INDUSTRY

Beclcrnan Backs Transistors Shockley Semiconductor Lab to develop and produce transistors, other solid state electronic devices

JL HE TRANSISTOR'S FUTURE in indus­trial instrumentation brightened in mid-February when Beckman Instruments revealed its establishment of the Shock-ley Semiconductor Laboratory. To be directed by William Shockley, formerly of Bell Telephone Laboratories and in­ventor of the junction transistor, the new Beckman affiliate will develop and produce transistors and other semicon­ductor devices (CfidEN, Feb. 27, page 905) .

The move was both logical and typical for Beckman. While the firm's six divisions produce analytical instru­ments, data reduction equipment, and electronic control system components, to name a few, one of its major inter­ests is automation which is where tran­sistors fit in.

Shockley's basic idea was to initiate a program of free-style research and de­velopment in solid state electronics which, initially, would involve transis­tors and other semiconductor devices. Since the field is so new, he found it difficult to present a detailed program for very far in the future. But Beck­man was prepared to back "so vaguely defined an enterprise."

Actually, Shockley sees an explosive market for the transistor alone. While transistor use is growing, production to­day is only about 1% that of vacuum tubes, price and operating limitations being the big roadblocks. But within a year or two Shockley expects transistors to achieve price advantages per se over vacuum tubes in some applications. This, plus improved operating charac­teristics, he believes, should lead in the not too distant future to mass produce tion of very cheap transistors.

The implications are great. Really inexpensive transistors might be used where amplification is not used at all now because vacuum tubes are either too costly or will not do the job. Take the telephone. Amplification by cheap, rugged transistors in the individual subscriber's telephone would allow much higher line losses in telephone signal transmission equipment which could thus be much simpler and less costly.

ί Attack on Aging· Theoretically, transistors should have much better ag­ing characteristics than vacuum tubes. There is not enough practical experi­

ence yet to support this idea generally, although a good indication is the rate of replacement in hearing aids, which is considerably lower for transistors than for vacuum tubes. Nor is transis­tor aging theory on firm enough ground yet to permit extrapolation of aging characteristics. Aging is apparently tied up with transistor surface struc­ture and events that take place out­side the crystal, perhaps within 100 A. of its surface, but the best attacks made on the problem so far have been purely empirical.

Sometime after August this year, the Shockley group will move into a $500,000 research and development center now being built at Palo Alto, Calif., near Stanford University, for Beckman's Spinco Division (ultracen­trifuges). Meanwhile, at his tempo­rary headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., Shockley is busy building his research staff and setting up his modus operandi, a subject on which he has definite ideas.

We will operate on two principles, he says:

• W e want unusually capable people. • W e have no fixed principles.

Research people who come up with a new device will be encouraged to stay with it until pilot production be-

At temporary headquarters in Moun­tain View, Calif., director William Shockley and office manager Louise K. Bolender straighten out administrative details of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory

gins. Flexibility will be the keynote; at present, Shockley and his office man­ager are the only ones in the organiza­tion with specific titles. Such things will work themselves out as they move along, says Shockley, who believes that at first the organization will grow at the rate at which capable people be­come available rather than according to a fixed pattern.

Grace Picks Baton Rouge A site near Baton Rouge has been

selected by W. R. Grace & Co., for its polyethylene project. Construction was started last week.

The project involves construction of a $1 million semiworks plant for poly­ethylene and other polymers. This is expected to go into operation this sum­mer. The plant for commercial produc­tion of polyethylene, also being erected, is expected to be on stream by mid-1957.

The Grace plant will use the Phillips process for temperature-resistant poly­ethylene. Manufactured under low pressure conditions, it has properties substantially different from those of conventional polyethylene.

Design capacity of the Baton Rouge plant will be 50 million pounds a year. At peak production about 300 people will be employed.

The Grace installation will be located on a 150-acre site six miles north of the center of Baton Rouge and near Esso Standard Oil's refinery, which will supply Grace with ethylene.

In addition to availability of the principal raw material and many other petrochemicals, Grace says that other advantages of the Baton Rouge site in­clude: excellent transportation facili­ties (inland waterway that gives easy access to the ports of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, rail, and truck routes); favorable tax rates; reasonable power and water supplies; and gen­erally favorable industrial climate.

The contractor for the project, in­cluding both semiworks and commercial plants, is Fluor Corp.

Heyden Adding More PE Construction has started at Fords,

N. J., on Heyden's fourth major expan­sion in pentaerythritol since 1939. .This newest plant will have an annua] capacity for 25 million pounds of PE.

The new plant, which will produce PE by a new process, is being erected adjacent to the present Heyden Fords plant which produces formaldehyde

MARCH 5, 1956 C&EN 1 0 6 7

INDUSTRY

and other organic chemicals. Produc­tion is scheduled for March 1957.

Heyden says the new process to be used at Fords provides complete flexi­bility in producing any grade or type of PE. It i s the culmination of several years of lab, pilot plant, and field devel­opment work.

The company says the Fords location was selected as offering the most ad­vantages from the point of view of actual manufacturing, availability of present and potential raw materials, and convenient location for rapid serv­ice to principal consuming markets.

PE Suit to Continue An interim decision which the de-

fendant says does not touch the merits of the case has been rendered by the Delaware Court of Chancery against Reichhold Chemicals, which is being sued by Delaware Chemicals in an action involving the production of pentaerythritol.

According to Delaware Chemicals, it fulfilled a contract it had with RCI to turn over its know-how for making pentaerythritol, but that Reichhold terminated the arrangement in Decem­ber 1950, promising to stay out of PE manufacture. When RCI started pro­duction of the chemical at Tuscaloosa, Ala., Delaware Chemicals sought an injunction and $1 million damages.

Reichhold filed a counter claim alleging fraud and misrepresentation, which was dismissed the other day by Chancellor Collins J. Seitz. Delaware says the court also gave Reichhold per­mission to amend its counter claims so they may be "asserted defensively."

The Reichhold office at White Plains, Ν. Υ., states that it terminated the agreement as permitted by a special clause in the contract. The RCI coun­terclaim, it was said, was based on mis­representation by Delaware as to its "al­legedly developed process and know-how, and other statements contrary to their promises. , ,

"The recent decision on Delaware's motion," the RCI statement continues, "was based solely on the technical statute of limitations and the decision does not touch the merits of the case. No injunction has been issued, and Reichhold continues to produce penta­erythritol under its own developed process/*

Litigations Filed A suit was filed last month by Rohm

& Haas against General Mills seeking a declaratory judgment of invalidity of

a General Mills patent on vinyl ester compositions plasticized with certain epoxidized esters.

These epoxidized esters are sold as plasticizers by Rohm & Haas and sev­eral other firms. Rohm & Haas* com­plaint asserts that General Mills' alleged invention described in patent 2,559,177 was previously known to others and is described in prior patents. This suit was filed in Federal District Court in Philadelphia.

Norwich Pharmacal instituted legal action last month in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against Ster­ling Drug,- charging the latter firm with deception, fraud, and unfair competi­tion in the marketing of a home remedy for gastric disturbance that copies Nor­wich's Pepto-Bismol.

The complaint charges that Sterling sometime in 1955 commenced the manufacture and sale in this country of a medicinal preparation deceptively similar to Pepto-Bismol under the name of Pepsamar. The complaint also charges that Sterling had manufactured and sold in foreign countries exclusively an entirely different preparation under the same name, Pepsamar, for treat­ment of peptic ulcers, gastritis, and hyperacidity. The complaint asks a judgment restraining Sterling from making and selling its product in its present form or any other medicinal preparation for upset stomach decep­tively similar to Pepto-Bismol.

Reynolds: More Aluminum Details of Reynolds Metals' $43 mil­

lion expansion program have been re­vealed. The expenditure will increase production of its alumina plant near Corpus Christi, Tex., by more than 50% and enlarge facilities of the alumi­num sheet rolling mill at Sheffield, Ala. Reynolds says it is necessary to in­crease its alumina production in order to supply requirements of the new 200-million-pound aluminum reduction plant which is to be built adjacent to its present northern Alabama opera­tions (C&EN, Jan. 30 , page 446) .

Increased production of primary metal, in turn, necessitates greater sheet rolling capacity at the mill near the reduction plant. Reynolds expects to spend nearly $13 million in expand­ing facilities at its aluminum sheet mill in Alabama.

An estimated expenditure of between $25 and $30 million will be required at the La Quinta alumina plant in Texas. Reynolds plans to increase production of this plant to more than 1500 tons a day. Its present capacity is 1000 tons a day.

In addition to enlargement of the

alumina plant, Reynolds will extend its adjacent pier at which bauxite is un­loaded. Bauxite storage will be ex­panded. The channel approaching the pier will be dredged so as to deepen and widen the shipping lane.

Solvay Vinyl Chloride Solvay Process' vinyl chloride mono­

mer plant under construction at Moundsville, W. Va., is scheduled t o go into production this spring. Initially the new plant will consist of several buildings which, together with storage tanks, railroad tracks, and other facili­ties, will occupy about 10 acres on a site adjacent to Solvay's chloromethane installation. The plant has been de­signed for quick and easy expansion.

Solvay says that vinyl chloride of high purity will be made at the new plant by a process developed jointly with Allied's Nitrogen Division. Hy­drogen chloride will be obtained from Solvay's chloromethane operations; acetylene will be piped to the plant from an installation being erected on nearby property by Linde Air Products.

• D. Q. Kern Associates is a firm re­cently formed by Donald Q. Kern. It has offices at 7016 Euclid Ave., Cleve­land 3, Ohio and branches in New York and Washington. The firm specializes in thermal process technology with particular reference to design, engineer­ing, and marketing thermal process components. The firm is retained by Wolverine Tube, Calumet & Hecla, Union Carbide, National Carbon, and Canadian Vickers. It serves as project consultant to Pittsburgh Plate Glass, Columbia-Southern Chemical, York Corp., Battelle Memorial Institute, and several engineering corporations.

ί So lvay Process division of Allied Chemical & Dye is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary this year.

^ Philadelphia Quartz is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

t Spencer Kellogg opened its new re­search center at Cheektowage, Ν. Υ., opposite the Buffalo municipal airport with formal ceremonies in February.

• Yankee Atomic Electric's revised pro­posal to build a nuclear power plant under the power demonstration re­actor program has been determined by AEC to b e an acceptable basis for negotiations. Contract details will be

1 0 6 8 C&EN M A R C H 5. 1956

A high-purity

Specific Reducing Agent for carbonyl groups of aldehydes,

ketones, and ac id halides.

MH Potassium Borohydride

INDUSTRY

subject to AEC review and approval upon completion of staff negotiations.

Mscambia Bay Chemical and Jones & Laughlin Steel have joined the Manufacturing Chemists* Association.

t General Tire's Textileather division has been issued registration No. 618,-754 by U. S. Paient Office for the name Nygen Tolex for coated fabrics for up­holstery material in the nature of simu­lated or artificial leather.

• Andrews Paper & Chemical has re­cently been formed as a wholly owned subsidiary of H. P. Andrews Paper. It will handle the business formerly han­dled by the technical paper department and the lab for reproduction papers. It will have offices at 14 West Third St., New York 12, Ν. Υ.

Contracts . · . • St. Joseph Lead has awarded a con­tract to Kaiser Engineers for design, procurement, and construction of a steam power plant at Josephtown, Pa., to cost about $16 million. It will have a capacity of 100,000 kw. with provi­sions for expansion. It is scheduled for operation in about two years. It will be located on the site of St. Joseph's zinc smelting plant on the Ohio River.

• StaufFer Chemical and Wilson & Geo. Meyer & Co./ have signed a long-term exclusive sales agreement. Under the agreement, the Meyer firm will widen its distribution in the West and Midwest to handle increased produc­tion of pelletized agricultural phos­phates produced by Stauffer.

• North American Philips is now ex­clusive distributor in the U. S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico for the com­plete line of Hart high pressure equip­ment. Made in Rotterdam, in collabo­ration with the Van der Waals Labs at the "university of Amsterdam, the Hart equipment is designed for generation and accurate measurement of pressures up to 10,000 atmospheres for experi­mental use in physical and chemical labs.

Expansions · . · • Du Pont is starting work on a $3 mil­lion program of expansion and modern­ization at its coated fabrics plant at Newburgh, Ν. Υ.

• B. L. Lemke & Co. has completed a manufacturing unit for production of calcium, potassium, and sodium pro­pionate. The unit has a capacity of over 500,000 pounds per year.

CHEMICAL HYDRIDES . . .

M a n y chemists have been look­i n g a t Metal Hydrides 9 potassium borohydr ide , K B H 4 w i th a great dea l of interest. A highly pure, non-hygroscopic , finely d iv ided p o w d e r of uni form particle size, K B H 4 easi ly reduces with excel ­l e n t y ie lds t h e carbonyl group of a ldehydes and ketones in aque­

ous solutions. During t h e reduc- r

t i o n p r o c e s s , o t h e r f u n c t i o n a l ! groups are n o t affected, nor are I olef inic d o u b l e bonds attacked. !

Solubility Factor Good j

S o l u b i l i t y i s 19.3 g r a m s / 1 0 0 J grams water. Other solvents are I w a t e r - m e t h a n o l m i x t u r e s , i n j w h i c h solubi l i ty ranges from 13.0 I g r a m s / 1 0 0 grams solvent for a ι rat io of 4 to 1 water-methanol I so lut ion d o w n to 0.7 grams/100 | e

g r a m s s o l v e n t f o r m e t h a n o l alone. It also dissolves in other w a t e r - a l c o h o l m i x t u r e s , a n d l i q u i d a m m o n i a . In g e n e r a l , solubil i ty sharply decreases w i t h higher alcohols. K B H 4 is gen­erally insoluble in esters, ethers, and hydrocarbons. It h a s a nega­t ive heat of so lut ion i n water of 6.3 K c a l / m o l .

KBH4 is Stable

Metal Hydrides ' potassium boro­hydr ide i s complete ly stable in basic aqueous solut ions. In gen­eral K B H 4 can b e handled or s t o r e d i n air w i t h o u t loss of purity.

Mail this coupon on your letterhead r -,

I Our problem is |

• How can KBH4 help us? Π Send Bulletin 301-B Π Send information on al l MH

chemical hydrides Name Title

Address City Zone State

JMetal Hvdrides 1 ' • ' I N C O R P O R A T E D

35 CONGRESS STREET, BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS

M A R C H 5. 1956 C&EN 1 0 6 9