First integrated circuits

First integrated circuits[edit]

Main article: Invention of the integrated circuit

See also: Planar process, p–n junction isolation, and Surface passivation

Robert Noyce invented the first monolithic integrated circuit in 1959. The chip was made from silicon.

A precursor idea to the IC was to create small ceramic substrates (so-called micromodules),^[9] each containing a single miniaturized component. Components could then be integrated and wired into a bidimensional or tridimensional compact grid. This idea, which seemed very promising in 1957, was proposed to the US Army by Jack Kilby^[9] and led to the short-lived Micromodule Program (similar to 1951's Project Tinkertoy).^[9][10][11] However, as the project was gaining momentum, Kilby came up with a new, revolutionary design: the IC.

Newly employed by Texas Instruments, Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July 1958, successfully demonstrating the first working example of an integrated circuit on 12 September 1958.^[12] In his patent application of 6 February 1959,^[13] Kilby described his new device as "a body of semiconductor material … wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated".^[14] The first customer for the new invention was the US Air Force.^[15] Kilby won the 2000 Nobel Prize in physics for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.^[16]

However, Kilby's invention was not a true monolithic integrated circuit chip since it had external gold-wire connections, which would have made it difficult to mass-produce.^[17] Half a year after Kilby, Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor invented the first true monolithic IC chip.^[18][17] More practical than Kilby's implementation, Noyce's chip was made of silicon, whereas Kilby's was made of germanium, and Noyce's was fabricated using the planar process, developed in early 1959 by his colleague Jean Hoerni and included the critical on-chip aluminum interconnecting lines. Modern IC chips are based on Noyce's monolithic IC,^[18][17] rather than Kilby's.

NASA's Apollo Program was the largest single consumer of integrated circuits between 1961 and 1965.^[19]

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