British Pathe film of transistors being made at Newmarket,Suffolk. Not that far from where I live !
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=186
Transistors. 1958
- pre65
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#1 Transistors. 1958
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
- shane
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#4
A year after this was made, Europe's (and possibly the world's, I'm not sure) first purpose-built semiconductor factory opened in Swindon. Having failed to find a buyer, it will be closing at the end of this month, with 50 years worth of IP going to China.
#6
Sad isn't it.....shane wrote:A year after this was made, Europe's (and possibly the world's, I'm not sure) first purpose-built semiconductor factory opened in Swindon. Having failed to find a buyer, it will be closing at the end of this month, with 50 years worth of IP going to China.
- shane
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#7
Interesting that some basic principals haven't changed. At the beginning of the clip you can see a crystal being pulled from what I assume is molten germanium, about 3/4" in diameter and maybe 6" long. This is done by dipping a seed crystal in the pool and pulling it out slowly so that molten germanium solidifies as it's pulled out and a continuous crystal is formed. Exactly the same method is used to make silicon crystals today, the difference being that they are now about 12" in diameter, 10' long and weigh in at well over a ton! They are then sliced into disks about 1mm thick for chip manufacturing.
Couldn't find a picture of a 12" one, but here's an 8" to give you an idea
http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/e ... 6_1_2.html
Couldn't find a picture of a 12" one, but here's an 8" to give you an idea
http://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/e ... 6_1_2.html