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Noyce's Integrated Circuit Patent

Noyce's Integrated Circuit Patent

Image creditRobert N. Noyce, U.S. Patent 2,981,877
Public domain (U.S. patent drawing) ↗

Noyce's Integrated Circuit Patent

Year
1959
Creator
Robert Noyce
Company
Fairchild Semiconductor
Location
844 East Charleston Road, Palo Alto, California

Description

U.S. Patent 2,981,877 describes metal lines on top of the oxide layer that connect the parts of one silicon chip. Robert Noyce filed it on July 30, 1959, and the Patent Office granted it on April 25, 1961.

Importance

Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments built the first working integrated circuit in 1958, but he connected its parts with gold wires. Noyce's design used Hoerni's planar process, so factories could make it in high volume. After years of patent disputes, Texas Instruments and Fairchild agreed to a cross-license.

Interesting fact

Kilby received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for the integrated circuit, but Noyce had died in 1990 and could not share it.

Sources

  1. 1959: Practical Monolithic Integrated Circuit Concept Patented ↗Computer History Museum, The Silicon Engine
  2. US Patent 2,981,877: Semiconductor Device-and-Lead Structure (R. N. Noyce) ↗U.S. Patent Office, via Google Patents · 1961-04-25
  3. Site of Invention of the First Commercially Practicable Integrated Circuit (California Historical Landmark No. 1000) ↗California Office of Historic Preservation · 1991-05-08
  4. 1958: All Semiconductor "Solid Circuit" is Demonstrated ↗Computer History Museum, The Silicon Engine