First-Hand:Start of epitaxial growth at Texas Instruments
A beginning of Epitaxial Growth R and D at Texas Instruments
In the summer of 1960 I worked for Walter Runyan. Walt came in one day, while I was working on Si solar cell calibration and some photovoltaic devices as I recall, asked me to look into epitaxial growth.Ok. Three weeks later, Walt asked me what I was doing on silicon epy. Where is it being done and how do you spell it? Its on the back dock (of the new Material's Building). I went out later and found it in a converted broom closet. Walt asked me somewhat later if I had found the reactor. "Yes", I said, "but it can't be important; it is in a broom closet". "Jerry", he said, "you couldn't be more wrong". Our epi group later grew to 4 more engineers. I later had the second publication on the subject:
1962 Kinetics of Silicon Crystal Growth from SiCl4 Deposition, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 109, No. 12, December, 1962 pp1171-1175. And a chapter with Cameron Allen in an ASME conference book.
