Word: silicon
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...read Elle if it incorporated some of Maxim's off-color humor and sometimes disgusting articles like "Help! They Mangled My penis"--a graphically illustrated account of a man's horribly botched attempt at penile enlargement. I'd like to see a similar article entitled, "Revenge of the Silicon Breasts" to deter Pamela Lee Anderson wannabes. The fact is all of these magazines are just junk food for the brain. If they don't make you feel insecure about your height/weight/intellect, they waste your time with their inanity. Guys, welcome to our world. May you loath it as much...
Until this time, nearly all transistors had utilized germanium because it was easier to prepare in pure form. Silicon offered advantages, at least in theory, mainly because devices made from it could operate at higher temperatures. Also, silicon is a very common chemical element, whereas germanium is relatively rare. Silicon, however, melts at a much higher temperature, making its purification and processing more difficult...
...what was probably the final straw, he decided the entire laboratory staff should undergo polygraph tests to determine who was responsible for a minor injury experienced by one of the office workers. While the group was making real progress in developing the technology needed to produce silicon transistors, Shockley's management style proved an increasing burden...
...elsewhere for jobs. In the process of searching, we became convinced that our best course was to set up our own company to complete Shockley's original goal--which he had abandoned by this time in favor of another semiconductor device he had also invented--to make a commercial silicon transistor...
This new company, financed by Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corp., became the mother organization for several dozen new companies in Silicon Valley. Nearly all the scores of companies that are or have been active in semiconductor technology can trace the technical lineage of their founders back through Fairchild to the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Unintentionally, Shockley contributed to one of the most spectacular and successful industry expansions in history...