More on the solid‐state amplifier and Dr. Lilienfeld

MAY 01, 1964

J. B. Johnson

In the February 1964 number of this journal, Virgil E. Bottom discusses three patents granted to the late J. E. Lilienfeld in the years 1930–1933 on a type of solid‐state amplifier invented by him in the latter half of the 1920’s. Attention is drawn by Dr. Bottom to similarity in operation of these amplifiers with that of the later transistor amplifiers. The reader is left with the conclusion that they are essentially the same, and with doubt as to whether the basic patents on the type‐A transistor or the p‐n Junction transistor were rightfully granted. Having familiarity with these Lilienfeld patents and having followed some of Dr. Lilienfeld’s other work, I may be able to add some constructive comments to the discussion.

References

1. J. Bardeen and W. H. Brattain, US patent 2 524 035, October 1950.
2. W. Shockley, US patent 2 569 347, September 25, 1951.
3. W. Shockley, IRE Proc. 40, 1365–1376, 1952,
A Unipolar Field Effect Transistor. US patent 2 744 970, May 8, 1956.
4. G. L. Pearson, Phys. Rev. 90, 336, 1953, A High Impedance Silicon Field Effect Transistor.
5. Shinya Miyalani and YasumasuSuzuki, J. Phys. Soc. (Japan)8, 680–681, 1953, Electrical Conductivity of Cuprous Sulfide.
6. For Cu2S, see tabulation by K. Lark‐Horovitz “The Present State of Physics”, F. S. Bracket, Ed., section on the New Electronics, pp. 75–76.
7. See, however, J. T. Wallmark, JEEE Spectrum 1, 103–191, March 1964, The Field‐Effect Transistor.
8. R. W. Wood, Phys. Rev. 5, 1–10, 1897, A New Form of Cathode Discharge and the Production of X‐Rays.
9. R. F. Earhart, Phil. Mag. 1, 147–59, 1901, The Sparking Distances Between Small Plates for Small Distances;
Karl Kinsley, Phil. Mag. 9, 693–708, 1905, Short Spark Discharges;
G. M. Hobbs, Phil. Mag. 10, 617–631, 1905, The Relation Between P‐D and Spark‐length for Small values of the Latter.
10. J. J. Thomson, Conduction of Electricity Through Gases, 2nd Ed., Cambridge, 1906, pp. 455–460.
11. R. A. Millikan and B. E. Shackleford, Phys. Rev. 15, 239–240, 1920, On the Possibility of Pulling Electrons from Metals by Powerful Electric Fields.
12. J. E. Lilienfeld, Verh. Sächs. Akad. Wiss., Leipzig, Ber. 72, 31–47, 1920, Electrical Conduction in an Extreme Vacuum.
13. But see W. P. Dyke, Scientific American, January 1964, pp. 108–118, Advances in Field Emission.
14. R. A. Millikan and C. F. Eyring, Phys. Rev. 27, 51–67, 1926, Laws Governing the Pulling Out of Metals by Intense Electrical Fields;
C. F. Eyring, S. S. Mackeown and R. A. Millikan, Phys. Rev. 31, 900–909, 1928, Field Currents from Points.
15. R. H. Fowler and L. Nordheim, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London), 119, 173–181, 1928, Electron Emission in Intense Fields.

More about the Authors

J. B. Johnson. Bell Telephone Laboratories.