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George May Phelps
Arno Allan Penzias
William Gardner Pfann
Bell Labs materials scientist
William Gardner Pfann (October 27, 1917 – October 22, 1982) was an inventor and materials scientist with Bell Labs. Pfann is known for his development of zone melting which is essential to the semiconductor industry. As stated in an official history of Bell Labs, "Timely invention of zone refining by W.G.Pfann ... was a major contribution that helped bring the impurities in germanium and silicon under control."
Pfann was born in Brooklyn, New York City. Showing unusual facility with materials, in 1935, when he was only eighteen years of age, he started with the Chemical Research Department… More on Wikipedia →
Timeline events (1)
Pfann invents zone refining (melting), enabling purer silicon for transistors and semiconductors
Related concepts (3)
Point-contact transistor
The point-contact transistor was the first type of transistor to be successfully demonstrated. It was developed by research scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain at…
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is compose…
Zone melting
Zone melting is a group of similar methods of purifying crystals, in which a narrow region of a crystal is melted, and this molten zone is moved through the crystal. The…