experimental thin-film field effect transistor: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An experimental thin-film field effect transistor made by Paul K. Weimer (1914–2005) at RCA Laboratories in 1961. The transistor is formed on a glass plate mounted on a plastic base. Six threaded posts (three painted red on top) on each side of the transistor provide electrical contacts by means of tungsten wires attached to points on the circuit. (Most of the wires have detached from the circuit.) One taped label reads: "W-257", another partially obscured marking reads: "1 g [?] - m".

Reference: Weimer, Paul K. "The TFT a new thin-film transistor." Proceedings of the IRE 50, no. 6 (1962): 1462-1469.

This transistor was displayed in the exhibition Person To Person from 1984 to 1989. The exhibition label reads: "Planar Transistor / In the planar process, invented by Swiss physicist Jean Hoerni at Fairchild, many transistors were created on a single wafer of silicon. First the surface of the silicon was oxidized to form a protective and insulating coating. Then, in a series of steps, openings were etched in the oxide through which doping impurities could be introduced and electrical contacts made. At each step the surfaced was oxidized again. Separate transistors were then cut from the wafer. In 1959, Hoerni's electrical engineer Robert Noyce, adapted this process to produce groups of transistors connected into integrated circuits. / Thin-film field-effect transistor, 1961 / Designed by electrical engineer P. K. Weimer at RCA in a practical application of the planar process to transistor manufacture."

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1961
• maker: Radio Corporation of America
• Object Name: transistor
• Measurements: overall: 3/4 in x 2 in x 2 in; 1.905 cm x 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm
• ID Number: 1984.0120.06
• accession number: 1984.0120
• catalog number: 1984.0120.06
• Credit Line: from RCA - David Sarnoff Research Center
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.