- In full:
- Robert Norton Noyce
- Born:
- December 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S.
- Founder:
- Intel
- Inventions:
- integrated circuit
Robert Noyce
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Who was Robert Noyce?
Robert Noyce (1927â1990) was an American engineer and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, which is a system of interconnected transistors on a single silicon microchip.
Noyce received a Ph.D. in solid state physics from MIT in 1953. In 1956, he joined Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. After a dispute with William Shockley, Noyce and seven colleagues formed Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation.
In 1968, Noyce and Gordon Moore founded Intel Corporation. In 1971, Intel created the first microprocessor, combining information storage and processing circuitry on a single silicon chip. Noyce served as Intel's president until 1975, then as chairman until 1978, before becoming chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
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What is Robert Noyce best known for in engineering?
Robert Noyce is best known as an American engineer and co-inventor of the integrated circuit (IC), which is a system of interconnected transistors on a single silicon microchip. In 1957, Noyce and seven colleagues formed Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. Then in 1968, Noyce and Gordon Moore started Intel Corporation. In 1971, Intel introduced the first microprocessor, which combined information storage and processing circuitry on a single silicon chip, and Intel quickly became the leading producer of microprocessor chips. Noyce played an important role in establishing Sematech, a joint industry-government consortium formed to keep the American semiconductor industry at the forefront.
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What important invention did Robert Noyce help create?
Robert Noyce, an American engineer, is recognized as a co-inventor of the integrated circuit (IC), a system of interconnected transistors on a single silicon microchip. In the late 1950s, Noyce and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments independently conceived the idea of integrating an entire circuit on a single piece of solid material.
Noyce took Jean Hoerni's process of applying a layer of silicon oxide on top of transistors and advanced it further. Noyce realized that it was unnecessary to cut the silicon wafer into individual transistors; rather, different components could be created in the same wafer and connected along the surface by the deposition of a line of conductive metal. Although both Texas Instruments and Fairchild filed patent applications, Fairchild was granted the patent for the planar process.
In 1968, Noyce co-founded Intel Corporation, which in 1971, introduced the first microprocessor, combining information storage and processing circuitry on a single silicon chip.
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How did the invention of the integrated circuit change technology?
The invention of the integrated circuit by Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby independently revolutionized technology by integrating numerous transistors and other electronic components onto a single silicon microchip. This innovation led to smaller, more reliable, and less expensive electronics, replacing bulky vacuum tubes. Integrated circuits made possible the creation of microprocessors, which enabled the computerization of small devices and equipment. Today, integrated circuits are used in everything from smartphones and cars to toasters, and amusement park rides.
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What companies did Robert Noyce help start?
Robert Noyce was an American engineer and coinventor of the integrated circuit. He helped start two prominent companies in the semiconductor industry:
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Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation In 1957, Noyce, along with seven colleagues, left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory to form Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. He became a leader of the group that was later known as the "traitorous eight".
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Intel Corporation In 1968, Noyce and Gordon Moore departed from Fairchild Semiconductor to establish their own company. Shortly after, they were joined by Andrew Grove, also a former colleague from Fairchild, and together they founded Intel Corporation. By 1971, Intel had launched the first microprocessor, integrating circuitry for both information storage and processing onto a single silicon chip, quickly establishing itself as a leading microprocessor producer.
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How has Robert Noyce's work influenced modern computers and electronics?
Robert Noyce significantly shaped modern computers and electronics through his co-invention of the integrated circuit. In 1959, while at Fairchild Semiconductor, Noyce conceived a method for interconnecting transistors on a single silicon microchip, a breakthrough made possible by Jean Hoerni's innovation of coating transistors with silicon oxide to prevent contamination.
Noyce's technique of evaporating conductive metal lines directly onto the silicon wafer's surface, known as the planar process, enabled the mass production of integrated circuits. In 1968, Noyce co-founded Intel, which in 1971, introduced the first microprocessor, combining information storage and processing circuitry on a single chip and paving the way for the computerization of small electronic devices.
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Robert Noyce (born December 12, 1927, Burlington, Iowa, U.S.âdied June 3, 1990, Austin, Texas) was an American engineer and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, a system of interconnected transistors on a single silicon microchip.
Education
In 1939 the Noyce family moved to Grinnell, Iowa, where the father had accepted a position as a Congregational minister and where the son began to demonstrate the traits of an inventor and tinkerer. Noyce majored in physics at Grinnell College (B.A., 1949) and earned a doctorate in solid state physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Ph.D., 1953), for a dissertation related to the technology he found most fascinating, the transistor.
Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory
Developed at Bell Laboratories in 1947, the transistor had figured in Noyceâs imagination since he saw an early one in a college physics class. In 1956, while working for Philco Corporation, Noyce met William Shockley, one of the transistorâs Nobel Prize-winning inventors. Shockley was recruiting researchers for Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory, a company that he had started in Palo Alto, California, to produce high-speed transistors. Noyce jumped at the opportunity, renting a house in Palo Alto even before his official job interview.
By early 1957, however, engineers at the new company had rebelled and attempted to force Shockley out of his management position, arguing that his poor management delayed production and adversely affected morale. Noyce and seven colleagues, among them Gordon Moore, resigned after failing to remove Shockley. With Noyce as their leader, the groupâlabeled the âtraitorous eightâ by Shockleyâsuccessfully negotiated with the Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company to form a new company, Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation, located in Santa Clara.
Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation and the integrated circuit
In 1958 Jean Hoerni, another Fairchild Semiconductor founder, engineered a process to place a layer of silicon oxide on top of transistors, sealing out dirt, dust, and other contaminants. For Noyce, Hoerniâs process made a fundamental innovation possible. At that time, Fairchild produced transistors and other elements on large silicon wafers, cut the components out of the wafer, and later connected individual components with wires. However, as the number of connections increased, it became progressively more difficult to solder in ever smaller spaces. Noyce realized that cutting the wafer apart was unnecessary; instead, he could manufacture an entire circuitâcomplete with transistors, resistors, and other elementsâon a single silicon wafer, the integrated circuit (IC). In this sense, Noyce and coinventor Jack Kilby, who was working at Texas Instruments Incorporated, thought along similar lines. They both saw the importance of the wafer, and each of their companies received patents on various aspects of IC design and manufacture. But Noyce saw further. Noyce saw that the solution to the problem of connecting the components was to evaporate lines of conductive metal (the âwiresâ) directly onto the silicon waferâs surface, a technique known as the planar process. Kilby and Noyce share credit for independently inventing the integrated circuit. However, after much litigation, Fairchild Semiconductor was granted the patent on the planar process, the basic technique used by subsequent manufacturers. The patent made both Noyce and Fairchild wealthy.
Intel Corporation
In 1968 Noyce and Moore left Fairchild Semiconductor to start their own company. Soon they were joined by Andrew Grove, another Fairchild colleague, and formed Intel Corporation. In 1971 Intel introduced the first microprocessor, which combined on a single silicon chip the circuitry for both information storage and information processing. Intel quickly became the leading producer of microprocessor chips.
Noyce served as president of Intel until 1975 and then as chairman of the board of directors before stepping down in 1978 to become chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).
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The SIA was formed to address the growing economic concerns of the American semiconductor industry, especially with respect to foreign competition. Noyce played an important role in establishing Sematech, a joint industry-government consortium formed with sometimes conflicting goalsâresearch to keep the American semiconductor industry at the forefront and efforts to maintain a domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Noyce became Sematech Inc.âs first president in 1988.
Noyce held 16 patents and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1979. A lifelong swimmer (and former Iowa state diving champion), Noyce died of a heart attack following a morning swim in 1990.