The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution
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114 “Request for . . .” and other motions: In docket.
114 Borovoy’s brief included; “Note that this . . .”: Copy of brief in docket.
114 “we are not particularly . . .”: Opinion of the Patent Office Board of Patent Interferences, No. 92,841, Feb. 24, 1967 (in docket).
115 CCPA decision: Kilby v. Noyce, 416 F2d. 1391 (CCPA, 1969).
115 “Denied”: Kilby v. Noyce, cert. denied Oct. 12, 1970 (in docket).
115 in the summer of 1966: Interviews with Sharp and Borovoy; Electronics News, May 9, 1966, p. 1.
117 “Patent Appeals Court Finds . . .”: Cf. Electronics News, Nov. 24, 1969, p. 63.
Chapter 6: The Real Miracle
118 March 24, 1959; “solid circuits”: Interviews with Jack Kilby and Willis Adcock. Cf. Electronics, Mar. 13, 1959.
118 a lavish prediction . . . from TI’s president: Editors of Electronics, An Age of Innovation, p. 84.
118 “It wasn’t a sensation”: Interview with Kilby.
118 In its special issue: Electronics, Mar. 13, 1959.
119 “match-head size solid-state circuit”: Ibid., Apr. 3, 1959, p. 11.
119 “There was a lot of flak . . .”: Interview with Kilby.
119 The critics identified three; “These objections were . . .”: Kilby, “Invention of the Integrated Circuit,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, July 1976, p. 652.
119 one common line of analysis: Interview with Robert Noyce. Cf. Noyce, “Microelectronics,” Scientific American, September 1977, p. 67.
119 the giants of the industry . . . kept themselves clear: Ibid.; also, Noyce, Scientific American, September 1977, p. 68.
120 “The synergy between a new component . . .”: Noyce, Scientific American, September 1977, p. 63.
121 traditional economies were reversed: Ibid.
122 On Beyond Zebra: Dr. Seuss, On Beyond Zebra (New York: Random House, 1955).
123 positional notation; invention of a symbol: Isaac Asimov, Asimov on Numbers (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 21–28.
127 ones-complement subtraction: Albert Paul Malvino, Digital Computer Electronics, pp. 81–84.
129 “Accused Had Powerful Brain”: Andrew Hodges, Alan Turing: The Enigma, p. 474.
129 “One day ladies will take . . .”; “in about fifty years’ time.”: Ibid., pp. 418, 417.
130 The filmmaker Stanley Kubrick: Ibid., p. 533.
130 Turing wrote, it was natural enough: Ibid., p. 320.
130 “We feel strongly in favor . . .”: John von Neumann et al., “Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument,” in John Diebold, ed., The World of the Computer, p. 54.
130 One was that the human race: Phillips, “Binary Calculation” (1936), in Brian Randell, ed., The Origins of Digital Computers (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1975), p. 293.
131 “The one disadvantage of the binary system . . .”: Diebold, pp. 55–56.
131 decoder: Eugene McWhorter, Understanding Digital Electronics, pp. 8–12.
132 “flash of psychological insight”: Mary E. Boole, A Boolean Anthology, pp. 61, 62; William Kneale, “Boole and the Revival of Logic,” Mind, vol. 57 (April 1948), p. 152.
133 “that his children not be allowed . . .”: Kneale, quoted in James R. Newman, The World of Mathematics, vol. 3, p. 1854.
133 “The design of the following treatise . . .”: George Boole, The Laws of Thought, p. 1.
134 “Sonnet to the Number Three”: Kneale, vol. 57.
134 “No mere mathematician can understand . . .”: M. Boole, p. 68.
135 x(1 − y)(1 − z) + y(1 − x)(1 − z) . . .: G. Boole, The Laws of Thought.
135 x = x2: Ibid., p. 64.
136 “ ‘You are sad,’ the Knight said . . .”: Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass.
136 In Principia Mathematica: Newman, vol. 3, pp. 1894–95.
136 “The abstract doctrines . . .”: G. Boole.
136 Vannevar Bush, had designed: Herman Goldstine, The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann, p. 90.
138 “Programming a Computer for Playing Chess”: Philosophical Magazine, vol. 41 (1950), p. 256.
138 “Squdgy fez, blank jimp crwth vox!”: The New York Times, Aug. 16, 1972, p. 36.
139 “It is possible to perform . . .”: Claude Shannon, “A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits,” AIEE Transactions, vol. 57 (1938), p. 722.
140 “In fact, any operation . . .”: Ibid.
142 gates: Cf. Jacob Millman, Microelectronics, p. 123.
Chapter 7: Blasting Off
144 a new line of six different... “Micrologic elements”: Electronics, Mar. 31, 1961, p. 91.
144 a similar series of “solid circuits”: Interview with Jack Kilby; Editors of Electronics, An Age of Innovation, p. 83.
144 priced at $120: Electronics, Mar. 31, 1961, p. 76.
144 “There was the natural . . .”: Interview with Robert Noyce.
145 learning curve: Ernest Braun and Stuart MacDonald, Revolution in Miniature, p. 82.
146 “The space program badly needed . . .”: Interview with Jack Kilby.
146 U.S. electronics companies complained: Cf. “Competitive Factors Influencing World Trade in Semiconductors,” Hearings before U.S. House Subcommittee on Trade, No. 96–62, Nov. 30, 1979.
147 A study published in 1977: Linville and Hogan, in Science, Mar. 18, 1977, p. 1109.
147 federal government remained the largest buyer: Forbes, Feb. 15, 1971, p. 21; Braun and MacDonald, pp. 141–42.
147 “The general rule of thumb . . .”: Interview with Noyce.
147 specifications called for every single component: Interview with Willis Adcock; Braun and MacDonald, p. 114.
147 Testing, retesting, and re-retesting: Jack A. Morton, Organizing for Innovation, p. 106; Business Week, Apr. 14, 1962, p. 168.
147 services went off in three different directions: Kilby, “Invention of the Integrated Circuit,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, July 1976, p. 649.
148 “molecular electronics”: Cf. Air Force Systems Command, Integrated Circuits Come of Age (United States Air Force, 1966), p. 4.
148 “The idea of it was . . .”: Interview with Noyce.
149 “TI has always followed a strategy . . .”: Interview with Kilby.
149 “The development of integrated circuits . . .”: Integrated Circuits Come of Age, p. 1.
149 “almost an insult”; “The missile program and the . . .”: Interview with Noyce.
150 The designers of Minuteman II . . . 4,000 chips per month: Integrated Circuits Come of Age, p. 16; An Age of Innovation, p. 325.
150 About 500,000 . . . were sold . . . and quadrupled again: Kraus, An Economic Study of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry, pp. 80, 209.
151 “From a marketing standpoint . . .”: Interview with Kilby.
151 The first chip sold for the commercial market: Integrated Circuits Come of Age, p. 20.
152 In 1963 the price of an average chip: “A Report on the U.S. Semiconductor Industry,” U.S. Commerce Department 99, p. 50; Electronic Industries Association, Market Data Book 1975, p. 84.
152 “A single speck of dust . . .”: Interview with Noyce.
153 “I did it sort of tongue-in-cheek . . .”: Interview with Gordon Moore.
154 256M chip: “Physics and the Information Revolution,” Physics Today, January 2000.
154 Pentium IV: Ibid.
156 “We would cruise comfortably . . .”: Moore, “The Cost Structure of the Semiconductor Industry,” IEEE Transactions Consumer Electronics, February 1977.
156 “Progress has been astonishing . . .”: Noyce, “Microelectronics,” Scientific American, September 1977, p. 65.
157 IBM brought out . . . System 360 . . . competitors had to: An Age of Innovation, p. 339 ff.
159 A monograph that appeared: David A. Hodges, “Large-Capacity Semiconductor Memory,” IEEE Proceedings, July 1968, p. 1148.
161 Intel rang up
a grand total: Fortune, November 1973, p. 142.
161 linear, or analog, integrated circuit: Jacob Millman, Microelectronics, p. 333.
162 “We reached a point . . .”: Interview with Moore.
163 To maintain its explosive rate of growth: Cf. Moore, “The Cost Structure of the Semiconductor Industry.”
Chapter 8: The Implosion
164 “Pervasiveness”: Interviews with Jack Kilby and Willis Adcock; Robert Noyce, “Microelectronics,” Scientific American, September 1977, p. 69.
165 “We knew we were doing pretty well . . .”: Patrick Haggerty, “A New Challenge,” remarks at 25th anniversary observance, transistor radio (Dallas: Texas Instruments, 1980), p. 1.
165 Some Texas Instruments people say: Interviews with Adcock and Terry Merryman.
165 “if that little outfit down in Texas . . .”: Haggerty, “A New Challenge,” p. 1.
166 Haggerty started talking: Interview with Kilby.
167 “I sort of defined . . .”: Ibid.
167 “It was a miserable . . .”; “He’s one of these guys . . .”: Ibid.
168 “that you’re going to find an answer if you think . . .”: Interview with Merryman.
169 “The basic rule was . . .”; “That way, all the bits . . .”: Ibid.
170 “We were trying . . .”: Ibid.
171 “the thing was all laid out . . .”: Ibid.
172 “How many housewives . . .”: Ernest Braun and Stuart MacDonald, Revolution in Miniature, p. 175.
173 the first digital watch: Editors of Electronics, An Age of Innovation, p. 398.
174 The story of the microprocessor begins: Robert Noyce and Marcian E. Hoff, “A History of Microprocessor Development at Intel,” IEEE Micro, February 1981, p. 8 ff; Howard Libes, “The First Ten Years of American Computing,” Byte, July 1978, p. 64 ff.
175 “If this continued . . .”: Noyce and Hoff, p. 8.
176 Accordingly, Busicom told Intel: Ibid., p. 13.
177 “insert intelligence into many products . . .”: Ibid.
177 “computer on a chip”: Cf. advertisement in Electronics News, Nov. 15, 1971.
177 the first patent awarded for a microprocessor: U.S. Patent No. 3,757,306.
177 actually was a computer on a chip: U.S. Patent No. 4,074,351.
178 The introductory price was $200: Libes, p. 68.
179 “Project Breakthrough! . . .”: Popular Electronics, January 1975.
180 Homebrew Computer Club: Time, Jan. 3, 1983.
182 “Clearly, a world with . . .”: Interview with Noyce.
Chapter 9: DIM-I
183 a summer day in 1976: The New York Times, July 11, 1976, sec. 3, p. 13; interview with Dr. Uta Merzbach of the Smithsonian Institution.
183 had watched sales fall: The New York Times, Jan. 3, 1982, sec. 4, p. 9.
184 “Calculator usage is now . . .”: Ibid., July 11, 1976, sec. 3, p. 13.
184 “That silent computational . . .”: Henry Petroski, “Reflections on a Slide Rule,” Technology Review, February/March 1981, p. 32.
185 “The absence of a decimal point . . .”: Ibid., p. 35.
186 “It has a sort of . . .”: Interview with Jack Kilby.
189 TMS 1000C: “Semiconductor Products Master Selection Guide” (Dallas: Texas Instruments, 1982), p. 9.
191 This is a fairly standard clock rate: Eugene McWhorter, “The Small Electronic Calculator,” Scientific American, March 1976, p. 88.
193 propagation delay: Cf. Jacob Millman, Microelectronics, pp. 161, 225.
200 LED and LCD: Eugene W. McWhorter, Understanding Digital Elec tronics (Dallas: Texas Instruments, 1984), pp. 1–7.
205 truth table: Scientific American, Microelectronics, pp. 29–30.
Chapter 10: Sunset, Sunrise
210 on the morning of June 27: Interview with Jack Kilby.
210 TO ALL TO WHOM . . .: U.S. Patent Office, Letters Patent No. 3,819,921.
211 Since its first appearance in the 1930s: John McPhee, The Impact of Electronics on the U.S. Calculator Industry, 1965 to 1974 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1975), pp. 6–8.
212 “With innovative products . . .”; “an excellent illustration . . .”: Ibid., pp. 3, 1.
212 TI sued Casio: Interview with Melvin Sharp, patent counsel, TI.
212 “Since 1974, the situation has once again . . .”: The U.S. Calculator Industry Since 1974 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1977), p. 1.
213 Japanese made about 45 percent: Ibid., p. 7.
213 By the early 1980s: Interview with John McPhee, Office of Business Research and Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.
213 “This pattern of market activity . . .”: The U.S. Calculator Industry Since 1974, p. 1.
214 television history: G.W.A. Dummer, Electronic Inventions and Discoveries, 3rd ed., p. 27; Bingley, “A Half-Century of Television Reception,” IRE Proceedings, May 1962, pp. 799–802; S. Handel, The Electronic Revolution, pp. 68–72, 129 ff.
214 the term “television”: Elizabeth Antébi, The Electronic Epoch, p. 149.
215 Zworykin; Farnsworth: Handel, pp. 68–72.
215 6,000 television sets . . . two years later, 7 million: Jack Baranson, The Japanese Challenge to U.S. Industry (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1981), p. 75.
216 U.S. television manufacturers developed a marketing: U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Industrial Competitiveness (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, 1981), p. 78. Hereafter called OTA Study.
216 purchased the rights to more than 400 patents: Baranson, p. 38.
216 Japanese television firms approached: OTA Study, pp. 78–79; National Science Foundation, The Five-Year Outlook for Science and Technology, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981), pp. 409–10.
217 The results: Baranson, pp. 75–78; Five-Year Outlook, pp. 409–11.
217 But the color TV market turned into: Baranson, p. 77.
217 Admiral; Motorola: Ibid., table 5–1, p. 77.
217 some Japanese competitors were “dumping”; “orderly marketing agreement”: Ibid., p. 82; OTA Study, pp. 114–16.
218 to a single chart: The U.S. Consumer Electronic Industry and Foreign Competition (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1980), p. 2.
219 between 1964 and 1970, royalty payments: John Tilton, International Diffusion of Technology (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1971), p. 166.
219 For some U.S. firms, particularly Fairchild: Finan, The International Transfer of Semiconductor Technology Through U.S.-Based Firms (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1975), p. 47; Interview with Roger Borovoy, Intel Corporation.
219 “American firms have generally . . .”: Tilton, p. 166.
220 TI spurned royalty payments . . . the Dallas firm was: Ibid., pp. 146–47; The Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1980, p. E2.
220 “vision,” for the 1980s: U.S. Congress, Joint Economic Committee, International Competition in Advanced Industrial Sectors: Trade and Development in the Semiconductor Industry (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congress, 1982), p. 56.
221 In the 1950s, for example . . . Japan’s foray into: Interview with Kobayashi; OTA Study, pp. 78–92.
221 Just as MITI planned it: OTA Study, pp. 79–94.
222 By 1980 the Japanese had 42 percent . . . By 1983 they: The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 17, 1981, p. 1.
223 “The television people woke up . . .”: The New York Times, Jan. 18, 1978, p. D1.
224 “I just don’t want to pretend . . .”: Ibid., Apr. 4, 1982, sec. F, p. 14.
224 The dissenters pointed out: The Washington Post, Mar. 23, 1980, p. E2; Inquiry, November 1983, p. 12.
225 “The Anderson Bombshell”: The Rosen Electronics Letter, Mar. 31, 1980, p. 3.
225 Anderson paper: Printed in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Market Conditions and International Trade in Semiconductors, no. 96–60, Apr. 28, 1980, pp. 36–41.
227 “U.S. Microelectronics Firm
s . . .”: The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 17, 1981, p. 20.
228 “Well, I’m not doing anything . . .”: Interview with W. Edwards Deming.
229 “14 points”: Deming, Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, pp. 11–17.
229 “It’s so simple . . .”; “By describing statistically . . .”: Deming, lecture at Falmouth, Massachusetts, Mar. 25, 1983.
230 “To save 15 cents per spool . . .”; “. . . before it gets to your inspectors?”: Interview with Deming.
231 “The total cost to produce and dispose of . . .”: Deming, Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, p. 21.
231 “Brilliant applications burned, sputtered . . .”: Ibid., p. 101.
232 “I predicted . . .”; “Once you convince . . .”: Interview with Deming.
233 Third Wave: King, “Introducing the Deming Approach to Management Growth Opportunity Alliance,” Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1983, p. 1.
234 “The way to compete . . .”: Interview with Deming.
235 began to sound very much: “The International Microelectronic Challenge,” Semiconductor Industry Association, May 1982, pp. 21–32, 41.
236 “Many of the Japanese practices are . . .”: Field hearing on international policy, U.S. House Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, Aug. 18, 1983, p. 21 (stenographic transcript).
237 “Price wasn’t much . . .”: Robert Noyce, in Fortune, June 20, 1988, p. 58.
239 “mothers who say proudly . . .”: Fortune, June 5, 1989, p. 248.
239 broader problem of American “decline”: James Fallows, Looking at the Sun (New York: Pantheon, 1994), chap. 1.
240 American industry had caught up: The Washington Post, Nov. 20, 1992, p. A1.
Chapter 11: The Patriarchs
241 “I just sort of drifted into it”: Interview with Robert Noyce.
242 “Bob was everybody’s choice”: Interview with Gordon Moore.
242 “One of the real problems . . . for what can be done”: Interview with Noyce.
243 when he and his seven cofounders sold: Gene Bylinsky, The Innovation Millionaires (New York: Scribner, 1976), p. 64.
243 “comfortable with risk”; “intuitive gut feel”: Interview with Noyce.
245 “Intel became . . .”: The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4, 1983, p. 21.
245 In the year 2000: Intel Corporation, Annual Report, 2000.