. Gradual advances in materials, techniques, and understanding followed. The decisive event in creation of the modern semiconductor device field was the invention of the transistor in December, 1947 by Bardeen and Brattain. Understanding of minority carrier injection, invention of the junction diode and transistor, and major advances in materials and techniques then came in rapid sequence. In the last decade the semiconductor devices have grown prodigiously in variety and complexity and in speed, power, and reliability. Further growth will be shaped by the semiconductor materials and the constraints which they impose on speed, power, and impedance. The transistor and allied single-crystal p-n junction devices will probably be the key tools of electronic circuitry for many years.