Semiconductors and the Information Revolution

CHAPTER 3. Birth of the Transistor

Point Contacts and P-N Junctions

The post-war years were inevitably going to see fundamental change. Europe, Russia and Japan were in dire need of physical reconstruction, political institutions were poised for a major effort in an attempt to prevent any similar slide into armed conflict. The European Union was born, a socialist government was voted into power in England with a brief to introduce free social services, thereby rescuing the poorer sections of society from the fear of unemployment and the financial shock of ill health. German and Japanese military might was reigned in. Hope for a better life was widespread and it was natural that the application of technology to improved lifestyles should play an ...