Matthias Falter

Matthias Falter (born January 17, 1908 in Aachen , † August 2, 1985 in Dresden ) was a German physicist , university professor and national prize winner of the GDR . He developed basic technologies for semiconductor production and presented the first germanium transistor designed and manufactured in the GDR at the Leipzig trade fair in 1954 .

Life

Matthias Falter, son of accountant John Falter wondered 1926 at a grammar school in Cologne the High School , and was until 1932 a student at Felten & Guilleaume in Cologne-Mülheim , RWE in Grevenbroich and Osram in Berlin . In 1932 he began studying mathematics , physics and chemistry at the universities of Berlin and Cologne , which he completed in 1935 with a doctorate in the field of high-frequency technology .

Afterwards Falter worked in the central laboratory of Siemens & Halske AG Berlin, where he dealt with carrier frequency telephony . From 1936 he was a technical physicist at Hochohm GmbH , which was later taken over by Hermann Klasing KG wire and insulation factory . Two years later he became laboratory manager and in 1941 technical manager, under whom studies of precision film and micro-resistances were carried out. In 1945 Matthias Falter became head of the resistors and semiconductors department at AEG - Kabelwerk Oberspree .

After the Second World War , until 1951, he worked several times in the Soviet Union , where he worked as a physicist, among other things for the development and production of precision resistors. After his return, Matthias Falter declined a job offer from Siemens and instead became technical director in 1952 at VEB Dralowid / plant for communication technology components , the forerunner of the "Carl von Ossietzky" plant for communication technology components in Teltow . Until 1959 he worked there as chief designer and head of the research department and was significantly involved in basic techniques for semiconductor production. A working group under his leadership began the laboratory production of germanium tip transistors . On behalf of his operations manager and his research collective, Matthias Falter presented the first germanium transistor developed in the GDR at the Leipzig trade fair in 1954.

In 1956, Falter was also appointed lecturer for semiconductor technology at the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Rostock, as well as for diode and transistor technology at the Dresden University of Technology , which later became the Technical University (TU). From 1958 to 1970 he was honorary professor for electrical engineering at the TU Dresden.

In 1960 Falter became director of the Institute for Semiconductor Technology in Teltow, responsible for the development and transfer of semiconductor components to series production at VEB's semiconductor plant in Frankfurt (Oder) , where he was also the technical director . When transferring the research results, there were problems for which the responsible ministry blamed Matthias Falter and replaced him as FE Director. Until 1964 he was employed in the department for molecular electronics in Dresden, later in the electronics trade in Berlin and in the institute for electronic components as department head for research prognosis, which was transferred to the VEB Application Center Berlin (AEB) in 1978 .

Honors

• 1956 National Prize of the GDR
• 1959 Patriotic Order of Merit (GDR)
• 1960 Golden badge of honor of the Chamber of Technology (GDR)
• In January 2017, the VDE , together with the VDI Working Group on Technology History , held a lecture entitled: Matthias Falter - Pioneer of Semiconductor Technology in the GDR .

Publications (selection)

• Wavelength, attenuation and voltage measurements on the parallel wire system with low inherent attenuation in the case of ultrashort waves . Cologne 1937 (dissertation).
• The transistor, a component of semiconductor technology, its physics and technology . In: Newer findings in electrical engineering . Berlin 1954.
• Diode and transistor technology: An insight into the physics and technology of directional semiconductors with special application possibilities . Verlag Technik, Berlin 1958.

literature

• Ralf Pulla:  Matthias Falter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Frank Dittmann: Physics in the Cold War ; one chapter is called Matthias Falter and the early semiconductor technology in the GDR ; Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, ISBN 978-3-658-01049-2 .
• Physics in the Cold War at www.booksgoogle.de, pages 114–123; accessed on December 25, 2018.

Web links

• Literature by and about Matthias Falter in the catalog of the German National Library
• VDE events: Matthias Falter - pioneer of semiconductor technology in the GDR

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Heinz Schubert: Beginnings of microelectronics In: Der Funkamateur (GDR magazine), Berlin.
2. ↑ cf. Dr. Schneider: Concept for the formation of the field of science organization , in: Report to the director of operations of the WFB, Berlin 1971, page 12, industrial salon Schöneweide
3. ↑ VDE event overview , accessed on December 25, 2018.