Editing Integrated circuit (section)

=== The first integrated circuits ===
{{Main|Invention of the integrated circuit}}
{{See also|Planar process|p–n junction isolation|Surface passivation}}
[[File:Robert Noyce with Motherboard 1959.png|thumb|[[Robert Noyce]] invented the first monolithic integrated circuit in 1959. The chip was made from [[silicon]].]]

A precursor idea to the IC was to create small ceramic substrates (so-called ''micromodules''),<ref name=micromodules/> each containing a single miniaturized component. Components could then be integrated and wired into a bidimensional or tridimensional compact grid. This idea, which seemed very promising in 1957, was proposed to the US Army by [[Jack Kilby]]<ref name="micromodules" /> and led to the short-lived Micromodule Program (similar to 1951's Project Tinkertoy).<ref name= micromodules >{{Cite web|url=http://www.eetimes.com/special/special_issues/millennium/milestones/kilby.html|title=Micromodules: the ultimate package|last=Rostky|first=George|website=EE Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107111717/http://www.eetimes.com/special/special_issues/millennium/milestones/kilby.html|archive-date=2010-01-07|access-date=2018-04-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chipsetc.com/the-rca-micromodule.html|title=The RCA Micromodule|website=Vintage Computer Chip Collectibles, Memorabilia & Jewelry|access-date=2018-04-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdCjBQAAQBAJ&q=micromodule&pg=PA392|title=American Microelectronics Data Annual 1964–65|last1=Dummer|first1=G.W.A.|last2=Robertson|first2=J. Mackenzie|date=2014-05-16|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-1-4831-8549-1|pages=392–397, 405–406}}</ref> However, as the project was gaining momentum, Kilby came up with a new, revolutionary design: the&nbsp;IC.

Newly employed by [[Texas Instruments]], Kilby recorded his initial ideas concerning the integrated circuit in July 1958, successfully demonstrating the first working example of an integrated circuit on 12 September 1958.<ref name="TIJackBuilt">{{cite web | title=The Chip That Jack Built Changed the World | website=ti.com | date=1997-09-09 | url=http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackbuilt.shtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000418135808/http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackbuilt.shtml | archive-date=2000-04-18 | url-status=unfit}}</ref> In his patent application of 6 February 1959,<ref>{{cite patent |inventor-last=Kilby |inventor-first=Jack S. |title=Miniaturized Electronic Circuits |country=US |status=Patent|number=3138743 |fdate=6 February 1959 |pubdate=23 June 1964}}</ref> Kilby described his new device as "a body of semiconductor material … wherein all the components of the electronic circuit are completely integrated".<ref>{{cite book| last = Winston| first = Brian| title = Media Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gfeCXlElJTwC&pg=PA221| year = 1998| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-415-14230-4| page = 221 }}</ref> The first customer for the new invention was the [[US Air Force]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/history/timeline/defense/1960/docs/61-first_ic.htm |title=Texas Instruments – 1961 First IC-based computer |publisher=Ti.com |access-date=2012-08-13}}</ref> Kilby won the 2000 [[Nobel Prize]] in physics for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 | website=NobelPrize.org | date=2000-10-10 | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2000/press-release/}}</ref>

However, Kilby's invention was not a true monolithic integrated circuit chip since it had external gold-wire connections, which would have made it difficult to mass-produce.<ref name="nasa">{{cite web |title=Integrated circuits |url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ic-pg3.html |website=[[NASA]] |access-date=13 August 2019}}</ref> Half a year after Kilby, [[Robert Noyce]] at [[Fairchild Semiconductor]] invented the first true monolithic IC chip.<ref name="computerhistory1959">{{cite web |title=1959: Practical Monolithic Integrated Circuit Concept Patented |url=https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/practical-monolithic-integrated-circuit-concept-patented/ |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |access-date=13 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="nasa"/> More practical than Kilby's implementation, Noyce's chip was made of [[silicon]], whereas Kilby's was made of [[germanium]], and Noyce's was fabricated using the [[planar process]], developed in early 1959 by his colleague [[Jean Hoerni]] and included the critical on-chip aluminum interconnecting lines. Modern IC chips are based on Noyce's monolithic IC,<ref name="computerhistory1959"/><ref name="nasa"/> rather than Kilby's.

NASA's Apollo Program was the largest single consumer of integrated circuits between 1961 and 1965.<ref name="eldon">{{cite book | last=Hall | first=Eldon C. | title=Journey to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Guidance Computer | publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics | series=Library of Flight | year=1996 | isbn=978-1-56347-185-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8Dml1x55r0C | access-date=2023-10-05 | pages=18–19}}</ref>