Introduction and details of Fairchild

Company Profile

"Fairchild Semiconductor" was established in 1957, but when mentioning "Fairchild", one has to mention another story first, which is the achievement of "Fairchild Semiconductor". Dr. W. Shockley, the "father of the transistor" and "the greatest invention of the tenth century", left Bell Labs in 1955 and returned to his hometown of Santa Clara, where he founded the "Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory". Soon, because of his admiration for the name of the "Father of Transistors", countless application letters flew to Shockley's desk like snow flakes. The next year, eight young scientists from the eastern United States came to Silicon Valley to join Shockley Laboratory. They are: N. Noyce, R. Moore, J. Blank, E. Kliner, J. Hoerni, J. Last), S.Boberts and V.Grinich. They are all under 30 years old, in their prime, successful in their studies, and at the peak of their creative abilities. Among them, there are those who have obtained double doctorates, engineers from large companies, and researchers and professors from famous universities. This is also a large collection of talents that has never been seen in the western United States. The 29-year-old Noyce is the elder among the eight and the most determined one to "dedicate" to Shockley. The first thing he did when he flew to San Francisco was to spend all his money to buy himself a residence and decided to settle down permanently, without taking into account the working environment, conditions and treatment. The other seven young people's experiences in coming to Silicon Valley were largely similar to Noyce's.

Unfortunately, Shockley is a talented scientist, but lacks business ability; he is ambitious, but knows nothing about management. Terman once commented: "Shockley is a very attractive figure in the eyes of talented young people, but it is difficult for them to do things with him." In one year, the laboratory did not develop any decent results products. The eight young men began planning to run away without telling Shockley. Led by Noyce, they submitted their resignation to Shockley. Shockley angrily called them "The Traitorous Eight." The young people looked at each other, but they left without hesitation the "Bole" that attracted them so much, and later they got together again. However, later even Shockley himself changed his tune and called them "the rebellion of eight geniuses." In many books and publications in Silicon Valley, the photos of the "Eight Rebels" are on the same level as the photos of HP's garage and have the same historical value. The birth of the development process

The "Eight Rebels" found a New York photographic equipment company to invest in their business. The name of this company is Fairchild, which is transliterated as "Fairchild", but it is usually translated as "fairy". child". Fairchild was not only an entrepreneur but also an inventor. His inventions were mainly in the field of aviation, including sealed cabin aircraft, folding wings, etc. Because the products were so popular, he split the company in two in 1936, one of which was the Fairchild Photographic Equipment Company, which produced cameras and electronic equipment. When the "Rebel Eight" approached him for cooperation, Mr. Fairchild, who was already in his 60s, only provided them with a start-up fund of US$3,600, requiring them to develop and produce commercial semiconductor devices and enjoy two-year purchase privileges. . As a result, the company founded by the "Eight Rebels" was officially named Fairchild Semiconductor Company, and the head of the "Fairchild" was naturally Noyce. In October 1957, Fairchild Semiconductor rented a cabin on Charleston Road in Lookout Mountain, Silicon Valley, about as far from Shockley Laboratory as it was from the original Hewlett-Packard garage. The "Fairy Boys" discussed creating a double-diffusion-based transistor to replace the traditional germanium material with silicon. This was an unfinished project in Shockley's laboratory that was not taken seriously by Shockley. Fairchild Photographic Equipment Company agreed to provide financial resources totaling $1.5 million. Noyce divided the work between his partners, with Herney and Moore responsible for researching new diffusion processes, while he and Laster specialized in flat photographic technology. Development

In January 1958, Big Blue IBM gave them their first order, ordering 100 silicon transistors for use in the memory of the company's computers. By the end of 1958, the small company of "Eight Rebels" had sales of 500,000 and 100 employees. Relying on the advantages of technological innovation, it became the fastest growing company in Silicon Valley.

Under Noyce's careful planning, Fairchild Semiconductor's business has developed rapidly. At the same time, a set of planar processing technologies for manufacturing transistors have also become increasingly mature. The genius scientist Herni is the best among the "fairy boys". Like magic, he squeezes the oxide layer on the silicon surface to the maximum limit. Fairchild's method of manufacturing transistors is also unique. They first diffuse impurities with semiconductor properties onto high-purity silicon wafers, then draw the transistor structure on a mask, shrink it using photolithography, and develop the structure. Oxide the layer on the surface of the silicon wafer, and then use photolithography to remove the unnecessary parts.

The whole process of diffusion, masking, photography, and photolithography is called planar processing technology. It marks a big leap in the mass production of silicon transistors. It also opens a wonderful door for "Fairy Children" and allows them to see an infinite world. The bottom of the abyss: Since one transistor can be made using this method, why not make dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of them? On January 23, 1959, Noyce recorded in detail in his diary This was the greatest and was regarded as the craziest idea by people at the time.

In February 1959, news came that Texas Instruments (TI) engineer J. Kilby had applied for the first integrated circuit invention patent. , Noyce was shocked. He immediately summoned the "Eight Rebels" to discuss countermeasures. The problems Kilby faced at TI, such as double diffusion and interconnection of wires on silicon wafers, were exactly what Fairchild Semiconductor was good at. Noyce proposed that the method of evaporating metal deposition can be used instead of thermal welding wires. This is the best way to solve the problem of interconnecting components. Fairchild Semiconductor began to catch up. On July 30, 1959, they also applied for a patent with the U.S. Patent Office. The two companies began a protracted dispute over the right to invent the integrated circuit. In 1966, Kilby and Noyce were awarded the "Balantine" Medal by the Franklin Institute at the same time. Kilby was hailed as "the inventor of the first integrated circuit", and Noyce was hailed as "proposing the invention of the integrated circuit." "Integrated Circuit Theory" suitable for industrial production. In 1969, the court issued its final judgment, which also legally recognized the integrated circuit as a simultaneous invention.

In 1960, Fairchild Semiconductor achieved further development and success. Because the invention of the integrated circuit made it famous, the parent company Fairchild Photographic Equipment Company decided to purchase its shares for US$3 million. Each of the "Eight Rebels" owned stocks worth US$250,000. In 1964, Dr. Moore, one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, published a peculiar law in three pages. Moore's genius predicted that the number of transistors that can be integrated on integrated circuits will steadily double every 18 months and maintain this momentum in the next few decades. This prediction made by Moore was proven by the subsequent development of integrated circuits and maintained its validity for a long time. It was hailed as "Moore's Law" and became the "First Law" of the IT industry. Decline

In the 1960s, Fairchild Semiconductor entered its golden age. By 1967, the company's turnover was close to US$200 million, which was an astronomical figure at the time. According to the memory of Dr. Yu Youcheng (now the Chinese vice president of Intel Corporation) who entered the company that year: "Entering Fairchild is equivalent to stepping into the gate of the Silicon Valley semiconductor industry." However, it was during this period that Fairchild The company also began to breed crises. The general manager of the parent company continued to transfer profits to the East Coast to support the profitability of Fairchild Photographic Equipment Company. After witnessing the unfairness of the parent company, Hurney, Roberts and Claire in "The Rebellious Eight" first left in anger and established Anelco. It is said that Hurney later founded as many as 12 new companies. Subsequently, another member of the "Rebel Eight", Glass, also led several people to leave Fairchild and founded Signatex Semiconductor Company. Since then, a large number of talented people have flocked to Fairchild, and have left to start their own businesses. As a result, talents left Fairchild one after another. In the end, Spock in Fairchild made NSC the sixth largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. Sanders founded AMD, while Noyce and Moore founded INTEL. This is the whole journey of Fairchild. Company Impact

"Fairy Boy" is a name that will always be remembered and admired by the world. It has made unparalleled contributions to the semiconductor industry and even the world. To quote Apple CEO Steve Jobs: "Fairchild Semiconductor is like a mature dandelion. When you blow it, the seeds of entrepreneurship will fly everywhere in the wind." Fairchild Semiconductor has a unique The entire process of transistor production, diffusion, masking, photography, and photolithography is called planar processing technology, which marks a major leap in the mass production of silicon transistors. At the 1969 Semiconductor Engineers Conference, only 24 of the 400 attendees had no Fairchild experience on their resumes.