Demonstration of the First Working Integrated Circuit

DEMONSTRATION OF THE
FIRST WORKING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
THE TWENTIETH - CENTURY AGE OF ELECTRONICS CAN TRACE
ITS ROOTS TO THE 1906 INVENTION OF THE TRIODE VACUUM
TUBE, WHICH MARKED THE BIRTH OF MODERN RADIO. THE
INVENTION OF THE TRANSISTOR AFTER WORLD WAR II
USHERED IN A NEW ERA OF SOLID - STATE ELECTRONICS.
AS ENGINEERS DESIGNED INCREASINGLY COMPLEX EQUIPMENT,
THE DIFFICULTY OF INTERCONNECTING LARGE NUMBERS OF
INDIVIDUAL TRANSISTORS AND OTHER COMPONENTS TO FORM
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS WAS A BARRIER TO FURTHER PROGRESS.
THE NEED AROSE FOR A RELIABLE, COST-EFFECTIVE WAY TO
PRODUCE AND INTERCONNECT THE COMPONENTS, TECHNICAL
RESEARCH GROUPS IN THE UNITED STATES AND ABROAD
BEGAN WORK ON THE PROBLEM. IN 1958, JACK ST CLAIR KILBY,
AN ENGINEER AT TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (TI) IN DALLAS. DESIGNED
AND BUILT AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT WITH ALL THE COMPO-
NENTS FORMED IN A SINGLE PIECE OF SEMICONDUCTOR
MATERIAL. ON SEPTEMBER 12, 1958, HE DEMONSTRATED
THIS FIRST WORKING INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TO TI PERSONNEL
IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR BUILDING ON THIS SITE.
THIS CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH AND WORK ELSEWHERE
LED TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE MICROCHIPS THAT ARE AT THE
CORE OF MODERN ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS, INCLUDING A BROAD
RANGE OF CONSUMER ELECTRONICS, DIGITAL COMPUTERS,
DEFENSE SYSTEMS, AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS.



Submitted by @TxHistComm