Process Technology
1950s
The 1950s could be referred to as an era of manual crafting of semiconductor technology, in that the shift from vacuum tubes to semiconductors was groped around.
This was also the age in which commercial mass production finally started domestically after a time of performing supplementary experiments based on articles or information published in the U.S. or trial-and-error methods referring to handwritten notes or diagrams brought back from the U.S.
Late 1950s: Using equipment manufactured in-house to mass-produce germanium transistors
On introducing the basic techniques from the U.S. in the late 1950s, Japanese companies used horizontal zone-melting furnaces made in-house to create germanium crystals and alloy furnaces, also made in-house, to produce alloy transistors. Note that the Sony Corporation manufactured a grown-crystal type of transistor.
Example of Horizontal Zone Melting Furnace
