Artifact Details

Title

IBM Chips - Close up of IBM Transistor

Catalog Number

102650349

Type

Still Image

Description

Black and white. There is a picture of a closeup of a chip. There is two pronglike structures that are attached to the chip itself. On the verso is written "FROM: IBM Corporation, Research Division, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 WORLD'S FASTEST SILICON TRANSISTOR: IBM scientists have fabricated the world's fastest silicon-based transistors, operating at 75 billion cycles per second, nearly twice as fast as the previous record. Shown here magnified 5,000 times is a top view of one of these transistors. Known as a Heterojunction Bipolor Transistor (HBT), it employs a mixture of silicon and germanium to obtain such high speeds. The rough-edged, raised areas in the photograph, seen from above, are the metal (aluminum) lines employed to transmit electrical impulses to and from the transistor. The transistor itself lies buried beneath the metal lines. The width of the transistor is approximately one hundreth that of a human hair. RD003 031490"

Publisher

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)

Identifying Numbers

Other number P4123

Dimensions

8 x 10 in.

Format

Photographic print

Category

Identification photograph; Publicity photograph

Subject

Computer industry--History; Computers--History; Electronic data processing--History

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015