Before revision: In 1957, Bell Labs engineer Mohamed Atalla proposed a new method of semiconductor device fabrication: coating a silicon wafer with an insulating layer of silicon oxide so electricity could overcome the surface state and reliably penetrate to the semiconducting silicon below.
After revision: 310x310px| 1957, Diagram of one of the SiO2 transistor devices made by Frosch and DerrickIn 1955, Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derrick accidentally grew a layer of silicon oxide so electricity could overcome the surface state and reliably penetrate to the semiconducting silicon below.