Gordon Kidd Teal's man-made crystals. ca.1950s

NMAH Catalog Number 1984.0126.01
Silicon Crystal 4" Long x 1 1/2" Dia.

NMAH Catalog Number 1984.0126.02
Silicon Crystal 4" Long x 1 1/2" Dia.

NMAH Catalog Number 1984.0126.03
Germanium Crystal 3" Long x 1" Dia.

M U S E U M     F I L E    R E F E R E N C E

a transcription - February 1, 1984

I affirm that I own said crystals, that they were made in highly successful scientific experiments personally initiated and directed by me towards achieving, in my laboratory within an industrial environment (Bell Telephone Laboratories), ultra high purity, structurally very perfect single crystals providing new and improved electron and hole conduction properties that would contribute crucially to the suitability of germanium and silicon as basic semiconductor materials facilitating device design, interpretation of experimental results, preparation of materials having uniform properties and mass production of solid state devices such as transistors, rectifiers, etc. The achievement of the first junction transistor was the first major success of the above germanium single crystal research. Other gains followed. Later the single crystals led to the development of integrated circuits.

I have written various articles about these three man-made crystals. These articles have been published and copyrighted. I have co-authored a chapter concerning these crystals to be published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., in New York, which will be copyrighted. I have been asked to write a book. I reserve the right to continue to speak and write about these crystals, using photographs of the crystals therein. Further, I hold various patents on methods of making these and other crystals and no patent rights are hereby transferred. Additionally, I reserve the right to furnish copies of any photographs involving these crystals to fill requests that are primarily scientific or educational that come to me. I am presently sending several photographs in answer to a request from the Open University Library in Milton Keynes, England. [Mr. Teal died January 10, 2003]

Museum File Photographs - NOT FOR PROFESSIONAL USE

additional resource: Teal, Gordon K. “Single Crystals of Germanium and Silicon - Basic to the Transistor and Integrated Circuit,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol. ED-23, No. 7 (July 1976) pp. 621–39.