Gordon Teal

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Gordon Kidd Teal (born January 10, 1907 in Dallas , † January 7, 2003 ) was an American chemist, known for contributions to semiconductor manufacture and the development of the bipolar transistor .

Life

Teal received a bachelor's degree in math and physics from Baylor University in 1927 . He then went to Brown University , where he completed a master's degree in physical-inorganic chemistry in 1928. In 1931 he received his Ph.D. by Brown University for his work on the electrochemical properties of germanium , which he prepared parallel to his work at Bell Laboratories (from 1930). He was only part-time at Bell Labs during the Great Depression , during which time he worked with Harold Urey at Columbia University on research on heavy water, for example .

He is known for producing the first high-purity germanium single crystals (1951, based on the old Czochralski process ) for transistor production (with engineer John Little ), a milestone in early transistor development. After the development of the tip transistor (1948) by William B. Shockley and others, Teal and Morgan Sparks at Bell Labs showed how bipolar transistors could be made from one crystal by modifying the process of producing germanium single crystals (with doping of the melt) (npn junction transistor ). The patent in this grown-junction transistors (English .; dt. " Pulled transistor ") filed Shockley in 1948, but they could only be realized in 1950 by Morgan Sparks Thanks to the agreement reached by Teal and colleagues advances in crystal growth practically.

William Shockley later described the development of high-purity germanium (and soon after silicon) single crystals at Bell Labs, which was initially driven by Teal with little support, as probably the most important scientific development in the early years in the semiconductor field after the announcement of the transistor .

In 1953 he moved to Texas Instruments (TI), a small company at the time, but based in his home town of Dallas. He built the central laboratory there. In 1954 he developed the first commercial silicon transistor (presented at an IRE conference in Dayton (Ohio) in May 1954) and in 1957 a chemical process for the production of high-purity silicon. Both of these contributed significantly to the company's success. In 1963 he became International Technical Director at TI and temporarily lived in France, England and Italy. In 1965 he left TI for a few years and became director of the Materials Research Institute of the National Bureau of Standards . From 1968 until his retirement in 1972 he was again at TI as Vice President and Chief Scientist for Corporate Development .

In 1968 Teal received the IEEE Medal of Honor and in 1984 the IEEE Centennial Medal. In 1970 he received the American Chemical Society's ACS Award for Creative Invention . He was a Fellow of the IEEE , the National Academy of Engineering , the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemists, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science .

He was married to Lana Smith and had three sons. He and his wife served on the board of directors of the Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art .

literature

  • Frederik Nebeker: Finding the Right Material: Gordon Teal as Inventor and Manager. In: Sparks of Genius: Portraits of Electrical Engineering Excellence. IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, 1994, pp. 93-126.
  • Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson : Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information Age. Norton, New York 1997, p. 474.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life and career data according to American Men and Women of Science. Thomson Gale 2004.
  2. ^ IEEE Oral History Interview with Andrew Goldstein 1991
  3. ^ GK Teal, JB Little: Growth of Germanium Single Crystals. In: Physical Review. 78, No. 5, 1950 p. 647. Part of Proceedings of the American Physical Society. Minutes of the Meeting at Oak Ridge, March 16-18, 1950 . In: Physical Review . tape 78 , no. 5 , June 1950, p. 637-647 , doi : 10.1103 / PhysRev.78.637 .
  4. ↑ 1951 - First Grown-Junction Transistors Fabricated , Computer History Museum
  5. ^ GK Teal, M. Sparks, E. Buehler: Growth of Germanium Single Crystals Containing pn Junctions . In: Physical Review . tape 81 , no. 4 , February 15, 1951, p. 637-637 , doi : 10.1103 / PhysRev.81.637 .
  6. ↑ Shockley: there was probably no more important scientific development in the semiconductor field in the early days following the announcement of the transistor, than the development of high-quality, single crystals of germanium at Bell Telephone Laboratories , Carl FJ Overhage (Ed.) The Age of Electronics: Lincoln Laboratories Decennial Lectures , McGraw Hill 1962, Chapter 7, Transistors, p. 148, quoted from Gordon Teal, IEEE Oral History Interview 1991
  7. ↑ The first silicon transistor was likely demonstrated by Morris Tanenbaum at Bell Labs in January 1954 , but Bell Labs did not patent it and kept the discovery a secret. For the history of the silicon transistor, see Silicon Transistor . IEEE, accessed January 24, 2014.
  8. ↑ 1954 - Silicon Transistors Offer Superior Operating Characteristics, Computer History Museum . After that, even Bell Labs was not interested in silicon transistors.
personal data
SURNAME Teal, Gordon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Teal, Gordon Kidd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Dallas , Texas
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 2003