1.1 Timetable and Key Achievements
3
Fig. 1.2 Circuit diagram
for a radio receiver with a
point-contact diode (TJ).
Adapted from [34]
1883
Ch. Fritts—first solar cell, based on an gold/selenium rectifier [27]. The efficiency was below 1%.
1901
J.C. Bose—point contact detector for electromagnetic waves based on galena (PbS) [33]. At the time,
the term semiconductor was not introduced yet and Bose speaks about ‘substances of a certain class (...)
presenting a decreasing resistance to the passage of the electric current with an increasing impressed
electromotive force’.
1906
G.W. Pickard—rectifier based on point contact (cat’s whisker) diode on silicon [34–36]. Erroneously,
the rectifying effect was attributed to a thermal effect, however, the drawing of the ‘thermo-junction’
(TJ in Fig. 1.2) developed into the circuit symbol for a diode (cmp. Fig. 21.63a).
1907
H.J. Round—discovery of electroluminescence investigating yellow and blue light emission from
SiC [37].
K. Bädeker—preparation of metal (e.g. Cd, Cu) oxides and sulfides and also CuI from metal layers
using a vapor phase transport method [38]
3 . CuI is reported transparent (∼ 200 nm thick films) with
a specific resistivity of ρ = 4.5 × 10
−2
cm, the first transparent conductor.
4 Also CdO (films of
thickness 100–200 nm) is reported to be highly conductive, ρ = 1.2 × 10
−3
cm, and orange-yellow
in color, the first reported TCO (transparent conductive oxide).
1909
K. Bädeker—discovery of doping. Controlled variation of the conductivity of CuI by dipping into
iodine solutions (e.g. in chloroform) of different concentrations [41].
1910
W.H. Eccles—negative differential resistance of contacts with galena (PbS), construction of crystal
oscillators
5 [45].
3 This work was conducted as Habilitation in the Physics Institute of Universität Leipzig. Bädeker became subsequently
professor in Jena and fell in WW I. His scientific contribution to semiconductor physics is discussed in [39, 40]
4 CuI is actually a p-type transparent conductor; at that time the positive sign of the Hall effect [41, 42] could not be
interpreted as hole conduction yet.
5 Historical remarks on Eccles’ contributions to radio technology can be found in [43, 44]
3
Fig. 1.2 Circuit diagram
for a radio receiver with a
point-contact diode (TJ).
Adapted from [34]
1883
Ch. Fritts—first solar cell, based on an gold/selenium rectifier [27]. The efficiency was below 1%.
1901
J.C. Bose—point contact detector for electromagnetic waves based on galena (PbS) [33]. At the time,
the term semiconductor was not introduced yet and Bose speaks about ‘substances of a certain class (...)
presenting a decreasing resistance to the passage of the electric current with an increasing impressed
electromotive force’.
1906
G.W. Pickard—rectifier based on point contact (cat’s whisker) diode on silicon [34–36]. Erroneously,
the rectifying effect was attributed to a thermal effect, however, the drawing of the ‘thermo-junction’
(TJ in Fig. 1.2) developed into the circuit symbol for a diode (cmp. Fig. 21.63a).
1907
H.J. Round—discovery of electroluminescence investigating yellow and blue light emission from
SiC [37].
K. Bädeker—preparation of metal (e.g. Cd, Cu) oxides and sulfides and also CuI from metal layers
using a vapor phase transport method [38]
3 . CuI is reported transparent (∼ 200 nm thick films) with
a specific resistivity of ρ = 4.5 × 10
−2
cm, the first transparent conductor.
4 Also CdO (films of
thickness 100–200 nm) is reported to be highly conductive, ρ = 1.2 × 10
−3
cm, and orange-yellow
in color, the first reported TCO (transparent conductive oxide).
1909
K. Bädeker—discovery of doping. Controlled variation of the conductivity of CuI by dipping into
iodine solutions (e.g. in chloroform) of different concentrations [41].
1910
W.H. Eccles—negative differential resistance of contacts with galena (PbS), construction of crystal
oscillators
5 [45].
3 This work was conducted as Habilitation in the Physics Institute of Universität Leipzig. Bädeker became subsequently
professor in Jena and fell in WW I. His scientific contribution to semiconductor physics is discussed in [39, 40]
4 CuI is actually a p-type transparent conductor; at that time the positive sign of the Hall effect [41, 42] could not be
interpreted as hole conduction yet.
5 Historical remarks on Eccles’ contributions to radio technology can be found in [43, 44]