ChronotechAn atlas of how we made the world

Semiconductors · Vol. V|Integrated circuit|1958–1959

Integrated circuit

1958–1959

Kilby showed that a circuit’s parts could be made of one piece of semiconductor. Noyce showed how to interconnect them with a printed metal layer, the planar process that factories could run. The integrated circuit is not a smaller transistor. It is a way to stop wiring transistors by hand. Moore’s later observation is a rumor this invention made true for decades.

Jack Kilby (TI); Robert Noyce (Fairchild) · United States

Integrated circuit — Original plate drawn for this atlas. Not a photograph of a museum object or a copyrighted portrait.

How the mechanism is arranged

Many transistors on one chip of silicon, wired by metal on the same die. The unit of electronics became the circuit, not the part.

How it works

Fabricate transistors, resistors, and diodes in one crystal.
Connect them with patterned metal on the surface.
Package the chip; the user sees pins, not a rat’s nest of wires.

Why it mattered

Slashed cost per component as volume rose.
Made computers small enough for desks, then pockets.
Turned electronics into a printing industry.

Who turned the wheel

What it unlocked

For further study

Computer History Museum. Kilby and Noyce artifacts.
Nobel lectures 2000. Kilby.

Check

What manufacturing problem did the IC solve besides size?