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IC, Integrated Circuit

Jean Hoerni, Kurt Lehovec, Jack St. Clair Kilby and Robert N. Noyce all four take part in the development of the  Integrated Circuit - IC. This happens in the laboratoria of Fairchild Semiconductor and in 1959 they complete the project succesfully.

The three put together a few transistors and capacitors, linking them with a thin layer of silicon, a semiconducting material. The silicon completed the circuit between the electronic components. All the building blocks of an electronic circuit -- transistors, diodes, capacitors, resistors, etc. -- could be placed on a small board and linked. This type of "chip" would revolutionize an industry. Texas Instruments manufactured the first practical silicon chips in 1959.

Noyce, as research director of Fairchild Semiconductor, was responsible for ths initial development of silicon mesa and planar transistors, which led to a commercially applicable integrated circuit.(1)

Noyce holds 16 patents for semi conductor devices, methods and structures. (1983) (1)

Biography

Noyce died of a heart attack in 1990.

Chronology

Honors and awards