Chip Wars 54 - Fairchild cuts off the Iron Giant
(Before Dawn, 1950-1959)
Ti applied for a patent for a miniature electronic circuit, successfully preventing RCA from attempting to get involved in integrated circuits. The idea of all-semiconductorization inspires Fairchild to be more ambitious. Fairchild chose Sprague Electric's Leihovitz to invent the "multiple semiconductor device isolation technology" patent - reverse bias P-N junction method to solve the core galvanic isolation problem, Fairchild successfully cut off the steel giant.
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Chapter 2 Before Dawn
Verse 40: Fairy Boy Cuts Off the Iron Giant
Three months after Kilby invented the integrated circuit, Noys, the founder of Fairchild, learned of the idea from nowhere, and was shocked and delighted. It should be said that this news not only shocked the industry, but also exploded inside the Fairchild company, and the 8 young founders knew what the "integrated circuit" invented by Kilby meant.
Immediately, Noyce gathered 7 other small partners to discuss countermeasures, he first introduced to everyone some of his ideas about integrated circuits two months ago, and pointed out that Texas Instruments' integrated circuits were rude and could not be launched on the market. At the same time, Neuss suggested that the integrated circuit project should be launched immediately, and with the research and development strength of Fairchild and the technical advantages in the silicon crystal processing process, it must be able to catch up later, and it can also be tied with Texas Instruments. Good thing, it doesn't matter who it is, who grabs it first is whoever gets it.
Among them, Kilby is deeply embarrassed by the problem, such as the problem of silicon materials, such as the problem of two diffusions on the silicon wafer and the interconnection of wires, which is the best play of Noyce and Fairchild, a small case, think of it, do it first, and then say it.
Figure: An integrated circuit successfully developed by Neuss in 1959 based on Kilby's idea of "all-semiconductorization"
Indeed, the hand-made "integrated circuit" shown by Kilby is based on germanium wafers rather than silicon wafers with better performance, and the connection of the circuit is only a gold wire to carefully "glue" the various components together through the flying wire, which is really difficult for Kilby, who is 2 meters tall, to be so clever. However, such works are destined to be displayed only in the laboratory, and cannot be mass-produced without improvement.
The integrated circuit envisioned by Neuss is based on the newly invented semiconductor planar process processing technology of Helney (one of the eight founders of Fairchild), which does not require any connection of external wires, is much more "delicate" than Kiel's handmade works, and can produce more complex integrated circuits.
In July 1959, Fairchild filed a patent application for an integrated circuit, and unlike Texas Instruments' patent, Neuss's patent focused more on the production process, focusing on "providing a component-oriented architecture for the interconnection between different semiconductor regions, making the structure of a single circuit more compact, easily realizing the assembly of smaller-sized components, and promoting the assembly of more components on the same plate." ”
A month later, in August, Fairchild Semiconductor showcased their first "integrated circuit" at an international electronics show, a trigger circuit pieced together by Rust (one of the eight founders of Fairchild) using four transistors on a ceramic plate.
Four transistors in the ceramic plate pieced together a trigger circuit, Fairchild's first so-called integrated circuit sample is very rough, this trigger circuit, strictly speaking, is not an integrated circuit, and Kilby's first integrated circuit products, it is simply unbearable to look at. However, it shows one of Fairchild's ideas for "integrated circuits"—a complete circuit packaged in a tiny case.
Fairchild also knew that this sample would not attract much attention, but it was of great significance as a marketing defense. This shows that Fairchild has also entered the field of integrated circuits, and this field is by no means the private domain of the steel giants.
Keep in mind that the day Fairchild released the integrated circuit product, it has been 5 months since March 6, 1959, the day Texas Instruments held a press conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
After the release of the first sample, soon after Neuss led the small partners of Fairchild Semiconductor to improve Jack Kilby's experiment, using the method of evaporative deposition of metal instead of solder wires, very easily solved the problem of interconnection between components, and then realized the possibility of mass production of integrated circuits, and Fairchild applied for an invention patent at the fastest speed (July 30, 1959), which completely angered Texas Instruments.
Photo: Robert. The first monolithic integrated circuit produced by Neuss
The use of evaporative deposition metal instead of solder wires, very easy to solve the problem of interconnection between components, and then realize the possibility of large-scale mass production of integrated circuits, which is fairchild Semiconductor Company's Helney invented a sensational global industry plane process technology.
Figure: Fairchild Semiconductor's first integrated circuit using planar process technology
The chip has four bipolar transistors (as shown above, with bright blue nose-cone features in the center of the photo) and five resistors (bright blue horizontal and vertical strips). White strips are aluminum connectors that are usually connected to the outside world through wires (not shown here) on pads soldered to the edges of the device. Irregular black spots are defects on the surface of the chip. Actual size: Diameter 0.06 inches.
Here, we look at texas instruments' approach, why Texas Instruments wanted to make a high-profile March 6, 1959 "official announcement". Because, on January 28, 1959, a nerve-wracking news came that the American Radio Corporation (RCA) was preparing to report the "integrated circuit prototype" they had developed to the patent office. The news shocked Kilbey and Texas Instruments management. So, they quickly prepared patent application materials for Kilby's invention. The prototype of this integrated circuit of RCA company, please refer to the previous description of the essay.
On February 6, 1959, Texas Instruments' patent attorneys filed a more extensive patent application for a "miniature electronic circuit" with the U.S. Federal Patent Office. The application materials state: "Compared with the previous miniature electronic circuit, the invention is based on a completely new concept that is completely different from any previous micro electronic circuit." According to this new process to achieve miniature electronic circuits, only a semiconductor material is required to integrate all electronic devices, and its process steps are limited and easy to produce. ”
On March 6, 1959, at the annual meeting of the American Institute of Radio Engineering (the predecessor of the IEEE), Texas Instruments released their revolutionary invention to the press, the "solid micro electronic circuit". Kilby's assistant, Shepard (who later became president of Texas Instruments), declared: "This is the most meaningful technological achievement ti has developed, so we declare that integrated circuits are commercially viable." ”
It can be said that the new product launch of Texas Instruments, the success of this news, made RCA completely abandon the intention and possibility of competing with Ti for the invention right of integrated circuits.
Although Texas Instruments' new product at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York successfully blocked radio (RCA) attempts to get involved in integrated circuits, Kilby's "all-semiconductor" ideas in this new product inspired Fairchild Semiconductor's greater ambitions.
It can be said: "The front door rejects the wolf, and the back door welcomes the tiger." ”
Why was Fairchild Semiconductor able to modify Rust's original product concept in a very short period of time, so that it could quickly launch a product that was already close to an integrated circuit? Or rather, what techniques Fairchild mastered in his hands made Robert. Is Noyce confident of "cutting off" the steel giant?
At that time, Fairchild's technology on how to achieve galvanic isolation between various devices inside semiconductor silicon wafers was not yet mature, and galvanic isolation was one of the most critical core technologies in the large-scale production of integrated circuits. To this end, Noyce and seven other friends once again carried forward the "take-ism", they chose the core technology in the Kurt Lehovec invention patent of Sprague Electric Company, and in KurtLehovec's patent he proposed a "reverse bias P-N knot" method for the first time. Based on this method, Fairchild Semiconductor solved the "electrical isolation problem" in fairchild integrated circuits that made the eight founders always distressed.
Figure: Kurt Lehovec of Sprague Electric, inventor of the patented reverse bias P-N junction technology
Sprague Electric Company, Frank J. Sprague founded the Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company in 1886 to develop applications for motors.
By the 1950s, Sprague was producing capacitors and other electronic components for the consumer electronics market, and in 1965 opened a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Sprague Semiconductor Group, which mainly produced integrated circuits and sensors for power electronics and motion control, was later spun off into Allegro Microsystems Inc. and, finally, owned by Saitama's SankenElectric Company, Ltd. in Japan.
Kurt Lehovec (Kurt. Leihovetz), June 12, 1918 – February 17, 2012.
Kurt Lehovec was born on June 12, 1918 in Ledvice, northern Bohemia, later the Czechoslovak Republic. In 1941 he received his doctorate in physics from the University of Prague and was drafted into the German army, fighting in the Soviet Theater in World War II.
After the end of World War II, based on his work and achievements in solar cells, he was able to come to the United States in 1947 when the Army Signals Corps in Monmouth, New Jersey, included Kurt Lehovec in the talent program for scientists in former Nazi occupation areas.
Here, with Karl. Arcado and Edward. Together with Jamgocian, he explained how the first light-emitting diodes (LEDs) worked, continuing oleg. Lotsef's original work, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), was the first and most important semiconductor technology Kurt Lehovec had achieved.
Kurt Lehovec's second major contribution is that he explains that the important case of rapid ion conduction in solids is carried out in the surface space charge layer of the ionic crystal. K. Lehovec first predicted this conduction in his article "Spatial Charge Layer and Lattice Defect Distribution on the Surface of Ionic Crystals", published in The Review of Physics, 1953 V.21 P.1123-1128.
In the article, he explains: "Since the space charge layer has a nanoficient thickness, its effect is directly related to nanoioniology". The effect proposed by Lehovec forms the basis of many nanostructured fast ion conductors and, later, is widely used in today's portable lithium batteries and fuel cells.
Later, in 1952, he acquired American citizenship. That same year, he joined Sprague Electric, a company based in western Massachusetts, where he specialized in the field of semiconductor transistors. In 1968, he won a patent victory for Texas Instruments on the patent issue of semiconductor PN connection isolation. Later, he moved to California, where he worked as an industry information consultant for the first time.
In 1966, Kurt. Leihovetz left Sprague Electric to become a consultant to Southern California Aerospace.
In 1972, Kurt. Leihovetz became professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, where he taught engineering. He retired from the University of Southern California in 1988. He later lived in Southern California until his death at his home in Los Angeles on February 17, 2012, at the age of 93.
During this period, Kurt. Leihovetz's most important achievement was the invention of a patent for a "technology for isolating multiple semiconductor devices", which was applied for on April 22, 1959, under the title of 3029366 and the patent name "Multiple Semiconductor Assembly". This technology is Kurt. Leihovitz's most important contribution to the development of the global semiconductor industry and integrated circuit technology.
In this patent, Kurt. Leihovitz innovated the concept of "P-N junction isolation" for use in every circuit element with a protective ring: a reverse bias p-n junction around the periphery of the component plane. This patented technology has played a key role in the successful development of integrated circuits by Fairchild Semiconductor Company Neuss.
It is also with this core technology that Kurt. Leihovetz is also known as one of the "pioneers of integrated circuits".
Photo: Kurt. Patent for "Technology for Isolation of Multiple Semiconductor Devices" in Leihovitz
In 1959, Kurt. Leihovitz invented a patent for "isolation technology for multiple semiconductor devices", which is a junction isolation technology for integrated circuits. That same year, Robert. When Neuss developed integrated circuits at Fairchild Semiconductor, it was based on Kurt. Leihovetz's idea was to develop a fully integrated electronic circuit on a small silicon chip and then commercially produce it. The most critical thing is that this technology, on the issue of integrated circuit invention patents, has enabled Fairchild Semiconductor Company to successfully "cut off" Texas Instruments.
Although, Kurt. The patented technology invented by Leihovitz played a key role in promoting fairchild Semiconductor's integrated circuit invention, but he did not profit from this pioneering work.
Later, in a dispute between Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor over a patent for an integrated circuit invention, Kurt . Leihovitz was brought to the fore by Fairchild and started a patent lawsuit with the Steel Giants. Although, eventually Kurt. Leihovitz also won the patent victory of "semiconductor PN junction connection isolation technology", but he was also exhausted by this lawsuit, and finally chose to leave the industry and return to the university to teach...
Kurt. Leihovetz, today's people, even semiconductor and integrated circuit friends, are very unfamiliar with him, but in the late 1950s, his pioneering research work - "reverse PN junction isolation" technology promoted the development of the global integrated circuit industry and the advancement of semiconductor integrated circuit chip technology.
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Note 1: Some charts, data, etc. in this article are quoted on the Internet, company announcements, etc.;
Note 2: The relevant patent information and descriptions in this article are quoted on the Internet and relevant national patent offices, etc.;
Note 3: The relevant company information, products, etc. in this article are quoted on the Internet, foreign media, company announcements, etc.;
Note 4: The relevant industry data and industry information in this article come from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology;