Copper-oxide rectifier (Grondahl)
Rectificador de óxido de cobre (Grondahl)
- Date
- 1926 · confidence high
- Place
- Swissvale, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- Lars O. Grondahl (Union Switch & Signal)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A copper disc with a layer of cuprous oxide that lets current pass one way only. It was the first solid-state power rectifier and served chargers, relays and radios in the 1920s-40s.
What it led to
- selenium (1933), germanium and silicon rectifiers
- battery chargers and radio power supplies
- understanding of the metal-semiconductor junction effect