[HN Gopher] How the First Transistor Worked
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       How the First Transistor Worked
        
       Author : Amorymeltzer
       Score  : 46 points
       Date   : 2022-11-20 17:20 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
        
       | Taniwha wrote:
       | Of course FETs were first patented in 1925, then 1934, then again
       | in 1945
        
       | Amorymeltzer wrote:
       | I've been reading Chris Miller's _Chip War_ lately, highly
       | recommend it: https://bookshop.org/p/books/chip-war-the-fight-
       | for-the-worl...
       | 
       | A really great dive into the history and players leading to where
       | we are today. He was on the Odd Lots podcast in late October to
       | talk about the latest legislation, that's also worth a listen.
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | If nothing else this article appears to explain to me why the
       | control point is called the "base": in the original point-contact
       | transistors the emitter and collector poked into the top; the
       | control was on the bottom -- the base -- of the germanium slab.
       | 
       | This is weird when you see the canonical transistor schematic
       | symbol, but if you rotate it 90o anticlockwise the base will be
       | at the base of the symbol and make sense.
       | 
       | Perhaps everybody else knows this already, but it was _aha!_ to
       | me.
        
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       (page generated 2022-11-20 23:00 UTC)