SESCOSEM Gold Bonded Germanium Diode

 

Cosem (CSF) created a manufacturing facility in St Egreve (near Grenoble) in 1955. By 1964 it was producing many millions of diodes and transistors per year, employing 1500 people. In 1968 the French Government merged Cosem (CSF) with Sesco (Thomson). Thomson was another French semiconductor manufacturer, established in the early 1960s to manufacture transistors. 

In time Thomson-CSF's microelectronics interests would merge with Italian firm SGS to form SGS Thomson, later ST Microelectronics.

The St Egreve facility still exists as Teledyne e2v, however the wafer fab is no longer there. SGS Thomson then Atmel in turn reduced the manufacturing capacity to zero. 

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