INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Follow some of the key milestones in the development of the integrated circuit

1947

The point-contact transistor is invented at Bell Labs. The p-n junction transistor is created the following year.

1952

British electronics engineer Geoffrey Dummer (right) conceives the integrated circuit. He builds a prototype and presents it at a conference in Washington DC.

1958

The first proper integrated circuit is built by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments. It features a transistor, several resistors and a capacitor.

1959

Robert Noyce invents a more practical silicon integrated circuit. He is granted a patent for it two years later.

1961

Commercial, mass-produced integrated circuits begin to be sold by Silicon Valley industry founder, Fairchild Semiconductor.

1965

Electrical engineer Gordon Moore predicts that the integrated circuit density-to-dollar ratio will double every year.

1971

After being founded in 1968, Intel goes on to produce the Intel 4004, the world’s first microprocessor. The processor runs at 108KHZ and has 2,300 transistors.

1981

Very large-scale integration processes are introduced, with circuits exceeding 100,000 transistors.

1989

Intel releases its hugely popular i486 microprocessor unit, which has a commercial record of 1.2 million transistors.

1995

Intel’s Pentium Pro microprocessor unit launches, packed with 5.5 million transistors.

2000

Intel takes speed and transistor count to a whole new level with its Intel Pentium 4 CPU, boasting 42 million transistors.

2005

Moore’s law reaches its 40th anniversary as processors emerge that contain hundreds of millions of transistors.

2011

Transistors start to be manufactured in super-tiny 22-nanometre processes en masse.

2012

Intel begins mass producing 3D transistors with its 22-nanometre process, naming them Tri-gate transistors.

2013

Intel builds a new fabrication facility in Arizona, which is to make chips on a next-gen 14-nanometre process.