There are many books from the 1950's and 1960's that deal with early transistors, including point-contact types. My interest in these is primarily in any pages of commercial device data that they contain, although the best source of device information is the original manufacturer's data sheet. I use such information for dating early types. Here are some of the books in my possession, in date order. I give the year of first publication and other reference details, the chapter headings to reveal the kind of material in each book, and my comments on each book's style and usefulness. Please if you wish further details of any of these.
YEAR | REFERENCE | CHAPTERS | COMMENTS |
1950 |
"Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors" William Shockley D. Van Nostrand Company Inc. 558 pages |
1- THE BULK PROPERTIES OF SEMICONDUCTORS 2 - THE TRANSISTOR AS A CIRCUIT ELEMENT 3 - QUANTITATIVE STUDIES OF INJECTION OF HOLES AND ELECTRONS 4 - ON THE PHYSICAL THEORY OF TRANSISTORS 5 - QUANTUM STATES, ENERGY BANDS, AND BRILLOUIN ZONES 6 - VELOCITIES AND CURRENTS FOR ELECTRONS IN CRYSTALS 7 - ELECTRONS AND HOLES IN ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS 8 - INTRODUCTORY THEORY OF CONDUCTIVITY AND HALL EFFECT 9 - DISTRIBUTIONS OF QUANTUM STATES IN ENERGY 10 - THE THEORY OF TRANSITION PROBABILITIES FOR HOLES AND ELECTRONS |
The canonical text that first explained transistors to the world. However, this is really a book on theoretical physics: there are in fact no circuit diagrams in it, and certainly nothing about commercial devices. I have the 1956 edition. |
1952 |
"Astounding SCIENCE FICTION" Street and Smith Publications. |
13 page article by 'J.J.Coupling' entitled 'Transistors' | This SF publication, edited by the legendary John W. Campbell Jnr., usually contained at least one factual scientific article per issue. The June 1952 issue has one by the amusingly named J.J.Coupling (perhaps Campbell himself?) on the transistor - in fact Astounding had previously published another when the device was first announced. The 1952 article contains a significant amount of data on the behaviour of Bell Labs devices, and includes a data table for many of them. Quite astonishing in view of the early state of the field. |
1953 |
"Principles of Transistor Circuits" Richard F. Shea (editor) John Wiley & Sons Inc. (New York), Chapman and Hall Ltd. (London) 535 pages |
1- SEMICONDUCTOR PRINCIPLES 2 - FORMS, TYPES, AND CHARACTERISTICS OF TRANSISTORS 3 - TRANSISTORS AS LOW-FREQUENCY CIRCUIT ELEMENTS 4 - BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE AMPLIFIER STAGE 5 - JUNCTION TRANSISTOR MULTISTAGE AMPLIFIERS 6 - BIAS STABILIZATION 7 - POWER AMPLIFIERS 8 - DIRECT-CURRENT AMPLIFIERS 9 - TRANSISTORS AS HIGH-FREQUENCY CIRCUIT ELEMENTS 10 - BASIC PRINCIPLES OF HIGH-FREQUENCY OPERATION 11- HIGH-FREQUENCY CIRCUIT DESIGN 12 - VIDEO AMPLIFIERS 13 - OSCILLATORS 14 - CIRCUIT DESIGN BY DUALITY 15 - MATRIX METHODS OF CIRCUIT ANALYSIS 16 - FEEDBACK AMPLIFIERS 17 - TRANSIENT ANALYSIS 18 - LARGE-SIGNAL OPERATION 19 - COMPUTER CIRCUITS 20 - NOISE IN TRANSISTORS 21 - ASSOCIATED SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 22 - SMALL-SIGNAL PARAMETER MEASUREMENT |
An extremely thorough early text by nine co-authors from the General Electric Company Electronics Laboratory at Syracuse, New York. Essentially theoretical, with some examples shown of GEC devices. I have the fifth printing, from August 1955. |
1954 |
B.R.Bettridge "Transistors and Crystal Diodes" London: Norman Price (Publishers) Ltd 72 pages |
I SEMI-CONDUCTORS II CRYSTAL DIODES AND HOW THEY WORK III TRANSISTORS AND HOW THEY WORK IV GERMANIUM DIODES IN TV CIRCUITS V MISCELLANEOUS CIRCUITS FOR GERMANIUM DIODES VI TRANSISTOR CIRCUITRY VII PRACTICAL RADIO CIRCUITS FOR POINT-CONTACT TRANSISTORS VIII MISCELLANEOUS POINT-CONTACT TRANSISTOR CIRCUITS IX JUNCTION TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS X JUNCTION TRANSISTOR CIRCUITS XI TESTING OF DIODES AND TRANSISTORS XII THE TRANSISTOR AND ITS EQUIVALENT NETWORK XIII WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? |
A short softback by an engineer at the General Electric Co. Ltd. in the UK. The book contains a 2-page table of commercial diode and transistor data, mostly British but including some US 1N and 2N types. I have the 1955 edition. A source of data on the very earliest UK types. |
1955 |
Arthur W. Lo, Richard O. Endres, Jakob Zawels, Fred D. Waldhauer, Chung-Chih Cheng "Transistor Electronics" Prentice Hall Inc. 521 pages |
1. PHYSICAL CONCEPTS 2. CHARACTERISTICS, PARAMETERS, EQUIVALENT CIRCUITS 3. BASIC AMPLIFIER CONFIGURATIONS 4. DIRECT-CURRENT BIAS CIRCUITS 5. LOW-FREQUENCY AMPLIFIERS 6. POWER AMPLIFIERS 7. HIGH-FREQUENCY OPERATION 8. PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION OF TRANSISTOR PARAMETERS 9. HIGH-FREQUENCY AMPLIFIERS 10. OSCILLATORS 11. MODULATION AND DEMODULATION 12. PULSE CIRCUITS |
An early hardback by a team from RCA Laboratories and RCA Electronic Products Division. The book is essentially theoretical, but nevertheless aimed at producing practical circuits. No data at all on commercial devices, not even RCA types. |
1955 |
Abraham Coblenz and Harry L. Owens "Transistors: Theory and Application" McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. 313 pages |
1. A SHORT HISTORY OF TRANSISTORS 2. HOLES AND THE TRANSISTOR 3. A GLIMPSE OF QUANTUM MECHANICS 4. THE ELECTRON 5. LONATURE OF SEMICONDUCTORS 6. POINT-CONTACT TRANSISTORS 7. JUNCTION TRANSISTORS 8. ELECTRONICS OF TRANSISTORS 9. SMALL-SIGNAL PARAMETERS 10. GROUNDED EMITTER AND GROUNDED COLLECTOR CONNECTIONS 11. THEORY OF TRANSISTOR SWITCHING CIRCUITS 12. CASCADING OF TRANSISTORS 13. MANUFACTURING PROCESSES 14. SILICON 15. SPECIAL TOPICS |
A hardback by two engineers from the Signal Corps, one of whom had moved to work for Transistor Products Inc. This book is primarily theoretical, with few real circuit diagrams. However, it contains two fascinating photographs, each showing a number of commercial and prototype devices. |
1955 |
Louis E. Garner Jr. "Transistors" A Coyne Publication 105 pages |
1. INTRODUCTION 2. UNDERSTANDING TRANSISTOR ACTION 3. TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS 4. TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIER CIRCUITS 5. TRANSISTOR OSCILLATOR CIRCUITS 6. SPECIAL TRANSISTOR CIRCUITS 7. TRANSISTOR COMPONENTS 8. THE CARE AND SERVICING OF TRANSISTORS 9. PRACTICAL TRANSISTOR CIRCUITS 10. APPENDIX - REFERENCE DATA |
This small softback is the first publication I possess by a legendary figure of transistor popularisation. It contains a basic theoretical grounding but no complete circuits. The appendix consists of several pages of American device data. |
1956 |
W. D. Bevitt "Transistors Handbook" Prentice-Hall Inc.. 410 pages |
1. Introduction 2. Fundamental Definitions and Concepts 3. Point-contact Transistors 4. Junction Transistors 5. Power Transistors 6. Measurements of Transfer Characteristics 7. Methods of Analysis of Transistors and Transistor Circuits 8. Tetrode and Pentode Transistors 9. Photodiodes and Phototransistors 10. Some Practical Considerations in Transistor Circuits 11. Noise and Temperature Effects in Transistors 12. Transistor Audio-Frequency Amplifiers and Power Amplifiers 13. Transistor Radio-Frequency Amplifiers 14. Transistor Audio-Frequency Oscillators 15. Transistor Radio-Frequency Oscillators 16. Amplitude Modulation and Detection with Transistors 17. Frequency Modulation and Demodulation with Transistors 18. Transistor Radio and Television Receivers 19. Transistor Relaxation Oscillators 20. Computer Applications of Transistors 21. Miscellaneous Applications of Transistors |
A hardback written by an engineer from CBS-Hytron. This is a relatively practical book (compared to most of the older ones listed here), and even includes some complete circuit diagrams. It discusses early types from various manufacturers and includes a two-page table of commercially available types. Interesting because of the chapter on tetrode and pentode transistors. |
1956 |
LLoyd P. Hunter (editor) "Handbook of Semiconductor Electronics" McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.. 463 pages approx |
Part I. Physics of Transistors, Diodes and Photocells Section 1. Transistor Characteristics Section 2. Electronic Conduction in Solids Section 3. Rectification in Solids Section 4. Transistor Action Section 5. Photoconductivity and Photovoltaic Cells Part II. Technology of Transistors, Diodes and Photocells Section 6. Preparation of Semiconductor Materials Section 7. Methods of Preparing PN Junctions Section 8. Metal-semiconductor Contacts Section 9. Encapsulation Section 10. Device Design Considerations Part III Circuit Design and Application Section 11. Low Frequency Amplifiers Section 12. High Frequency and Video Amplifiers Section 13. Directly Coupled Amplifiers Section 14. Transistor Oscillators Section 15. Transistor Switching Circuits Section 16. Circuits using Special Semiconductor Devices Part IV. Reference Model Section 17. Graphical Analysis of non-linear Circuits Section 18. Matrix Methods of Circuit Analysis Section 19. Measurement of Semiconductor Device Parameters Section 20. Measurement of Material Parameters |
A hardback written by many different IBM employees. Primarily theoretical, it does contain a few photographs of early types from various manufacturers. |
1956 |
Milton S. Kiver "Transistors in Radio, Television, and Electronics" McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.. 424 pages |
1. Iintroduction to Modern Electron Theory 2. point-contact and Junction Transistors 3. Transistor Characteristics 4. Transistor Amplifiers 5. Transistor Oscillators 6. Transistor Radio Receivers 7. Transistors in Television Receivers 8. Transistors in Electronic Circuits 9. Additional Transistor Developments 10. Servicing Transistor Circuits 11. Transistor Amplifier Design Transistor Data Table |
A practical transistor circuit hardback from the editor of "Electrical Design News". The book concentrates on actual working circuits, showing component values. Several pages of data on commercial devices are found at the end. |
1956 |
H.E.Marrows "Transistor Engineering Reference Handbook" John F. Rider Publisher Inc.. 250 pages approx. |
Section I - General Survey of Transistors Section II - Reference Data on Commercial Transistors Section III - Reference Data on Commercial Transistor components and Test Sets Section IV - Reference Data on Commercial Applications of Transistors Section V - Manufacturers Directory |
A large-format hardback that is primarily a set of data sheets on a large number of transistors from many US manufacturers. A primary source of data for many obsure early US types. |
1957 |
John M. Carroll (editor). "Transistor Circuits and Applications" McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. 283 pages |
1 - PRINCIPLES OF CIRCUIT DESIGN 2 - DESIGN OF TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS 3 - TRANSISTOR OSCILLATORS 4 - DESIGN OF TRANSISTOR PULSE CIRCUITS 5 - BROADCAST AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT APPLICATIONS 6 - MILITARY AND COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT 7 - COMPUTERS AND SERVOMECHANISMS 8 - INDUSTRIAL, SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL DEVICES |
A large-format hardback comprising about 100 articles reprinted from 'ELECTRONICS' magazine. Largely practical, with many complete circuits, it starts with extensive tables of available US transistors, originally published in January 1956. |
1957 |
Louis E. Garner Jr. "Transistor Circuit Handbook" A Coyne Publication 410 pages |
PART I - LABORATORY PRACTICE PART II - BASIC CIRCUITS PART III - CIRCUIT APPLICATIONS PART IV - REFERENCE DATA |
A comprehensive hardback by this legendary figure of transistor popularisation. It contains many examples of circuits, as well as several pages of American device data and a very extensive bibliography. |
1959 |
E.N.Bradley "British Transistor Manual" London: Norman Price (Publishers) Ltd 222 pages |
1 OBSOLETE TRANSISTORS 2 POINT CONTACT GERMANIUM TRANSISTORS 3 GERMANIUM JUNCTION R.F. TRANSISTORS 4 GERMANIUM JUNCTION I.F. TRANSISTORS 5 GERMANIUM JUNCTION A.F. TRANSISTORS 6 GERMANIUM JUNCTION POWER TRANSISTORS 7 GERMANIUM JUNCTION SPECIAL PURPOSE TRANSISTORS 8 PHOTOTRANSISTOR 9 SILICON TRANSISTORS |
This softback is unusual in being purely a transistor data book, with no information on circuit theory. The book contains device data for the following British manufacturers: British Thomson-Houston Ltd, The General Electric Co. Ltd., Hivac Ltd., Mullard Ltd., Newmarket Transistor Co. Ltd., Semiconductors Ltd., Siemens Ediswan Swan Ltd., Standard Telephones & Cables Ltd., and Texas Instruments Ltd. A primary source for data on early British transistors. |
1978 |
Ernest Braun and Stuart MacDonald "Revolution in Miniature" Cambridge University Press 231 pages |
1 An innovation based on science 2 Genesis 3 Science after the Second World War 4 The Bell Laboratories 5 The transistor 6 A new industry 7 The pace of progress 8 The integrated circuit 9 The American semiconductor industry 10 International diffusion of semiconductor technology 11 Reflections on an electronic age |
An academic study of the early history of semiconductor development. This book contains a wealth of information and an enormous number of references to other publications and to information obtained from the pioneers. It contains no data on commercial devices. An important reference for those who want detailed historical information. |
1981 |
Lillian H. Hoddeson "The Discovery of the Point-Contact Transistor" Dept. of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 76 pages |
1 SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND AND INSTITUTIONAL SETTING 2 STEPS TO THE INVENTION OF THE POINT-CONTACT TRANSISTOR 3 THE TRANSISTOR |
A softback University monograph by the co-author of 'Crystal Fire', which describes the events at Bell Labs leading up to the discovery of the transistor. Purely factual, and with many references. |
1997 |
Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson "Crystal Fire" W,W.Norton and Company 352 pages |
1 DAWN OF AN AGE 2 BORN WITH THE CENTURY 3 THE REVOLUTION WITHIN 4 INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SCIENCE 5 THE PHYSICS OF DIRT 6 THE FOURTH COLUMN 7 POINT OF ENTRY 8 MINORITY VIEWS 9 THE DAUGHTER OF INVENTION 10 SPREADING THE FLAMES 11 CALIFORNIA DREAMING 12 THE MONOLITHIC IDEA |
This is the definitive account of what happened at Bell Labs, written after the three original Nobel Prize winners had died. This account does not have the whitewashed 'mom and apple pie' flavour (what a hideous expression) of the officially Bell-sanctioned versions of events. Instead it has a rather twee, gee-whiz journalistic style, typified by the melodramatic but uninformative chapter headings, which I can only assume comes from Riordan, in view of Hoddeson's previous extremely dry publication on the subject (see above). Nevertheless, this is the book to read to find out about the personalities involved, and their clashes of style and judgement. |