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The cover of Crystal Fire

Crystal Fire

Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson

From Bell Labs’ first transistor to silicon chips, Crystal Fire shows how theory, experiments, materials, and competing teams turned a fragile amplifier into an industry.

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13 parts, about 31 minutes to read.

At a glance

Author
Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson
Parts
13 parts
Reading time
about 31 minutes
The whole book
Also to read in full

What the summary covers

  1. A solid state amplifier at Bell Labs2 min
  2. Crystal detectors before transistors1 min
  3. Quantum ideas meet real crystals2 min
  4. Why an industrial laboratory studied solids3 min
  5. Training and a failed amplifier2 min
  6. Silicon, impurities, and wartime demands3 min
  7. The surface problem and a fragile breakthrough3 min
  8. Two transistor designs and a contest over credit3 min
  9. Making a reliable transistor3 min
  10. The technology spreads beyond Bell3 min
  11. Shockley’s California laboratory and Fairchild2 min
  12. One circuit in one crystal3 min
  13. What the invention required1 min

Read it alongside

  • Goes deeperChip War

    Riordan and Hoddeson show how crystal processing helped create an industry. Miller explains how foundries opened chip design to more firms while yield learning and shared capital costs concentrated manufacturing.

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