Definition: mesa transistor

The semiconductor process developed in the mid-1950s for creating the early transistors. Mesa transistors on a wafer resembled the flat tops and sloped sides of the hills (mesas) in the Grand Canyon, and the irregularity of the surfaces caused problems. They were, of course, miniature in size, but mesa gave way to the totally flat planar process. Contrast with planar transistor. See transistor, monolithic integrated circuit and chip manufacturing.




First Mesa IC Demonstration