The Ultimate Transistor Timeline

The transistor’s amazing evolution from point contacts to quantum tunnels

2 min read
A chart showing the timeline of when a transistor was invented and when it was commercialized.
IEEE Spectrum
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Even as the initial sales receipts for the first transistors to hit the market were being tallied up in 1948, the next generation of transistors had already been invented (see “The First Transistor and How it Worked.”) Since then, engineers have reinvented the transistor over and over again, raiding condensed-matter physics for anything that might offer even the possibility of turning a small signal into a larger one.


This article is part of our special report on the 75th anniversary of the invention of the transistor.

A chart showing the timeline of when a transistor was invented and when it was commercialized.IEEE Spectrum

But physics is one thing; mass production is another. This timeline shows the time elapsed between the invention of several transistor types and the year they became commercially available. To be honest, finding the latter set of dates was often a murky business, and we welcome corrections. But it’s clear that the initial breakneck pace of innovation seems to have slowed from 1970 to 2000, likely because these were the golden years for Moore’s Law, when scaling down the dimensions of the existing metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) led to computers that doubled in speed every couple of years for the same money. Then, when the inevitable end of this exponential improvement loomed on the horizon, a renaissance in transistor invention seems to have begun and continues to this day.

This article appears in the December 2022 print issue.

The Transistor at 75

The Transistor at 75

The past, present, and future of the modern world’s most important invention

How the First Transistor Worked

Even its inventors didn’t fully understand the point-contact transistor

The Ultimate Transistor Timeline

The transistor’s amazing evolution from point contacts to quantum tunnels

The State of the Transistor in 3 Charts

In 75 years, it’s become tiny, mighty, ubiquitous, and just plain weird

3D-Stacked CMOS Takes Moore’s Law to New Heights

When transistors can’t get any smaller, the only direction is up

The Transistor of 2047: Expert Predictions

What will the device be like on its 100th anniversary?

The Future of the Transistor Is Our Future

Nothing but better devices can tackle humanity’s growing challenges

John Bardeen’s Terrific Transistorized Music Box

This simple gadget showed off the magic of the first transistor

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The Conversation (2)
Kiet Le
Kiet Le06 Dec, 2023
INDV

The transistors change the world

Ashok Deobhakta
Ashok Deobhakta02 Jan, 2023
SM

Great to learn about the long years of continued journey by a Transistor!