Classics: Invention of The Integrated Circuit
Classics: Invention of The Integrated Circuit
Jack Kilby demonstrated the working of the world's first integrated circuit in September 1958. He was awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics in the year 2000 for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit. The following
paper which is reprinted from the July 1976 issue of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, describes the
developments that led to the invention of the integrated circuit. It is from the pen of the inventor, Jack Kilby
himself.
Y N Srikant
BACKGROUND
The first electronic equipments were composed of a few dozen components and could
readily be assembled by hand-soldering techniques. Each component was manufactured
separately by a process optimized for the purpose. As electronic equipment became more
complex, shortcomings in this procedure began to appear. The cost of the equipment
increased more rapidly than the component count, and equipment reliability suffered a
corresponding decrease.
Because of their interest in complex electronic systems, the problem was particularly
apparent to the military. Each B-29 required nearly a thousand vacuum tubes and tens of
thousands of passive devices. Its electronics equipments were among the most complex
systems in being at the time.
By the end of World War II it was apparent that future systems would be limited by the
cost, bulk, and reliability of the electronics.
One of the first attempts to simplify the manufacturing process was carried out under
National Bureau of Standards sponsorship. Their proximity fuse requirements necessi-
tated compact rugged electronic subsystems. The Centralab Division of Globe-Union,
Inc. proposed a design in which ceramic substrates would carry metal interconnections
Reproduced with permission from IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vol.ED-23, No.7, July 1976.
and chip capacitors, with miniaturized vacuum tubes attached. This proposal was
developed by Rubenstein, Ehlers, Sherwood, and White of Centralab [11, and was
probably the first attempt to form components in situ.
After the war, NBS and Centralab continued to work in this area. The Centralab effort,
under R. L. Wolff and A. S. Khouri, developed high-volume screening techniques for
production. Centralab built substantial quantities of amplifiers for hearing aid applica-
tions, with several dozen passive components and three or four tube sockets for active
device attachment. They further simplified the concept by the use of a substrate with a
high dielectric constant, permitting the fabrication of low cost RC networks for radio and
television applications. About 140 million circuits of this type were produced by 1962.
The NBS effort, originally led by Brunetti and later by Franklin [2], also continued to
develop two-dimension (2-D) circuit assemblies. A complete in-house fabrication capa-
bility was established. In the early 1950’s, Robert Henry of this group, working under
Navy sponsorship, abandoned the 2-D concept and produced a novel design in which
ceramic wafers with one to four passive components per wafer were stacked and
interconnected with vertical riser wires. A tube socket was mounted above the assembly
so that each module was a complete functional unit. The concept was christened
“Tinkertoy” [3], and a mechanized line for production of finished assemblies was
established by a division of Illinois Tool Works. More than 5 million modules were
produced by the time the line ceased operation.
During the period, electronic designs were limited by the facts-of-life of the vacuum tube.
Tubes were large and expensive in comparison to most of the passive components. Their
life was limited, so that frequent replacements were necessary. They dissipated a
significant amount of power, requiring provisions for cooling. All of these factors
changed dramatically with the invention of the transistor in 1948.
Although it required several years, the existing technologies were modified to accept the
transistor. The Tinkertoy approach was abandoned, and replaced by the Micro-Module
program under Signal Corps sponsorship. The Micro-Module program was a major effort
[5]. RCA was selected as the prime contractor, and more than $25 million was spent.
Most was spent within RCA, but small contracts were let to encourage other component
manufacturers to repackage their parts into wafer format.
DOFL and Centralab adapted their two-dimension designs for transistors. DOFL pro-
posed to insert transistors into the substrate and connect them to the substrate with a
photolithographic technique [6]. This process, developed by Lathrop and Nall, was one
of the first applications of photolithography in the electronics industry. The Centralab
work will be described in a later section.
At about this time several companies began to propose the use of evaporated films as a
substitute for the screened components of Centralab and DOFL. Varo and G.E. were
particularly active in this area. One of the dimly seen advantages of the evaporation
technique was that it would some day permit the fabrication of thin-film active devices.
This concept was supported by the Navy, although few contracts were let.
The transistor also suggested concepts based on semiconductor technology. The first to
perceive the possibility was G.W.A. Dummer of the Royal Radar Establishment in
England.
Addressing the Electronic Components Conference in 1952, he said, “With the advent of
the transistor and the work in semiconductors generally, it seems now possible to
envisage electronics equipment in a solid block with no connecting wires. The block may
consist of layers of insulating, conducting, rectifying, and amplifying materials, the
electrical functions being connected directly by cutting out areas of the various layers.”
This remarkable statement was not explicit as to how such devices might be realized. The
use of terms such as “insulating” and “amplifying” layers does not suggest the use of
circuit techniques. In 1956 Dummer let a small contract to a British manufacturer. They
were unsuccessful in realizing a working device, primarily because they were working
with grown-junction techniques.
In the early 1950’s, perhaps as a result of Dummer’s comments, the Air Force began to
define an approach which would be called “Molecular Electronics.” This approach [7]
proposed to depart from the electronic circuits of the past, and to develop new structures
which would perform the desired functions more directly. A quartz crystal was the
preferred example of a molecular device, performing the functions of an inductance and
capacitance without a part-for-part equivalence. Resistors were to be avoided because
they wasted power. Although the effort was not limited to semiconductors, it was
expected that these materials would play a large part.
In 1957 and 1958 the Air Force discussed this concept with Westinghouse, and a contract
was awarded in 1959. Representative Air Force equipments were to be examined, and
new devices to perform the desired functions were to be systematically invented. The
program was funded at a $2 million per year rate, over the strenuous objections of the
other services.
By the beginning of 1958 each of the three services had chosen a position. The Army was
heavily committed to the Signal Corps Micro-Module, although DOFL still favored 2-D
circuits and continued to work on them. The Navy did not have a program, but clearly
favored thin film technology. The Air Force was committed to Molecular Electronics, an
approach which was considered hopelessly far out by the other services. Small R & D
efforts existed within the major electronic firms, most supporting the Signal Corps or the
Navy.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
In 1947 I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in electrical engineering.
I was hired by A. S. Khouri of Centralab to work on screened circuits. My duties included
design and product engineering work on hearing aid amplifiers and RC networks.
In 1952 Centralab acquired a transistor license from Bell, and R. L. Wolff and I attended
the first symposium for licensees. When we returned I was made leader of a three-man
project to build transistors and to incorporate them into Centralab products. We built a
reduction furnace, crystal puller, and zone refiner and began to make germanium alloy
devices.
The proposed design was novel, in that the unprotected transistors were mounted in a
plastic carrier. Environmental protection was to be provided using the ceramic substrate
as a part of the hermetic seal. For audio applications, large-value capacitors were
required. These were provided by the development of the reduced titanate capacitor [8],
also basically a semiconducting device. A unit of this type is shown in Fig. 1. I reported
to and was encouraged in the project by R. L. Wolff.
By 1957 a small production facility had been established, and we were selling small
quantities of amplifiers for hearing aids and some other applications [9]. The operation
was marginally profitable, but it was clear that major expenditures would soon be
required. The military market represented a major opportunity, but required silicon
devices. The advantages of the diffused transistor were becoming apparent, and its
development also would have required expenditures beyond the capability of Centralab.
I felt that changes were coming so rapidly that it would not be possible for very small
groups with limited funding to be competitive. I decided to leave the company.
After several interviews, I was hired by Willis Adcock of Texas Instruments. My duties
were not precisely defined, but it was understood that I would work in the general area of
microminiaturization. Soon after starting at TI in May 1958, I realized that since the
company made transistors, resistors, and capacitors, a repackaging effort might provide
an effective alternative to the Micro-Module. I therefore designed an IF amplifier using
components in a tubular format and built a prototype. We also performed a detailed cost
analysis, which was completed just a few days before the plant shut down for a mass
vacation.
As a new employee, I had no vacation time coming and was left alone to ponder the results
of the IF amplifier exercise. The cost analysis gave me my first insight into the cost
structure of a semiconductor house. The numbers were high—very high—and I felt it
likely that I would be assigned to work on a proposal for the Micro-Module program
when vacation was over unless I came up with a good idea very quickly. In my
discouraged mood, I began to feel that the only thing a semiconductor house could make
in a cost-effective way was a semiconductor. Further thought led me to the conclusion
that semiconductors were all that were really required—that resistors and capacitors, in
particular, could be made from the same material as the active devices.
I also realized that, since all of the components could be made of a single material, they
could also be made in situ, interconnected to form a complete circuit. I then quickly
sketched a proposed design for a flip-flop using these components. Resistors were
provided by bulk effect in the silicon, and capacitors by p-n junctions.
These sketches were quickly completed, and I showed them to Adcock upon his return
from vacation. He was enthused but skeptical and asked for some proof that circuits made
entirely of semiconductors would work. I therefore built up a circuit using discrete silicon
elements. Packaged grown-junction transistors were used. Resistors were formed by
cutting small bars of silicon and etching to value. Capacitors were cut from diffused
silicon power transistor wafers, metallized on both sides. This unit was assembled and
demonstrated to Adcock on August 28, 1958.
Although this test showed that circuits could be built with all semiconductor elements, it
was not integrated. I immediately attempted to build an integrated structure, as initially
planned. At that time Texas Instruments had a very strong capability in grown-junction
devices but had just begun to work seriously on diffused structures. One silicon
transistor, a power device with alloyed emitter, was in production, as were several small-
signal germanium devices. At that time the germanium transistors were made with about
25 devices on a 0.4-in-square wafer. Emitter and base contacts were evaporated through
metal masks. Mesas were etched after hand masking with black wax.
I obtained several wafers, diffused and with contacts in place. By choosing the circuit, I
was able to lay out two structures that would use the existing contacts on the wafers. The
first circuit attempted was a phase-shift oscillator, a favorite demonstration vehicle for
linear circuits at that time. Technicians “Pat” Harbrecht and Tom Yeargan cut the wafers
into bars about 1/16 in wide and 0.4 in long. Metal tabs were alloyed to the back of the bar
to provide contacts to the bulk resistors. Black wax was applied by hand to mask the
mesas, one for the transistor and a larger one for a diffused region forming a distributed
RC network. This structure is shown in Fig. 2. A flip-flop was also built in this manner
as shown in Fig. 3.
REDUCTION TO PRACTICE
On September 12, 1958 the first three oscillators of this type were completed. When
power was applied, the first unit oscillated at about 1.3 megacycles. This test was
witnessed by Mark Shepherd, Cecil Dotson, Willis Adcock, and several others.
To show that digital circuits could be built, the same techniques were used to build a flip-
flop. This unit was completed on September 19. Both the phase-shift oscillator and the
multivibrator were thus built from existing materials. The only “tooling” for these units
consisted of small graphite jigs used to position the metal tabs used for back contacts.
At about this time, J. W. Lathrop had started work in TI’s Research and Engineering
Department. Jay had been at DOFL, where he and James Nall pioneered in the use of
photolithographic techniques for semiconductor devices. Lathrop quickly set up a small
facility for making photo-masks and began to develop the necessary device processing
techniques. Although his primary responsibility was the development of processes for
discrete devices, his experience at DOFL made him highly interested in my work, and he
became quickly involved in preparation of masks for the new integrated designs.
I soon expanded the concept by the addition of more stable components. In November,
capacitors were built using oxide layers on silicon, and early in December, the first
diffused-layer resistors were built and tested. The improved stability of these compo-
nents was recognized as being of basic importance to future design. During this time,
consideration was also given to packaging techniques, and the now familiar 1/8 u 1/4 in
flat-pack dimensions were chosen. This form factor was chosen deliberately, to em-
phasize that this technique was new and basically different from those which had been
proposed previously. During this period it was also recognized that metal resistors of high
precision could be evaporated on an oxide layer on the surface of the silicon. This
technique is now used in some radiation-hard circuits.
Early in October the design of a new germanium flip-flop was started. This unit was the
first to be built from scratch. It used bulk resistors, junction capacitors, and mesa
transistors as shown in Fig. 4. Diffusions were made by Dub Little, and photo-etching
techniques were developed by Jay Lathrop and Lee Barnes. The first working units of this
type were completed early in 1959 and were later used for the first public announcement
of the “Solid Circuit” (integrated circuit) concept at the IRE show in March 1959.
Although the group working on the project during this period was small, TI management
supported the project enthusiastically. P. E. Haggerty, then President of TI, in discussions
with Willis Adcock as early as 1955, had suggested that it should be possible to do more
with semiconductors and felt that the concept was an excellent way to do so. Mark
Shepherd, then responsible for all semiconductor work in the company, was also highly
supportive. Charles Phipps contributed to refinements of the concept and kept us in touch
Fig. 4. Germanium flip-flop using mesa transistors, bulk resistors, diffused capacitors, and air
isolation of the components. From US Patent 3,138,743.
During the fall, we began to inform the military services of the concept. Reactions were
mixed. The Navy had little interest, and no programs were established. The Signal Corps
expressed some interest and began to define a contract which would show that the
technique would be fully compatible with the Micro-Module. Unfortunately, the demon-
stration they had chosen required silicon p-n-p transistors. These proved quite difficult to
fabricate, and by the time the techniques were mastered, the Micro-Module program was
in serious trouble.
The “Solid Circuit” concept caused a major debate within the Air Force. A substantial
budget had been established for work in Molecular Electronics. If the “Solid Circuit” was
indeed a Molecular Electronics concept, support was assured. But most of the strong
Molecular Electronic supporters felt that the TI approach did not qualify. It was a circuit,
and they were not going to have circuits any more. Worst of all, it even had resistors, and
resistors wasted power.
Fortunately, a small group within the Air Force, led by R. D. Alberts of WADC, was able
to prevail. They felt that the concept provided an orderly transition to the new era, and that
by providing a systematic design approach, it eliminated the need to invent the thousands
of new devices which would be required for future equipments.
Albert’s group then provided the first of a series of contracts which proved invaluable in
sustaining the project during the critical years. These included both research and
development efforts to broaden the concept, and manufacturing methods funds which
helped support the first manufacturing line. Demonstration vehicles which clearly
showed the advantages of these new techniques were also included.
In the middle of January 1959, we began to prepare the first patent application. The basic
circuit elements—bulk resistors, diffused resistors, junction capacitors, oxide capacitors,
mesa transistors, and inductances were described, and the design parameters were given
for each. Several techniques of isolation of components were described, including air,
use of intrinsic material, and use of p-n junctions to provide a barrier to current flow. Two
embodiments were chosen to illustrate the concept. One was basically the phase-shift
oscillator of Fig. 2, and the other, the flip-flop shown in Fig. 4. These choices were
basically mine and proved to be poor ones. No complete circuits showing diffused
resistors, oxide capacitors, or inductances were included.
In particular, the omission of an embodiment with several diffused resistors was to have
serious consequences later. The application- was filed on February 6, 1959.
ANNOUNCEMENT
The concept was publicly announced at a press conference in New York on March 6,
1959, during the IRE show. Shepherd said “I consider this to be the most significant
development by Texas Instruments since we divulged the commercial availability of the
silicon transistor.” Haggerty predicted the circuits first would be applied to the further
miniaturization of electronic computers, missiles, and space vehicles and said that any
application to consumer goods such as radio and television receivers would be several
years away.
The announcement was widely reported in the press. Over the next few years debates on
the merits of the integrated circuit provided much of the entertainment at major technical
meetings. Three main objections were foreseen:
1) The concept did not make optimum use of materials. Nichrome made better resistors
and Mylar better capacitors. Performance of the transistors might be degraded by the
inclusion of other components.
2) Circuits of this type were not producible. Component yields were always low, and if
20 components each with 90-percent yield were fabricated monolithically, the overall
yield would be about 12 percent. Similar arithmetic was performed on the large number
of process steps involved.
3) Designs would be expensive and difficult to change. Circuit designers would be out of
a job.
These objections were difficult to overcome because they were all true. They were
persuasive enough that most of the larger laboratories were slow to react, and none
actively endorsed the concept for several years. By then, integrated circuit volumes were
large enough and production costs low enough to make it clear that these objections were
simply irrelevant.
Although the larger companies did not react, several smaller groups did. Within a month,
Kurt Lehovec of Sprague had filed a patent application (Fig. 5) describing structures in
which active devices were separated by multiple p-n junctions. The patent proceeded
rapidly through the Patent Of-
fice, and Lehovec was allowed
claims on “a multiple semicon-
ductor assembly comprising a
semiconductor slice having a plu-
rality of regions of alternating p
and n conductivity types to . . .
provide a plurality of p-n junc-
tions . . . thereby achieving elec-
tric insulation of said compo-
nents ... by the impedance of
said p-n junctions.” In an inter-
ference proceeding, the Patent
Office held that Lehovec was
entitled to claims of this type
since they were not disclosed in
any of the drawings of the Kilby
patent. Whether the “alternating
p-n junctions” exist in modern
Fig. 5. US Patent 3,029,366, describing Lehovec’s alternat-
circuits is not clear. The ques-
ing p-n junctions for isolation.
tion has not been tested in court.
In the fall of 1958 a team led by Jean Hoerni at then newly formed Fairchild Semiconduc-
tor had begun a program to develop an improved core-driver transistor. When the device
was announced in August 1959 it provided a landmark in semiconductor history, since it
represented the first modern diffused transistor. It used the production photolithographic
techniques and a compatible set of diffusion processes previously developed by R. N.
Noyce and G. E. Moore, to produce dished junctions extending to the surface. Oxide
passivation of the surface protected the junctions and provided a reproducibility that
assured more consistency than any previous manufacturing process. This was christened
the “PLANAR” process.
LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION
If all of the structures illustrated seem crude and primitive, it should be noted that one of
the great strengths of the integrated circuit concept has always been that it could draw on
the mainstream efforts of the semiconductor industry. It was not necessary to develop
crystal growing or diffusion processes to build the first circuits, and new techniques such
as epitaxy would be readily adapted to integrated circuit fabrication. Similarly, new
devices such as MOS transistors and Shottky barrier diodes would be phased in as they
became available. Even today, it is difficult to identify a process that is used only for
integrated circuits.
Another strength of the concept was that it could draw on existing circuit technology to
produce a broad range of useful devices. Other early approaches to the problem, such as
those at Westinghouse and others by Johnson [10] and Wallmark [11] of RCA, and
Stewart, Aitken, and Holmquest of TI were directed at specific configurations useful only
for specific applications.
Because of the commonality with existing processes, integrated circuits moved rapidly
into a production status. The first TI device for customer evaluation was announced in
March 1960. In March of 1961, Fairchild announced the Micrologic1 family, a compat-
ible set of digital circuits incorporating junction-isolated diffused resistors and evapo-
rated interconnectors. In October of that year, TI delivered to the Air Force a small
working computer complete with a few hundred bits of semiconductor memory, and
1 This family was designed by Bob Norman and built by a group headed by Jay Last.
Units sold in 1962 were priced at $100 in small quantities and at $50 for larger volumes.
Since that time, the average price has decreased dramatically and was less than eighty
cents per unit in 1975. This is plotted in the form of an experience curve in Fig. 9. In such
2
The Series 51 was designed by Bob Cook. Process Technology was developed by a group under
Jay Lathrop.
plots, a straight line means that the price decreases by a constant percentage each time the
cumulative number of units produced is doubled.
The 1962 units were simple devices with two to four digital gates per package. The 1975
circuits were produced with more than 2000 gates or 4000 bits of memory per package.
Complexity can be measured in terms of active element groups, or AEG. An AEG is a
digital gate, a bit of memory, or a single-stage amplifier. The selling price of an AEG has
of course decreased much more rapidly than that of the average unit and is shown by the
broken line in Fig. 9. Even this line
represents an average; an estimate of
the lowest price per AEG in each year
is also shown in Fig. 9. By the end of
1975 this price was probably about
$0.001 per AEG.
Such remarkable changes have in-
creased the requirements for electronic
circuits. It is estimated that the demand
for circuits increased at about 10 per-
cent per year during the vacuum-tube
era. This was increased by the advent Fig. 9. Integrated circuit selling price, show-
of the transistor to a growth in demand ing cost per unit, cost per AEG, and estimated
of about 19 percent per year, and by the cost of lowest priced AEG since 1962.
Source: Texas Instruments.
early integrated circuits, to about 38
percent per year. It is anticipated that
the availability of present low-cost digi-
tal logic and memory circuits will cause
the demand to increase to a growth rate
of 50 percent to 60 percent per year in
the near future, as shown in Fig. 10.
REFERENCES