In This Issue
DSP Solutions
Mixed-Signal and Analog
Teamwork
App Report
News Briefs |
The chip that Jack built changed the worldWhile most TI employees were on a two-week vacation during the summer of 1958, engineer Jack S. Kilby was busy at work building the first electronic integrated circuit in which all of the components were fabricated in a single 3/16-by-7/16-inch piece of semiconductor material. The device was rough -- a sliver of germanium with protruding wires glued to a glass slide. But when Kilby gathered a few engineers and TI executives for a demonstration on Sept. 12 of that year, the invention worked. The U.S. Air Force showed interest in Kilby's big breakthrough, but the industry was skeptical. The integrated circuit initially won a place in the military market through programs such as the first digital computer using integrated circuits for the Air Force in 1961 and the Minuteman Missile in 1962. TI's chairman at the time recognized the need for a demonstration product to accelerate widespread use of the integrated circuit, so he challenged Kilby to design a calculator as powerful as the large, electro-mechanical desktop models of the day but small enough to fit into a coat pocket. The result, an electronic hand-held calculator of which Kilby is co-inventor, successfully commercialized the integrated circuit, which helped turn the electronics industry into a multibillion business that's projected to continue booming well into the next century.
 Supporting great innovation To coincide with the opening of TI's Kilby Center, an advanced research facility for silicon manufacturing, the TI Foundation donated a $1 million gift to the Kilby Awards Foundation for its continuing contributions to society through recognition of excellence in science, technology and innovation. The TI Foundation also committed an additional $1 million challenge grant for The Kilby Awards Foundation capital endowment campaign. |