Maker Pro
Maker Pro

When was the BC107 introduced?

J

John B

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well the question is in the subject header. A friend is researching
information for a museum display about semiconductors and needs to know
when the first Silicon transistors were introduced. There seems to be
plenty of information about the historical Germanium semiconductors but
little about the early Silicon ones.

Perhaps Jim could help???
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well the question is in the subject header. A friend is researching
information for a museum display about semiconductors and needs to know
when the first Silicon transistors were introduced. There seems to be
plenty of information about the historical Germanium semiconductors but
little about the early Silicon ones.

Perhaps Jim could help???

http://www.pbs.org/transistor/science/events/silicont1.html


John
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Well the question is in the subject header. A friend is researching
information for a museum display about semiconductors and needs to know
when the first Silicon transistors were introduced. There seems to be
plenty of information about the historical Germanium semiconductors but
little about the early Silicon ones.

Perhaps Jim could help???

My datasheet has a 1973 date stamp but I am sure it is older.
 
J

John B

Jan 1, 1970
0
I don't know for sure. As a kid, around 1958-59, they were certainly
available for purchase, but I don't remember when they were first
available.

...Jim Thompson

Oh, just a youngster then ;-). I completed my first transistor radio
kit in 1955 (2 days after my 8th birthday) using an OC71 and an OC72.
It worked! Since we only lived 15 miles away from the BBC Home Service
long wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, it could hardly fail could it.

It was 50 years later (to the day) that I retired.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Oh, just a youngster then ;-). I completed my first transistor radio
kit in 1955 (2 days after my 8th birthday) using an OC71 and an OC72.
It worked! Since we only lived 15 miles away from the BBC Home Service
long wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, it could hardly fail could it.

It was 50 years later (to the day) that I retired.

In 1955, I was 15 years old ;-)

...Jim Thompson
 
I

Ian Bell

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Oh, just a youngster then ;-). I completed my first transistor radio
kit in 1955 (2 days after my 8th birthday) using an OC71 and an OC72.
It worked! Since we only lived 15 miles away from the BBC Home Service
long wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, it could hardly fail could it.

It was 50 years later (to the day) that I retired.

I remember the Practical Wireless series a little later (possibly ~1960 when
I was 10) that used a wooden base with wood screws and copper washers to
make connections. It started with a simple crystal set then added
transistors in ever more complex designs.

It was 40 years later that I retired ;-)

Ian
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Oh, just a youngster then ;-). I completed my first transistor radio
kit in 1955 (2 days after my 8th birthday) using an OC71 and an OC72.
It worked! Since we only lived 15 miles away from the BBC Home Service
long wave transmitter at Brookmans Park, it could hardly fail could it.

I can't compete then. My first one had a AF126. The next ones went retro
because transistors cost several Dollars a pop, a whole lot of money
back then, and tubes were virtually free. Lots of discarded TV sets
provided a large stash of those. That was when I realized that
transistors were kind of ok but tubes had a dynamic range from here to
the Klondike. Only when Fets such as ye olde P8000 (or lots of BF245s in
parallel) appeared did that situation really change but those were also
very expensive.

It was 50 years later (to the day) that I retired.

Nose will be to the grindstone for 1-2 more decade here.
 
P

Phil Allison

Jan 1, 1970
0
"John B"
Well the question is in the subject header.


** The Philips BC107,8,9 series became available in the mid to late 1960s.

However, these are NOT early silicon types.


A friend is researching
information for a museum display about semiconductors and needs to know
when the first Silicon transistors were introduced.


** Err - ever think of using Google ?

http://semiconductormuseum.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGallery_2N33X.htm

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?ArticleId=p050304

http://semiconductormuseum.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGallery_TI_900_Series.htm

http://semiconductormuseum.com/PhotoGallery/PhotoGallery_2N697.htm




....... Phil
 
M

Malcolm Moore

Jan 1, 1970
0
My datasheet has a 1973 date stamp but I am sure it is older.

The Philips Databook SC2 of Nov 77 has the BC107 to BC109 entry with
dates of
June 77 for page 1,
Nov 68 for pages 2 - 13 &
March 69 for page 14.

Their 1985 S3 Databook dates the last page (which seems identical) as
also Nov 68.

These dates probably only reflect when they wrote those datasheets
because the earliest germanium date in SC2 is only April 68 for the
AC125 & AC126. Other germanium devices have dates in the 70's.
 
P

Phil Allison

Jan 1, 1970
0
"Malcolm Moore"



** It sure is.

High school friends of mine were building tape head pre-amps with BC108s and
BC109s in 1968.

The devices were so cheap & popular, that at least one UK component shop
sold them to users by weight to save time counting them !!



........ Phil
 
J

John B

Jan 1, 1970
0
On 06/03/2007 Phil Allison wrote:

..
..
..
** Err - ever think of using Google ?
..
..
..

...... Phil

Hi Phil,

Yep, but it's not as much fun as posting here and then ducking behind
the fireguard is it. ;-)
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Phil said:
"Malcolm Moore"






** It sure is.

High school friends of mine were building tape head pre-amps with BC108s and
BC109s in 1968.

The devices were so cheap & popular, that at least one UK component shop
sold them to users by weight to save time counting them !!

In Germany you really had to watch it. Yeah, they'd also sell them cheap
or in bulk but a lot of times those must have come from a re-labeler.
Some were leaky, some had dismal beta, others plain didn't work at all.
These guys probably got a hold of product that had "fallen through the
cracks" in final QC. I learned the hard way that transistors scrapped
from partially transistorized TV sets (very hard to come by back then)
were the only way to get quality stuff, except for rich folks. Only the
tuners had transistors and it was a lot of work prying them out. But the
rewards was a couple of AF239 hotrods.

A genuine brand name version of almost any kind of transistor was about
4 Deutschmarks in the 70's. Each one was packaged in its own little
paper box. The situation might have been a bit better for the guys who
lived in larger cities.
 
J

Jim Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
In Germany you really had to watch it. Yeah, they'd also sell them cheap
or in bulk but a lot of times those must have come from a re-labeler.
Some were leaky, some had dismal beta, others plain didn't work at all.
These guys probably got a hold of product that had "fallen through the
cracks" in final QC. I learned the hard way that transistors scrapped
from partially transistorized TV sets (very hard to come by back then)
were the only way to get quality stuff, except for rich folks. Only the
tuners had transistors and it was a lot of work prying them out. But the
rewards was a couple of AF239 hotrods.

A genuine brand name version of almost any kind of transistor was about
4 Deutschmarks in the 70's. Each one was packaged in its own little
paper box. The situation might have been a bit better for the guys who
lived in larger cities.

Was it really that bad in Germany? By the late '60's I had
transistors coming out my ears... even built a 30W stereo by 1967 ;-)

...Jim Thompson
 
P

Phil Allison

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yep, but it's not as much fun as posting here and then ducking behind
the fireguard is it. ;-)


** OK - so we have another self confessed TROLL.

A right PITA pommy one.





........ Phil
 
J

John Larkin

Jan 1, 1970
0
I can't compete then. My first one had a AF126. The next ones went retro
because transistors cost several Dollars a pop, a whole lot of money
back then, and tubes were virtually free. Lots of discarded TV sets
provided a large stash of those. That was when I realized that
transistors were kind of ok but tubes had a dynamic range from here to
the Klondike. Only when Fets such as ye olde P8000 (or lots of BF245s in
parallel) appeared did that situation really change but those were also
very expensive.

My first job interview, about '64, I told the guy that I preferred
tubes, because they were free and hard to blow up. He sniffed "that
won't do" and threw me out. Next interview, I said the same thing, he
laughed, and he hired me. I designed about $150 million worth of stuff
for the second guy.

John
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Well the question is in the subject header. A friend is researching
information for a museum display about semiconductors and needs to know
when the first Silicon transistors were introduced. There seems to be
plenty of information about the historical Germanium semiconductors but
little about the early Silicon ones.

When I was a teenager they were pretty new. I started off on germanium. I recall
they used to cost 6s6d in old money (27p - but adjusting for inflation about £2
or $4 in today's money) from the hobbyist suppliers back then.

Late 60's I'd say.

Graham
 
E

Eeyore

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim said:
I don't know for sure. As a kid, around 1958-59, they were certainly
available for purchase, but I don't remember when they were first
available.

The Alzheimers is getting worse !

Graham
 
Top