SemiconductorNEWS                                                                            Vol. 9 (1)                                                                                      January-March 2000

               MILESTONES
                           in
                Semiconductor Science and Technology

MATERIALS
Year
 Discovery/Innovation Pioneers/Inventors Place/Institution Reference
1250 Arsenic (As) first Isolated  Albertus Magnus    
1669 Phosphorus (P) discovered  H. Brandt Hamburg, Germany  
1772 Nitrogen (N) discovered D. Rutherford Edinburgh, Scotland  
1808 Boron (B) discovered Sir Humphrey Davy

Gay-Lussac and L. J. Thenard

 London, U. K.

Paris, France

  
1817 Selenium (Se) discovered J. J. Berzelius Stockholm, Sweden  
1824 Silicon (Si) discovered J. J. Berzelius Stockholm, Sweden  
1825 Aluminum (Al) discovered H. C. Oersted Copenhagen, Denmark  
1863 Indium (In) discovered F. Reich and H. Richter Freiberg, Germany  
1875 Gallium (Ga) discovered P. Lecoq de Boisbaudran  Paris, France  
1886 Germanium (Ge) discovered Clemens A. Winkler Freiberg, Germany J. Für Practische Chemie, 34, 177 (1886)
1891 Boron Phosphide (BP) synthesized M. Besson   Comp. Rend. 113, 78 (1891)
1907 Aluminum Nitride (AlN) synthesized F. Fichtes   Z. anorg. chem., 54, 322 (1907)
1910 Indium Nitride (InN) synthesized Fischer and Schroter   Ber. duet. Chem. Ges. 43, 1465 (1910)
1910 Indium Phosphide (InP) synthesized A. Theil and H. Koelsch   Z. anorg. Chem., 66, 319 (1910)
1922 Aluminum Arsenide (AlAs) synthesized Q. A. Mansuri   J. Chem. Soc. 121, 2272 (1922)
1932 Gallium Nitride (GaN) synthesized W. C. Johnson, J. B. Parsons and 

M. C. Crew

   J. Phys. Chem. 36, 2651 (1932)
1950 Ge single crystal growth G. K. Teal and J. B. Little Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 78, 647 (1950)
1952 Si single crystal growth G. K. Teal, M. Sparks and 

E. Buehlers

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Proc. IRE. 40, 906 (1952)
1951

1953

 Indium Antimonide (InSb) 

- first ingot

- single crystal

 H. Welker

R. Gremmelmaier and O. Madelung

 Germany

Germany

 Z. Naturforsch. 8a, 333 (1953)
1953 Semiconducting Arsenides

Indium Arsenide (InAs)

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

 F. Gans et al   Compt. Rend. 237, 310 (1953)
1954 Gallium Phosphide (GaP)

(semiconducting properties)

 O. G. Folberth and F. Oswald   Z. Naturforsch. 94, 1050 (1954)
1956 Cadmium Selenide (CdSe) single crystal D. M. Heinz and E. Banks   J. Chem. Phys. 24, 391 (1956)
1958  Cadmium Sulphide (CdS) single crystal W. E. Medealf and R. H. Fahriq The Eagle-Picher Research Lab. U.S.A. J. Electrochem. Soc. 105, 719 (1958)
1959 Zinc Sulphide (ZnS) crystal 

Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) crystal 

 A. G. Fischer General Electric Company, Ohio U.S.A.  J. Electrochem. Soc. 106, 838 (1959)
  Diamond      
1952 Natural semiconducting diamond J. F. H. Custers   Physica 18, 489 (1952)
1953 High pressure synthesis of diamond   ASEA, Sweden Unpublished
1955 High pressure synthesis of diamond   General Electric (GE), U.S.A. Nature
1962 Synthetic semiconducting diamond C. M. Huggins and P. Cannon General Electric (GE) Research Lab, U.S.A. Nature, 194, 829 (1962)
1976 CVD Diamond films on nondiamond substrates B. V. Spitzyn, L. L. Bouliov and

B. V. Derjaguin

 Institute of Physical Chemistry, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow J. Cryst. Growth (1981)
1982 CVD Diamond films at subatmospheric pressure N. Setaka et al NIRIM, Tsukuba, Japan  
PHENOMENA/THEORIES
Year
 Discovery/Innovation Pioneers/Inventors Place/Institution Reference
1833 Negative temperature coefficient of resistance in Silver Sulfide (AgS) M. Faraday

 

 England Experimental Researches in Electricity, series IV, 433 (1833)

Beibl. Ann. Phys. 31, 25 (1834)
1839 Photovoltaic effect E. Becquerel   Compt. Rend. 9, 561 (1839)
1873 Photoconductivity in Selenium (Se) W. Smith   J. Soc. Telegraph Engrs, 2, 31 (1873)
1876 Photovoltaic effect in Selenium (Se) W. G. Adams and R. E. Day England Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A 25, 113 (1876)
1897 Discovery of Electron J. J. Thomson Cavendish Lab, Cambridge, U.K.  Phil. Mag. 44, 293 (1897)
1907 Discovery of electroluminescence - blue light emission from Silicon Carbide (SiC) H. J. Round   Electron World 19, 309 (1907)
1911 Semiconductor (Halbleiter) - terminology first introduced  J. Königsberger and J. Weiss Germany Ann. Phys. 35, 1 (1911)
1924 Detailed study of radiative recombination in Silicon Carbide (SiC)  O. V. Lossev
 
 

 

 Telgrafia i Telefonia 18, 61 (1923)

Wireless World and Radio Rev., 271, 93 (1924) 
1930 Photovoltaic effect in Cu2O W. Schottky Siemens Lab, Germany Z. Physik 31, 139 (1930)
1930 Defect’ semiconductors 

+RH – Oxidized Compounds (deficiency

of metal)

Excess’ Semiconductors

-RH – Reduced Compounds (excess of

metal) 

 C. Wagner
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

   Z. Chem. Phys. B 11, 163 (1930)
 
 

Z. Chem. Phys. B 22, 195 (1933)
1931 Transport theory of semiconductors based on systematic investigation A. H. Wilson  England & Leipzig, Germany Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. A 133, 458 (1931).
1931 Zener tunneling C. Zener   Proc. R. Soc. London A 130, 499 (1931) 
1932 Surface (Tamm) states I. Tamm Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, USSR Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 1, 733 (1932)
1936 Exciton J. Frenkel Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, USSR Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 9, 158 (1936)
1936 A.C. electroluminesence in ZnS G. Destriau France J. Chimie Phys. 33, 587 (1936)
1937 Photoconductivity (Alkali Halides)  R. W. Pohl Göttingen, Germany Proc. Phys. Soc. 43, 3 (1937)
1938 Model of rectification in Cu2O B. Davydov Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, USSR C. R. (Dokl.) Acad. Sci. USS, 20, 283 (1938)
1938 Schottky Barrier Theory 

Metal – Semiconductor Rectifier theory

 W. Schottky

N. F. Mott 

 Siemens Lab, Germany. 

Bristol University, U.K.

 Naturwissenschaften, 26, 843 (1938)

Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 34, 568 (1938) 
1946 Photovoltaic effect in Ge S. Benzer Purdue University, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 72, 1267 (1947)
1952 III-V semiconductivity demonstrated H. Welker Germany Z. Naturforsch. 7a, 744 (1952)
1952 Shockley-Read-Hall theory R. N. Hall General Electric (GE) Research Lab, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 87, 387 (1952)
    W. Shockley and W. T. Read Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 87, 835 (1952)
1952 Ge and Si radiative recombination  J. R. Haynes and H. B. Briggs Bell Labs, U.S.A. Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., 27, 14 (1952)
1954 Ge radiative recombination  W.van Roosbroeck and 

W. Shockley

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 94, 1558 (1954)
1958 Electroabsorption (Franz-Keldysh effect) W. Franz   Z. Naturforsch, 13a, 484 (1958)
    L. V. Keldysh   Soviet Phys. JETP, 34, 788 (1958)
1961 Ridley-Watkins-Hilsum mechanism B. K. Ridley and T. B. Watkins   Proc. Phys. Soc. London, 78,293 (1961)
-62   C. Hilsum   Proc. IRE, 50, 185 (1962)
1963 Gunn effect  J. B. Gunn    Solid State Commun. 1, 88 (1963) 
1962 GaAs radiative recombination R. J. Keyes and T. M. Quist   Proc. IRE, 50, 1822 (1962)
1969 Superlattice 

– idea

 L. Esaki and R. Tsu IBM, U.S.A. IBM Research, RC 2418, March 1969 
1970 – realization  GaAs/GaAsP structure A. E. Blakeslee, C. F. Aiotta    IBM J. Res. Devel. 14, 686 (1970)
1972 GaAs/AlGaAs structure R. Tsu and L. Esaki   Proc. 11th Int. Conf. Phys. Semiconductors, Warsaw, Poland (1972) p.431
1971 Blue light emission from GaN (MIS diode) J. I. Pankove et al RCA Lab, Princeton, U.S.A. RCA Review 32, 383 (1971)

J. Lum. 5, 34 (1972)
         
1974

1978

1983

 Hydrogen passivation of semiconductors 

– Ge

– a-Si

– Si

 E. E. Haller and W. L. Hansen

J. I. Pankove et al

C. T. Sah et al

J. I. Pankove et al

 Univ. of California, Berkeley

RCA Lab, Princeton, U.S.A.

Univ. Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign

RCA Lab, Princeton, U.S.A.

 Solid Stat. Commun. 15, 687 (1974)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 32, 812 (1978)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 43, 204 (1983)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 51, 2224 (1983)
1980 Quantum Hall Effect (QHE) Klaus von Klitzing et al High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Grenoble, France  Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 494 (1980)
1982
 
 

1983

 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE)

- discovery 

- theory

 D. C. Tsui, H. L. Stormer and 

A. C. Gossard

R. B. Laughlin

 Bell Labs, U.S.A.

Lawrence Livermore National Lab, U. S. A.

 Phys. Rev. Lett. 48, 1559 (1982)

Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 1395 (1983)
1989 Composite Fermion J. K. Jain SUNY, Stony Brook Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 199 (1989)
1990 Porous Silicon  L. Canham Royal Signals & Radar Estab., U.K. Appl. Phys. Lett. 57, 1046 (1990)
TECHNIQUES
1879 Hall effect E. H. Hall  Harvard University, U.S.A. Am. J. Math. 2, 287 (1879). 
1907 First systematic use of Hall effect – Si, Se, Te shown to be semiconductors J. KØ nigsberger Germany Jb. Radioakt 4, 158 (1907)

Jb. Radioakt 11, 84 (1914)
1909 First systematic use of Hall effect on CuI K. Bädeker Germany Phys. Z. 29, 506 (1909)
1918 Crystal Pulling Technique J. Czochralski Poland Z. Physik. Chem., 92, 219 (1918)
1925 Hall effect used to show Ge as semiconductor E. Merrit   Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Wash. 11, 743 (1925)
1951 Haynes-Shockley experiment J. R. Haynes and W. Shockley Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 81, 935 (1951)
1952 Zone Refining (Ge) W. G. Pfann Bell Labs, U.S.A. Trans AIME 194, 747, 861 (1952)

J. Metals 4, 747, 861 (1952)
1953 Float Zone (Si) P. H. Keck and M. J. E. Golay Signal Corps Engg. Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 89, 1297 (1953)
1957 First homoepitaxial growth of Ge and Si (CVD) N. N. Sheftal et al   Bull. Acad Sci. USSR, Phys, Ser. 21, 140 (1957)
1958 van der Pauw Method L. van der Pauw Philips Res. Lab, Netherlands Philips Res. Rep. 13, 1 (1958)
1960 Planar Process J. A. Hoerni   IRE Electron Devices Meet., Washington, D.C. (1960)
1960 Si/Si(111) Epitaxial film with controlled thickness and resistance H. C. Theuerer et al. Bell Labs, U.S.A. J. Electronchem Soc., 107, 29 (1960)

J. Electronchem Soc., 108, 649 (1961)
1960 Ge/GaAs hetroepitaxial film  J. C. Marinace    IBM J. Res., 4, 248 (1960) 
1969

-72

 MOCVD (GaAs) – initial studies H. M. Manasevit and W. I. Simpson

M. Inoue and K. Asahi

 U.S.A.

Japan

 J. Electrochem. Soc. 116, 1725 (1969)

Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 11, 919 (1972)
1971 Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) A. Y. Cho Bell Labs, U.S.A. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 8, S31 (1971)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 19, 467 (1971)
1974 Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) D. V. Lang Bell Labs, U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 45, 3023 (1974)
1978 Modulation Doping R. Dingle, H. L. StØ rmer 

A. C. Gossard and W. Wiegmann 

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 33, 665 (1978)
1982 Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) G. Binnig, H. Rohrer, Ch. Gerber, 

and E. Weibel 

 IBM, Zurich Appl. Phys. Lett. 40, 178 (1982)
1986 Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) G. Binnig, C. F. Quate and 

Ch. Gerber

 Stanford University, California

IBM, California

 Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 930 (1986)
APPLICATIONS/DEVICES
1874 Metal–Semiconductor Rectifier 

(Cat’s Whisker)

 F. Braun  Germany Ann. Phys. Chem., 153, 556 (1874)
1883 First Selenium Rectifier

(for low frequency a.c. applications)

 C. E. Fritts New York, U.S.A. Amer. J. Sci. 26, 465 (1883)
1904 High frequency a.c. detector for radio waves J. C. Bose    U.S. Patent 775,840 (1904).
1927 Point Contact Rectifier (Cu and Cu2O)

(used in battery chargers, wireless sets etc.)

 L. O. Grondahl and P. H. Geiger

 

 Germany Trans. Amer. Inst. Elect. Engrs. 46, 357 (1927)
1927 Point Contact Rectifier (Cu and Cu2O)

(used in battery chargers, wireless sets etc.)

 L. O. Grondahl and P. H. Geiger

 

 Germany Trans. Amer. Inst. Elect. Engrs. 46, 357 (1927)
1930 MOSFET – proposed J. E. Lilienfeld U.S.A. US Patent 1,747,175 (1930)
1960 – fabricated D. Kahng and M. M. Atalla   IRE Solid-State Devices Res. Conf., Pittsburgh, Pa., (1960)
1942 Ge ‘blocking’ diode detectors for radar 

(Ge instead of PbS used previously)

 K. Lark-Horovitz et al  Purdue University, U.S.A. U.S. Department of Defence Project

NDRC Report 14-585 (1946) 
1946 Thermistor K. Lark-Horovitz et al Purdue University, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 69, 258 (1946)
1948

1950

 Point Contact Transistor

Junction Transistor (BJT) – theory

– realization 

 John Bardeen, Walter Brattain William Shockley

William Shockley 

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 74, 230 (1948) 

Bell Syst. Tech. J., 28, 435 (1949), 

Phys. Rev. 83, 151 (1951)
1950 Alloy diode R. N. Hall and W. C. Dunlap General Electric (GE) Research Lab, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. 80, 467 (1950)
1952 JFET – proposed  W. Shockley Bell Labs, U.S.A. Proc. IRE, 40, 1365 (1952)
1953 – fabricated G. C. Dacey and I. M. Ross   Proc. IRE, 41, 970 (1953)
1954 First Si pn-Junction Solar Cell  D. M. Chapin, C. S. Fuller and 

G. L. Pearson

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. J. Appl. Phys. 25, 676 (1954)
1955 GaAs Photocell R. Gremmelmaier   Z. Naturforsch. 10a, 501 (1955)
1957 Tunnel Junction Leo Esaki Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Ltd, Japan Phys. Rev. 109, 603 (1958)
1958 First Intigrated Circuit (IC) fabricated J. C. Kilby U.S.A. Electron Devices ED-23, 664 (1976)

U. S. Patent 3,138,743 (1959)
1962 GaAs LED J. I. Pankove and J. E. Berkeyheiser RCA Lab. Princeton,

U.S.A.

 Proc. IRE, 50, 1976(1962)
    J. I. Pankove and M. J. Massoulie   Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 7, 88 (1962)
1962 GaAs laser R. N. Hall et al.

M. I. Nathan et al.

T. M. Quist et al.

 General Electric (GE) 

Research Lab, U.S.A.

IBM, U.S.A.

MIT, U.S.A.

 Phys. Rev. Lett. 9, 366 (1962)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 1, 62(1962)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 1, 91 (1962)
1962 Visible (red) laser action in GaAs1-xPx N. Holonyak Jr. and S. F. Bevacqua General Electric Company U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1, 82 (1962)
1963 Heterojunction laser – proposed H. Kroemer   Proc. IEEE 51, 1782 (1963)
    Zh. I. Alferov and R. F. Kazarinov Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, USSR Inventor’s Certificate No.181737 (1963)
1967 – fabricated Zh. I. Alferov Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, USSR Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn., 1, 436 (1967)
1963

1964

 Red emitting GaP visible LED J. W. Allen et al

H. G. Grimmeiss and H. J. Scholz

 Philips Res. Lab, Aachen, Germany Solid St. Electron. 6, 95 (1963)

Phys. Lett. 8, 233 (1964)
1964 CdS:Te visible LED A. C. Eten and J. H. Haanstra Philips Research Labs, The Netherlands Phys. Lett. 11, 97 (1964)
1965 GaP:N efficient green emission D. G. Thomas, J. J. Hopfield and 

C. J. Frosch

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 15, 857 (1965)
1966 MESFET – proposed C. A. Mead   Proc. IEEE, 54, 307 (1966)
1967 – fabricated W. W. Hooper and W. I. Lehrer   Proc. IEEE, 55, 1237 (1967)
1970 Room temperature CW semiconductor laser I. Hayashi, M. B. Panish, P. W. Foy

and S. Sumski

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 17, 109 (1970)
1970 Charge Coupled Semiconductor Device (CCD) W. S. Boyle and G.E. Smith Bell Labs, U.S.A. Bell Syst.Tech. J., 49, 587 (1970)
1971 Blue light emission from GaN (MIS diode) J. I. Pankove et al RCA Lab, Princeton U.S.A. RCA Review 32, 383 (1971)

J. Lum. 5, 34 (1972)
1974 Quantum Well R. Dingle, W. Wiegmann and 

C. H. Henry

 Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 33, 827 (1974)
1976 Bulk semiconductor optical modulator G. E. Stillman   Appl. Phys. Lett. 28, 544 (1976)
1975

1976

1976

 Amorphous Silicon (a-Si)

– n and p-doping

– Schottky diode Solar Cell

– pn-junction Solar Cell

 W. E. Spear et al

D. E. Carlson aned C. R. Wronski W. E. Spear et al

 Dundee Univ., Scotland

Bell Labs, U.S.A.

Dundee Univ., Scotland

 Appl. Phys. Lett. 17, 1193 (1975)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 28, 671 (1976)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 28, 105 (1976)
1978 Multi-quantum Well (MQW) laser R. D. Dupuis, P. D. Dapkus,

N. Holonyak, Jr., E. A. Rezek and 

R. Chin

 Rockwell Int., California

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U.S.A.

 Appl. Phys. Lett. 32, 295 (1978)
1980 High-Electron-Mobility Transistor (HEMT) T. Mimura et al Fujitsu Labs. Ltd, Japan Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 19, L225 (1980)
1984 QW electroabsorption modulator T. H. Wood Bell Labs, U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 44, 16 (1984)
1985 LPE-AlGaAs red LED (Candela Class) Nishizawa et al Tokyo University, Japan J. Appl. Phys. 57, 2210 (1985)
1985 Self-organized Quantum Dots L. Goldstein et al CNET, France Appl. Phys. Lett. 47, 1099 (1985)
1987 Coulomb Blockade/ Single Electron Transistor  T. A. Fulton and G. J. Dolan Bell Labs, U.S.A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 109 (1987)
1988 Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSEL) Iga et al Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 24, 1845 (1988)
1990 Organic semiconductor LEDs J. H. Burroughes et al Cavendish Lab. Cambridge, U.K. Nature 347, 539 (1990)
1991 ZnSe blue laser M. A. Haase et al 3M Company, Minnesota, U.S.A. Appl. Phys. Lett. 59, 1272 (1991)
1993 GaN blue LED  S. Nakamura Nichia Chemical Ind. Ltd, Japan Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 1687 (1994)
1994 Quantum Cascade Laser J. Faist et al Bell Labs, U.S.A. Science 264, 553 (1994)
1994 Quantum dot injection laser (InAs/GaAs) N. Kirstaedter et al Technical University, Berlin, Germany. Electron. Lett. 30, 1416 (1994) 
1995 Highest efficiency (24.7%) crystalline Silicon Solar Cell M. A. Green et al University of New South Wales, Australia Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 3636 (1995)
1995 SiC high voltage blocking Devices

- 4.5 kV pn-Junction diode

 O. Kordina et al Linköping University, Sweden Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 1561 (1995)
1998 - 3kV Schottky barrier diode in 4H-SiC Q. Wahab et al Linköping University, Sweden Appl. Phys. Lett. 72, 445 (1998)
1995 GaN blue laser S. Nakamura Nichia Chemical Ind. Ltd, Japan Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 35, L74 (1996)
1997 Epitaxial Layer Over-growth (ELOG) and 10,000 hour CW GaN blue laser S. Nakamura Nichia Chemical Ind. Ltd, Japan Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 36, L1568 (1997)
The compilation of what constitutes ‘milestones’ is a subjective exercise, in the final analysis. Accordingly, the above list is not claimed to be comprehensive or even best possible. We would, therefore, welcome any suggestions for improvement and comments on possible important omissions. A great deal of care and attention has been paid towards ensuring the accuracy of the original references. Any possible errors are regretted and we would appreciate receiving any corrections from our readers.                                                                           - Editor ×Contents
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