WEBVTT - The Fairchild Semiconductor Story Part 1 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.240 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.200 stuff dot com. Heyler, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.599 johns in Strickland and I'm Lauren Bock Obama. Today we 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:21.400 start a two part series about a very important company 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:24.680 in technology. But it's one that I would say the 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.720 average person doesn't really know a lot about, right, Sure, 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:29.400 I mean you know, and it's only important if you've 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:34.159 ever used a computer or car or a mobile phone 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.880 or yeah, it's only if you've ever used any electronics. Ever, 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.600 is this company actually important? So if you're the luddite 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.800 who hasn't, first of all, how are you getting this podcast? 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.960 And second well, um, okay, but yeah, we're talking about 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:52.320 fair Child Semiconductor and you may have heard of this company. 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.600 It actually, like I said, it's it's very important in 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.080 the development of technology as we have have it today. 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.360 I mean, it's the the work that they did laid 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.840 the foundation for what makes the technology we use today possible. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.959 One of their inventions in in what was that? Or 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.200 so is the basic technology that we still use. Right, 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:16.040 It's one allowed maturization, Right, I mean some of the 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.720 earlier work had already been done before fair fair Child 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:22.880 became a thing, but or fair child semiconductor, I should say, 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:24.960 But let's let's start at the beginning. So first of all, 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.400 I guess we should talk so what what is a 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.800 semi conduct That's a good question to ask because we're 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.920 gonna be talking about them a lot. So a semiconductor 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.160 is kind of I mean, if you think of the word, 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.800 it kind of makes sense. A semiconductor is some sort 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.039 of material that, under certain circumstances, acts as a conductor. 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.399 As an it conducts electricity, does not Yeah, that's more 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.280 like an insulator. It does not conduct electricity. Now, in 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.680 the case of electronics, were usually talking about something that 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.360 has been engineered so that certain parts of it conduct 0:01:55.400 --> 0:02:00.520 electricity effectively, other parts insulate. Again, all out for this 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:05.760 thing like transistors. Transistors are essentially electron gates. That's where 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:08.239 you get that that on off switch that one zeros. Yeah, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.320 exactly exactly. This is what allows us to control the 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.680 flow of electrons through a circuit so that we can 0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:19.560 have various outcomes. So for example, with a microprocessor, where 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.800 you're using something in a in a computer or a 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:27.400 mobile handset, this is what allows that those logical functions 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.040 to take place, and we use things called logic gates. 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.720 Logic gates are essentially rules that say, when you get 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:38.639 this kind of input, you will create this kind of output. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.160 So let's say, here's a really simple example showing the 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:46.320 one zero concept. Let's say you have two light switches, 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.679 all right, and you have one light bulb, and if 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.720 you flip a light switch to the up position, that's 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.799 technically uh, the number one. Let's say, so, let's say 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.280 you flip both lights, which is up to the number 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.080 one position, and the light bulb comes on, so that 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.360 would be one one one, everything is on. If you 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:09.239 switch both lights, which is to the off position, that 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.720 would be zero. The light bulb goes off. That's zero 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.360 zero zero. Now, let's say you switch the first light 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.160 switch on, second light switch off, and the light bulb 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.120 comes on. That's one zero one. You do first light 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.320 switch down, second light switch up at zero one, and 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:26.520 then the light bulb comes on. That's another one. So 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.280 that would be an example of a gate, and you 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:31.600 can have all different kinds of combinations with that particular gate. 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:33.920 It could be that when both switches are down, the 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.040 lights on, but in any other combination it's off. That's 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:41.040 all different types of logic gates. So we create these 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:46.640 logic gates to create the different scenarios necessary to process data. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:49.840 And this data is just in the form of electrons. Now, 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.520 what I explained to you might sound like sorcery, but no, seriously, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:58.440 this is the basis of electronics and computers. And uh, 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.360 the fact that we're able to to miniaturize these elements 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.360 to teeny teeny tiny amounts. We're talking the nano scale 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.920 these days is what allows us to have the computers 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.600 and mobile devices that we use today. Otherwise we would 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:16.320 still be depending upon massive, massive pieces of electronic equipment 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.200 right right, you're you would be tethered to a room 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:22.920 rather than a cell phone or a building. Tweet. Yeah, 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.680 because we're talking back in those days. You know, we're 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:29.960 just talking circuits, and circuits are just pathways for electricity. 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.080 That's really what a basic circuit is. In the old days, 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:35.760 you made these pathways out of physical wires and other 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.480 components that were huge, like vacuum tubes. I mean, these 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.160 are big, big things. It was only after the transistor 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.840 was invented that we started to see the possibility of 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.680 moving away from that. And even those earliest transistors weren't 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.000 integrated circuits. They were right. They were pretty bulky. They 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.679 were frequently called Mesa transistors because they slightly resembled Mesa 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.919 settlements in the desert because they were big and blocky 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:03.719 and weird looking. And yeah, yeah, the very first one 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.719 is practically enormous. I mean you can see pictures of 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.000 it in things like the Computer History Museum. They have 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:14.480 a replica. Uh. But anyway, one of the three inventors, 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.920 one of the three people we credit with inventing the 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:22.880 the transistor, was William Bradford Shockley. Uh. And he and 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.200 John Bardeen and Walter H. Brittaine. We're working at Bell Telephone. Yeah, 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.039 Bell Telephone Labs. So they were over at Bell Labs 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.039 and they created that first semi conductor back in nineteen Now, 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:39.039 in nineteen fifty four, Shockley left Bell Labs to found 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:44.400 his own semiconductor factory called Shockley semi Conductors, and he 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.000 hired up all these smart engineers and scientists. He was 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.039 He said, these are the people that are going to 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.479 really push this as an industry. I see the potential here. 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:58.160 We need to really grab the best and brightest and 0:05:58.160 --> 0:05:59.880 and he knew a lot about that at the time. 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.560 Nineteen fifty six he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Yeah, yeah, no, 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.560 he was one of the I believe he and a 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.120 couple of others were credited with it. But yes, he 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.720 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:17.119 in creating transistors. Yes, sport guy. However, in nineteen fifty six, 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:22.520 about eight of the twelve brilliant guys that he hired said, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.680 you know, we're not really a fan of your practices 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:31.360 or management style, or you're kind of a jerk your face. Yeah, okay, So, 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.039 in the interest of full disclosure, Shockley, if you ever 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:38.680 look him up, held some incredibly controversial and really not 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:43.120 nice views. I've I've heard him compared to a slightly 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:49.040 less polite Howard Hughes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're wondering 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.120 what we're talking about, look up William Bradford Shockley. It's 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.120 not really germane to this discussion. So we're not going 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.520 to cover right. Maybe we'll do an episode about him 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.839 some other time. But so so it was important that 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.040 he are these twelve people um and and was concentrating 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.680 them on trying to figure out ways of using um 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.880 uh germanium and silicon, right, yes, because those were the 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:12.520 materials that seemed to be the most promising for semiconductors. 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.880 And these eight, eight of the twelve decided to leave, 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:20.960 and of course Shockley, being the understated fellow that he is, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.800 labeled them the traitorous eight. Yes, which I love. They 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:31.480 broke my heart. Fredo. So ninety seven, these eight engineers, 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.720 and you're gonna recognize at least one of these names, guys, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:38.240 I'm pretty sure I'll leave the one that you'll recognize, uh, 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:43.080 most likely. Last there was A C. Sheldon, Roberts, Eugene Kleiner, 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.880 Robert and Noise. I'm sure some of you recognize that name. 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:52.040 Victor H. Grinch, Julius Blank, Jean A. Hernie, and J. T. Last, 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.240 the last one is Gordon E. Moore, a k A. 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.320 That guy who came up with Morris Law. Yeah, this 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.040 is the guy who created Moore's Law, which was of 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.640 course an observation. He had observed that there was this 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:08.760 tendency for manufacturing companies to cram twice as many components 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.560 onto a square inch silicon chip um every year or so. 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.560 Now we've since reinterpreted that to mean that every two 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:20.880 years or so, computers get twice as powerful as they 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.720 used to be. Anyway, this he was one of the 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.640 founding members. These guys they decided to leave, and they 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.680 decided they wanted to find found their own company. And 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:35.359 they approached a company called fair Child Camera and Instrument Corporation, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.000 which was located located of New York, and they were 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:40.760 looking to get into superconductors at the time, semi conductors 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.160 at the time. Exact conductors are a different thing, right, right, 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.600 but semiconductors. Yes. By the way, people, we're recording this 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.240 in a very warm room, so there's gonna be some 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:51.360 verbal stumbles on on the part of both of us, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.680 and maybe even Tyler, who was sitting in for Noeld today. Hi, Tyler, Tyler, 0:08:55.880 --> 0:09:00.000 Tyler tan waving which is great for radio so um. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:05.240 At any rate, they went to Fairchild Camera Instrument Corporation 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.400 and said, hey, guys, I hear that you are looking 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.760 at getting into the semiconductor business. We are very knowledgeable 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.559 about semiconductors. How about we get together and work on this. 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.360 And the fair Child said, uh, maybe, and so they 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:20.720 kind of drew up an agreement, and in that agreement, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.760 each of the engineers put five hundred dollars of their 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.240 own money toward this as a stake in the venture, 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.440 and then a fair Child threw in another one and 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.800 a half million, so you know, equal equal parts all around, 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:40.240 right sure, but yeah, it started. Also the fair Child 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.000 had the option to outright by the company within eight 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:47.359 years of its starting, and so the cons of that, yeah, 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.640 you got to read the fine print, guys. Know. So 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:54.280 in October of seven, fair Child Semiconductor becomes a real thing, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.640 and it was just the third company that existed in 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.440 Silicon Valley. Um, of course, it wasn't called Silicon Valley 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.480 at the time. It was called Santa Clara Valley to 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:03.600 anyone who you know, happened to live there. Yeah, if 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.240 you're wondering what the first one was, that's Hewlett Packard. 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.360 That's technically the first company in Silicon Valley. They and 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:13.160 you know, unlike the others, uh, they didn't start fair 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.920 Child didn't start in a garage. One of the few 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:18.040 things to set it apart from every other company that 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.000 ever started in Silicon Valley. They bucked the trend. Of 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:22.720 course at that point is not a trend, I guess, 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.160 unless you're the Braves, in which case, three games in 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:27.480 a row is a winning streak, alright, So sure that 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.240 was a harsh dissa. Someone who knows something about baseball. 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.439 They're they've got the highest they've got the best record 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.360 of baseball right now, So I'm it's not really a 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:39.560 diss okay. So moving on semiconductors. What happens with making one? 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.000 How are they made? So this is a little different 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:44.840 from the way they were doing it in the earliest 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.680 days at fair Child, But in general, what you have 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.840 to start with is pure silicon. It's very important that 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.880 it's as pure as possible. You wanted to get it 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:58.320 as close to pure as you possibly can because, uh, 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.240 you're going to be missing with this stuff in the 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.080 in the future. But you know, it's are the ways 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:07.640 in which it works exactly. So when you start with 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.600 a good pier base that, yeah, that that makes it possible. 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.400 Otherwise your chips are not going to work. You're you're 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.840 going to end up with a huge waste of resources. 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.120 So you grow these pier silkon crystals into kind of 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.599 kind of cylinders. Yeah. Yeah. The way it works is 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.079 you've got this big old vat of of liquid silicon 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:29.720 and then you dip the pure crystal in it makes 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:34.040 the rest of the liquid crystallize around into one crystal. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:37.280 It's like one solid crystal, which is really fascinating process 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.040 by the way. Yeah, and then you you draw it 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.920 out and you've got this big old cylindrical ingot is 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.000 what they called them. And then you use a saw 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.280 usually controlled these days by a robot, but it's a 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:54.720 saw that cuts them the cylinder into wafers or waters 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:59.200 if you prefer, you know, Monty Python approach. So it's 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:04.199 waffer thin and you cut a series of wafers through 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:09.080 this ingot. Each wafer is about point seven five millimeters 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.400 thick and just under twelve inches in diameter, so about 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.679 three millimeters and you cut once. Once you cut that, 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:20.080 then you're ready to start the diffusion and etching process. 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.240 So let's talk about what's going well. Actually, first you 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:25.320 have to polish it, I should say, because you wanted 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.040 to bet with Yeah, you wanted to be as uniform 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.000 as possible, because you're gonna be again making very tiny 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.880 changes to it, particularly these days. Now again, back in 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.680 the fair Child days, you're talking about elements that were 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.600 on the micro scale. Now we're on the nano scale. 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:45.960 But we'll we'll talk more about why that's important in 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:50.480 in the next episode. So essentially, what you're doing is 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:57.040 you're using chemicals to give certain properties to the semiconductor 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.120 and then cut away parts that you don't want. So 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.800 there are two different types of semiconductor material. There's ND 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:07.520 type and there's P type, which essentially stands for negative 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.800 and positive. The negative types have extra electrons that they 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:16.440 can give up. The positive types have holes electron holes 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:20.400 that can accept electrons. This is what allows electricity to 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:25.760 flow through semiconductor material. So you're actually introducing small amounts 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:29.640 of impurities. It's called doping, and in this case, it's 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:31.720 not a bad thing, so you're not gonna get thrown 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.880 out of the Olympics for it, and you probably won't 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.079 go into the Olympics either. But anyway, so you're doing 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.720 this doping process, and it's imagine that you you add 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.680 in a layer of the special stuff that that dopes 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.480 your wafer, uh like ND type, we'll just say N type, 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.960 and then you coate certain parts of the wafer with 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.640 a chemical that's going to protect that layer. Then you 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:59.640 use a different chemical to etch away anything that was 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.640 not coded, so only the coded stuff remains whole, creating 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.640 a certain pattern on the chip or the wayfer surface 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.760 rather exactly. Then you do another coading. Maybe now it's 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:13.720 a P coding and again you code it again with 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:18.000 don't you're like twelve, It's like Cris Palette, she's just 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.520 giggling and looking at me. Yes, it's a P coding 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:24.480 the letter P, and then you code that with an oxide. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.000 Again you use the chemicals to etch away all the 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.880 non relevant parts. You do this many, many, many times 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.600 in order for you to make a final uh semiconductor 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.960 chip of whatever it is that you were building. And 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.520 keep in mind this could be lots of different stuff. 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:44.000 Semi connected material is used in more than just microprocessors. 0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.880 It's used in a lot of other basic pieces of electronics, 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:50.760 but we mostly think of it as microprocessors because that's 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:57.360 one of those things that I think everyone has some familiarity. So, uh, yeah, 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.960 the process has done several times in order to get 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.520 exactly what it is you want, and then once that's done, 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:06.479 then it can go into the next level of processing, 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.640 which usually involves putting in some connectors so that it 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:14.280 can connect to whatever it is, and then you finish 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.680 it off with whatever covers need to be placed on it, 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:19.720 then it gets packaged and sent off to wherever it 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.840 needs to go. So that's your basic uh step from 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.560 beginning to end. And so one thing that the fair 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.720 Child folks had come up with was this idea of 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.560 double diffusion. Now that is the process I was talking 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:37.400 about of introducing those impurities, that doping process, and the 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.800 way that they were doing it was cutting down on 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.880 the processing time that they would need to do. Back 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.400 in the early days, if you wanted to make a transistor, 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.000 you essentially had to do it piece by piece. You 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.520 would get a wafer and you would make one transistor 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:53.720 and you you know, you end up having that all 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:55.840 cut out and and done, then you would go back 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.040 to the wafer and make the next one. They found 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.880 a way where they could process this and makes several 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.880 transistors of an entire wafer all at once. So it 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.760 really cut down on the amount of time it took 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:10.640 to produce transistors, which in turn brought the price down. 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.200 This is what Gordon Moore was talking about when he 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.120 made that observation. He said, we're making improvements in manufacturing 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.240 which is making it possible for us to reduce the 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:21.920 price of components, which is making it possible to build 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.760 bigger components. So really, when he made that observation, it 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:30.160 wasn't anything necessarily about computer power or or electronics power. 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:33.760 It was more about about the actual right, the actual 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.400 physical pieces. And yeah, it was just ultimately all comes 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.000 down to money, which is you know, cheerful. Hey, that 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:46.920 being said, let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. Alright, 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.920 so we're back. Let's talk about the actual history of 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.080 fair Child. So it was founded in nineteen seven. Six 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:58.800 months later, it was profitable. That's pretty impressive. I mean, 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:01.640 brand new company, unproven other than the fact that they 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:03.920 knew they had some of the smartest guys in the 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.400 industry still and also, I mean they made their first 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:10.000 sales to IBM um for an order of a hundred 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.800 transistors priced at a hundred and fifty bucks a pop, right, 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:17.320 and that was approximately five million dollars. It was it 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.080 was It was a lot. It was a bunch. Was 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:20.760 it was bunch. It was a bunch of dollars hundred 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:24.800 fifty bucks for a hundred transistor, well a hundred fifty 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.920 dollars per transistor for a hundred transistors, all to IBM 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.000 that's a good first client to have. Yeah, sure, not 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.280 too bad. Um My, my favorite part about this story 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.600 is that when they had to ship them, um, j 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.560 Last just ran out to a local supermarket and picked 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.679 up a used Brillow carton. Brillow being that brand of 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.480 scrubby sponges, right all right, you know there's sponges that 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:46.720 have some steel wool and soap in them. Yeah. Yeah, 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:48.560 And and he just picked up a used carton and 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:50.679 they were just like, oh, this is good for transistors 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:54.440 and pop Yeah, keeping in mind that, you know, these days, 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.320 we have very specific packaging for all this kind of 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.760 cages built in and like plastic that you will never 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.200 ever open without the use of some sort of chainsaw. Yeah. 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:07.760 I like this though. It adds a little, a little 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.080 kind of dash of whimsy to the story. Um. And 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:15.400 that same year, one of the engineers, Robert Noyce, developed 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:19.119 the monolithic integrated circuit. Now, this is the invention you 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.760 were talking about earlier in the show, Lauren, the one 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.840 that truly defines the way we use computers and electronics, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.960 what what makes them what they are, Because it's what 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:33.400 allowed an entire circuit to be put upon a single 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:38.040 chip of of silicon. Before it was that you would 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.359 create different components and then wire them all together, which 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.639 meant that you were limited by size. Yeah, you wouldn't 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.399 be able to get too small. But this suddenly created 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:50.280 the possibility of miniaturization on a level that they had 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:54.840 never had before. However, um it did mean that, uh, 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:59.639 there weren't that many customers who needed this yet because 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.560 they're just wasn't a market there, right, So it was 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.679 it was a huge development and it was phenomenal and 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.680 really important in computers and electronics. But at the time 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.280 everyone's like, well, that's cool, but what does it do? 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.200 I don't want to yeah exactly, but we'll we'll understand 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:18.800 there's an interesting, first, really good application for it coming up. 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.840 So that he was not the only person to be 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.639 to work on the integrated circuit and come up with us. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.359 There wasn't a separate group that came up with it 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.960 independently right led by Jack Kilby over at Texas Instruments 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.399 and UM. And the story of that one goes that 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:37.960 the Jack was had only been with Texas Instruments for 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.080 a couple of months and was left alone therefore at 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.680 the offices during a vacation time when everyone else had 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.280 off and just sitting around came up with this with 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.240 a very similar idea for how to um how to 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:54.600 add layers to a wafer before before starting to catch 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:56.840 out the chemical process. And I think the chemical process 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.439 is what Noise really came up with. UM but uh, 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.280 but but but but yeah, anyway, you know they would 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.920 they both applied for patents both companies, and a fair 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.720 Child would wind up winning that one really hard, partially 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.159 because because Noise had sort of expanded upon the same 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.760 concept and uh and filed a much more detailed patent. Right. So, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.560 if you've listened to our episodes on Texas Instruments, you've 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.000 probably heard our story there where we talked about the 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:28.560 integrated circuit. It's interesting and not unusual to see two 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.800 different people in two different companies, not necessarily having any 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:35.240 connection with one another, independently come up with the same thing. 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:37.800 We've seen this happen again and again, and sometimes it 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.439 just kind of indicates that the time was right, like 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:44.439 enough of the groundwork had been laid that someone was 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:46.400 going to come up with it. And when you've got 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.280 that many brilliant people working on it, surely it shouldn't 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:52.320 come as a surprise that more than one person realized 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:54.920 how it was going to work. In this case, we 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.760 give the credit largely to two Noise. At least he 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.480 got the patent for it UM. In nineteen fifty nine, 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:08.119 Gene Herny created the first planar transistor. Now it's gonna 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.480 it's kind of complicated to talk about what exactly the 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.800 planar transistor is, but in general, the earlier transistors had 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:19.440 exposed junctions which made them less efficient when they were 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.959 processing electricity, when they were doing whatever it was they 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.280 were supposed to be doing. In that particular transistor, uh, 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:28.680 there was a lot of leakage, which meant that not 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.040 all the electrons were going where you wanted them to go, 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.840 and you had a lot of wasted power. In that case, 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:38.600 the planar approach meant that. And planars p l A 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.840 in a R, which was at least for a long 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:43.760 time I'm not sure if it still is. Was a 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:48.200 proprietary word owned by Fairchild. Interesting that that they've made 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.320 a good couple million bucks on licensing for Wow. I 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:54.040 did not know that. I didn't see that in my research. Well, 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.119 at any rate, they according to what I read the 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.440 reason The main reason they called it that was because 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:02.760 it ended up having these uh there were these protective 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.480 layers that were on top of these transistors, and the 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:07.679 conventional wisdom at the time was that you need to 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:10.159 remove those at the end of processing in order for 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.560 this transistor to work. There are a lot of engineers 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.399 who were of the opinion that if you were to 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.639 leave those layers in place, it wouldn't either the transistor 0:22:19.640 --> 0:22:22.879 wouldn't work properly, it would be less efficient, or it 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:26.560 just would It just was a wasteful idea. That was 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:31.000 something that Hernie said, No, that's let's try this and 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:34.479 created a transistor using this approach where those layers were 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.400 left in place, and it actually created a much more 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:41.879 efficient transistor. And uh So, the reason I've seen of 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.240 why it was called planars because the transistor itself was 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.160 flat because those layers had not been removed. There are other, 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.480