Walter Brattain

Walter Brattain was an American physicist who co-invented the point-contact transistor at Bell Laboratories and shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.

John Bardeen: John Bardeen was an American physicist who co-invented the point-contact transistor and later developed the theory of superconductivity. Bardeen and Brattain collaborated on the transistor’s first successful demonstration.
Point-contact transistor: A transistor that uses two closely spaced metal contacts on a semiconductor to amplify or switch electrical signals. Brattain and Bardeen built and demonstrated this first working transistor in 1947.
Bell Laboratories: Bell Laboratories was the research organization of the Bell System, known for advances in telecommunications, physics, and computing. Brattain conducted the transistor research there as part of a team studying solid-state alternatives to vacuum tubes.
Junction transistor: A junction transistor is a semiconductor device built from adjoining regions with different electrical properties. Shockley’s junction design proved more practical for production than Brattain’s delicate point-contact device.
William Shockley: William Shockley was an American physicist who led semiconductor research at Bell Laboratories and invented the junction transistor. Shockley directed the research group and developed a distinct transistor design after the point-contact invention.
Semiconductor: A material whose electrical conductivity lies between that of a conductor and an insulator and can be controlled by impurities or fields. Brattain’s transistor experiments depended on controlling charge flow at a semiconductor surface.
Solid-state physics: Solid-state physics studies the physical properties of solids, especially their electronic, magnetic, and structural behavior. Brattain’s investigations of germanium surfaces belonged to the emerging study of solid-state electronics.
Integrated circuit: An integrated circuit combines multiple electronic components on a single semiconductor substrate. The transistor enabled miniaturized circuits that eventually integrated many components on one chip.
Mervin Kelly: Mervin Kelly was an American physicist and industrial executive who led Bell Laboratories during its postwar expansion. Kelly’s leadership supported the solid-state research program that produced the transistor.
Surface states: Surface states are electronic energy levels at a material’s boundary that can trap charge carriers. Bardeen and Brattain investigated surface states to explain why electric fields initially failed to control germanium.

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