Fify years of solid state achievements
11/01/2007
1947
- Bell Labs develops transistor (see illustration at top left)
1956
- William Shockley opens Shockley Semiconductor
- Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley awarded Nobel Prize in physics for co-inventing the point-contact transistor
1957
- Sherman Fairchild and eight resigned Shockley engineers form Fairchild Semiconductor
- IBM’s model 608 calculator released
1958
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- Jack Kilby demonstrates first integrated circuit (IC) at TI
(see photo; Courtesy: Texas Instruments Inc.) - Solid State Technology starts (as Semiconductor Products)
- Hoerni invents planar process
1961
- First commercial ICs developed (TI and Fairchild)
- IBM invents metallization scheme called C4
1962
- First MOS transistor at RCA
1964
 IBM magnetic tape selectric composer |
- IBM coins phrase “word processing” (see illustration)
- TI receives patent on IC
1965
 1965: Electronics magazine publishes Gordon Moore article on Moore’s Law (Courtesy: Intel) |
- First plastic encapsulated transistor (Motorola)
- Silicon wafer cleaning introduced (RCA)
- Robert Widlar at Fairchild develops µA709 operational amplifier
1967
- First MOS memory 64-bit ROM (RCA)
- First electronic handheld calculator (TI) (see photo; Courtesy: Texas Instruments Inc.)
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- Applied Materials established
1968
- Semiconductor Products changes name to Solid State Technology
- Noyce and Moore form Intel
1970
- Intel introduces first 1 Kbit DRAM
- Trade group SEMI formed
 1970: SEMI executive director Pat Westly and early member logos. Courtesy: SEMI |
1971
- Intel invents microprocessor
- Intel IPO raises $6.8 million
- First SEMICON West held
1972
- Applied Materials IPO
- Nagel and Pederson release SPICE1 into the public domain
 Applied Materials founder, Michael McNeilly. (Courtesy: Applied Materials) |
1974
- Motorola’s 6800 microprocessor comes out (see illustration)
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1975
- First PC becomes available
1977
- Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) formed
- First consumer-oriented desktop computers (Apple II, Commodore PET, and Tandy TRS80)
- First stepper (GCA)
1980
- Feature size hits 2µm
- IBM 3081 processor with thermal conduction modules
1981
 Lam Research Corp. releases AutoEtch 480, first fully automated semiconductor manufacturing equipment |
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 1981: IBM announces IBM personal computer (Courtesy: IBM Corporate Archives) |
1982
- SIA forms Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC)
1983
- Scanning tunneling microscopy produces 3D images of the atomic surfaces of solids (IBM)
- CMP first used for IC fabrication (IBM)
1984
- Feature size: 1µm
- Asyst Technologies founded to commercialize SMIF from earlier work at HP
1985
- Intel leaves memory market
1986
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- First commercial IBM-compatible laptop (see photo; Courtesy: IBM Corporate Archives)
- IBM researchers fabricate dynamic memory computer chips that can retrieve a single bit of information in 20 billionths of a second
1987
- First “pure-play” foundry TSMC, spun out of Taiwan’s ITRI
- FSA formed
- SEMATECH consortium formed
- Applied Materials introduces Precision 5000 single-wafer CVD system
1988
- Feature size: 0.5µm
- SEMATECH begins operations
1991
- First integrated surface- micromachined accelerometers “ADXL” (Analog Devices)
1992
- Microlithography World magazine debuts
- SEMICON West moves to Moscone Center (see photo)
 Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA (Courtesy: SFCVB) |
1993
- Intel Pentium processor has 3.1 billion transistors
1994
- SIA’s National Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors is released
- WaferNews e-newsletter debuts
- Fab costs reach $1 billion
- Digital introduces Alpha
1995
- SEMATECH forms I300I
- Feature size: 0.25µm
1996
- Palm Pilot introduced
- SEMATECH eliminates US government funding
1997
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- Intel Pentium II incorporates MPU and cache chips in a single cartridge (see photo; Courtesy: Intel)
- First copper-based production announced (IBM)
- KLA Instruments, Tencor Instruments form KLA-Tencor
1998
- Intel launches Celeron processor for the value PC market segment
- First fab-oriented copper electroplating tools
1999
- First tools for CVD of low-k carbon-doped SiO2
2000
- First International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors released
- Nobel prize in chemistry for work on conducting polymers: Heeger, MacDiarmid, Shirakawa
- Internet boom peaks in January
 Nobel prize in physics for development of IC goes to Jack Kilby (Courtesy: Texas Instruments Inc.) |
2001
- Equipment book-to-bill bottom reached in April (three-month average)
- Equipment bookings bottom reached in September (three-month average)
2002
- Intel delivers its first chips featuring 0.13µm technology on 300mm wafers
- Burn Lin proposes use of immersion lithography (SPIE)
2003
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- Intel Centrino mobile technology introduced (see photo above; Courtesy: Intel)
- International SEMATECH launches ISMI, focused on reducing cost per wafer for IC manufacturers
2004
- International SEMATECH, state of Texas, & U. of Texas form Advanced Materials Research Center
- SIA launches Nanoelectronics Research Initiative to accelerate research for the successor to CMOS
2005-2007
2005
- SIA: worldwide semiconductor sales hits record $227.5 billion, a 6.8% increase over 2004
- IBM, TSMC detail first actual chip production with immersion litho
- IC inventor Jack Kilby dies
 A representation of immersion lithography (Courtesy: ASML) |
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2006
- Intel has produced what are believed to be the first fully functional SRAM (static random access memory) chips using 45nm process technology
- First EUV lithography tools delivered (alpha tools)
2007
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- Solid State Technology celebrates its 50th anniversary
- First production-worthy high-k dielectric processes announced (Intel, IBM)