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We made transistors in a freshman class at Caltech in 1986. I seem to recall that there was hydrofluoric acid and a furnace involved. HF is nasty stuff.
A few years ago, I scanned some of the lab and TA notes from that class (~1991 vintage) for a guy that wanted to DIY some semiconductors in his garage. Neat project; I should try to locate him and see if he made any progress.
I also enjoyed the early history of the transistor (pre Bell Labs) linked to from that site: http://www.porticus.org/bell/belllabs_transistor1.html

It really does emphasise how most inventions are collective efforts building on many incremental steps and seldom moments of sheer eureka type brilliance.