Semiconductor Knowledge And Chip Development History

Semiconductor Knowledge and Chip Development History

1、Revisiting the Rapid Development of Semiconductors Over Half a Century

What is a Semiconductor?

A semiconductor is a type of material with electrical conductivity between that of conductors and insulators. Compared to conductors and insulators, semiconductor materials were discovered relatively late. It was not until the 1930s, with improvements in material purification techniques, that the existence of semiconductors was truly acknowledged by the academic community.

Semiconductors mainly consist of four components: integrated circuits, optoelectronic devices, discrete devices, and sensors. Since integrated circuits account for more than 80% of semiconductor devices, semiconductors are often equated with integrated circuits.

Integrated circuits are further categorized into four main types: microprocessors, memory, logic devices, and analog devices. They are commonly referred to as chips. When people mention chips, they often refer to a black, box-like object composed of transistors.

What is a Transistor?

Strictly speaking, a transistor broadly refers to any single-element based on semiconductor materials, including various devices such as diodes, triodes, field-effect transistors, and thyristors made from semiconductor materials. Transistor sometimes specifically refers to bipolar junction transistors.

Therefore, we can understand that transistors are manufactured from semiconductor materials, and these transistors compose chips.

2、Birth of the Transistor

The invention of the transistor can be traced back to 1929 when engineer Lilienfeld obtained a patent for a type of transistor. However, due to the technological limitations at that time, the materials for manufacturing transistors did not reach the required purity, making their production impossible.

In December 1947, a research team at Bell Labs, consisting of Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain, developed a point-contact germanium transistor.

In 1956, Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain, for their invention of the transistor, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Shockley is also hailed as the father of the transistor.

Considering the powerful capabilities of chips, why are transistors suitable?

For digital circuits, logic is their essence, and all functions ultimately boil down to logical functions. The basic building blocks of logic are logic 0 and logic 1.

Transistors precisely serve this function—controlling their own opening and closing through electrical signals to represent 0 and 1 by the state of the switch being open or closed.

3、Gossip in History

Of course, merely discussing principles or history would be boring. Let's explore some gossip from the development of semiconductors.

As mentioned earlier, Shockley, acclaimed as the "father of the transistor," was born in London and moved to California with his parents at the age of three. Influenced by his parents' instilled scientific thinking, he entered MIT and later obtained a Ph.D. in solid-state physics, remaining as a teacher.

Later on, Kelly, the vice director of Bell Labs located in New Jersey, poached Shockley from Massachusetts. Even after successfully inventing the transistor, Shockley was not satisfied. He continued to experiment, aiming to invent better transistors and commercialize them.

Simultaneously, the industrial refining technology for high-purity silicon had matured, and transistors made from silicon wafers appeared in radios. Shockley, working at Bell Labs, grew restless. He saw the future business opportunity but could only watch as Bell Labs profited from his invention. Additionally, the instability of transistor performance damaged his personal reputation.

Finally, the conflict erupted, primarily due to interests.

4、Birth of Silicon Valley

In 1955, Shockley returned to his hometown, Santa Clara Valley, with support from Beckman, and founded his own company.

Santa Clara, located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, has a strategic location, beautiful environment, and convenient transportation. From then on, this narrow valley became world-renowned.

After founding his company, Shockley quickly recruited a group of knowledgeable and technically skilled talents, seemingly creating a semiconductor business giant ready to stand atop the world. However, unexpected events unfolded.

The Silicon Valley Eight Traitors.

Although Shockley was a brilliant genius, he was not a good manager. He almost single-handedly controlled the company's development direction, acting arbitrarily and dictatorial. He was unaware of his own flaws and did not accept colleagues' reasonable suggestions, ultimately leading to a long period during which the company produced no products.

In terms of interpersonal relationships, he overlooked the two most crucial aspects—respect and trust. Through various means, Shockley tightly held technological patents, a selfish management approach that eventually led the company to decline.

On September 18, 1957, eight young individuals led by Noyce resigned in anger. Upon learning of this, Shockley angrily called them the "Traitorous Eight." The Silicon Valley Eight Traitors included N. Noyce, R. Moore, J. Blank, E. Kliner, J. Hoerni, J. Last, S. Boberts, and V. Grinich.

5、The Legend of Fairchild

Soon after, these eight individuals secured substantial venture capital. The investor was the visionary Sherman Fairchild, leading to the establishment of Fairchild Semiconductor, named after the investor.

Sherman Fairchild held the controlling stake, with Noyce as the manager. Under this new management model, Fairchild Semiconductor rapidly developed, turning profitable in less than half a year.

At the same time, Fairchild's two groundbreaking patents, one for planar processing—a method for manufacturing semiconductor circuits, invented by Jean Hoerni—and the other for integrated circuits, elevated it to the forefront of the global semiconductor industry.

In 1958-1959, Robert Noyce from Fairchild invented the silicon integrated circuit. In fact, earlier, Jack Kilby from Texas Instruments had invented the germanium integrated circuit. Since both independently invented integrated circuits in the same year without knowledge of each other's work, they both share the honor of being the inventors of integrated circuits.

Nowadays, integrating multiple circuits to reduce space seems natural. However, this simple idea has changed our world. Many great inventions often stem from a straightforward idea. Even if these two individuals hadn't thought of it first, someone else would likely have, but history remembers those who dared to take the first step.

At this point, Fairchild Semiconductor was flourishing, and the semiconductor industry resembled a vast gold mine, waiting for Fairchild to exploit at will. However, most of Fairchild's equity was in the hands of investor Sherman Fairchild. Simultaneously, Fairchild Semiconductor's profits were continually transferred to the East Coast to support Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation. Faced with this situation, Fairchild Semiconductor's employees began a new wave of resignations and entrepreneurial activities.

6、Blossoming Everywhere

In 1968, Noyce and Moore, after leaving Fairchild, founded Intel, and Moore became known as the proposer of Moore's Law. Moore's Law states that the number of transistors integrated on a chip doubles approximately every 18 months.

In 1969, Jerry Sanders, who was then the sales director at Fairchild, founded AMD with seven other Fairchild employees.

Many well-known companies, such as National Semiconductor (now acquired by TI), Altera (now acquired by Intel), and others, had founders from Fairchild Semiconductor.

As the saying goes about Apple not falling far from the tree, Intel and AMD, founded by former Fairchild employees, also gave birth to numerous brilliant talents who later founded their own companies. Intel, in particular, boasts a remarkable history. Andy Grove, a Hungarian immigrant, joined Intel as the third employee. At the time, the company was just a small workshop, with a dirt road leading to the entrance.

He later became the CEO of Intel and continued to lead Intel in the 1990s. During his tenure, Intel grew from a small workshop into a large corporation. This example of someone who started from the bottom and rose to the top epitomizes the spirit of Silicon Valley.

7、The Wonders of Silicon Valley

From the 1960s to the 1970s, Silicon Valley was primarily composed of several streets in Santa Clara. It was a place where engineers enjoyed the freedom to work independently, entrepreneurs gathered, and venture capitalists communicated. Silicon Valley became a haven for such talents.

Intel and AMD reached new heights in the semiconductor field. In the 1980s, the growth of the PC market brought them both immense wealth.

During this period, Intel was like a father, while AMD resembled the successful son. AMD, during its early years, was completely dependent on Intel's technologies. It was like a son living off his father's fame, and his actions were limited to what the father permitted. However, it seems that the son was dissatisfied. He wanted to escape the constraints imposed by the father, to be free, and to develop his own technologies.

In 1991, AMD, as a supplier of Intel chips, encountered a supply shortage, leading to a sales crisis. At this time, the sales director, Sanders, put forth a strategy, claiming that AMD was no longer satisfied with being a second-rate supplier to Intel, vowing to create its own x86 architecture chips.

At that time, many people questioned the feasibility of this plan. The technical difficulty and the risks involved in creating an x86 architecture were immense. The biggest problem was the need for compatibility with Intel's architecture. If AMD could not achieve full compatibility, it would lose its customer base. Despite the skepticism, AMD ventured into the field of x86 architecture, a decision that changed the company's fate.

8、Shaping the World

In the late 1990s, the computer industry experienced a profound transformation. The PC era, dominated by Intel and AMD, was gradually giving way to a new era—the Internet era.

By 1997, AMD had successfully developed the K6 processor, which outperformed Intel's Pentium processor in terms of performance and price. For the first time, AMD gained a competitive advantage.

Around the same time, Intel faced legal troubles and antitrust investigations. Its reputation suffered, and its business model of focusing on high-performance processors became questionable. AMD seized this opportunity to expand its market share.

The success of the K6 series and the subsequent Athlon processors established AMD's position as a strong competitor to Intel. This competition benefited consumers, as it led to innovation and improved performance in the processor market.

9、The Duel of the Titans

The rivalry between Intel and AMD continued to intensify in the 2000s. Both companies released a series of innovative processors, pushing the boundaries of performance and power efficiency.

Intel's Core architecture, introduced in 2006, marked a significant leap in performance. Meanwhile, AMD introduced the Ryzen series in 2017, challenging Intel's dominance in the high-performance processor market.

The competition between Intel and AMD has been a driving force for innovation in the semiconductor industry. Each company has pushed the limits of technology to deliver faster, more efficient, and more capable processors.

10、The Modern Landscape

As of my last knowledge update in January 2022, both Intel and AMD are major players in the semiconductor industry. Intel has a strong presence in various computing segments, including desktops, laptops, and servers. AMD, with its Ryzen and EPYC processors, has gained significant market share, especially in the consumer desktop and server markets.

The semiconductor industry as a whole has continued to evolve, with advancements in process technology, chip design, and the integration of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.