In a general sense, integrated block refers to integrated circuit. Integrated block is the entity of integrated circuit and is also the popular name of integrated circuit.

Literally speaking, an integrated circuit is a form of circuit, and an integrated block is the physical reflection of an integrated circuit.

In 1948, William Shockley and two colleagues at Bell Labs invented the transistor, which could amplify electronic signals instead of vacuum tubes, making electronic equipment more lightweight and more efficient.

Shockley is known as the "Father of the Transistor" and won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.

This is a major innovation in electronic technology.

Jack Kilby was 24 years old and had just received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois.

He said in his self-report: "In college, most of my courses were about electricity, but because of my childhood interest in electronic technology, I also took some elective courses in tube technology. I graduated in 1947

, exactly one year before Bell Labs announced the invention of the transistor, which meant that all my tube technology courses would be cancelled.” However, the problem has not been completely solved, and the electronic equipment assembled using transistors is still too bulky.

Clearly, personal computer ownership remains a distant dream.

Technology is always driven by dreams.

In 1952, G.W.A. Dammer of the British Radar Institute first proposed the idea of ??integrated circuits: all the transistors, crystal diodes and other components required for electronic circuits are made on a semiconductor wafer.

Although we cannot tell from Jack Kilby's autobiography whether this idea had an impact on him, we can also feel that the concept of microelectronics technology is about to burst out of the minds of engineers.

The world's first integrated circuit was born.

In 1947, University of Illinois graduate Jack Kilby, with a strong interest in electronic technology, found a job in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manufacturing radios, televisions, and hearing aids for an electronics supplier.

part.

In his spare time, he attended night classes for a master's degree in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin.

Of course, the dual pressure of work and classes can be a challenge for Kilby, but he said: "It can be done, and it is really worth the effort." After obtaining his master's degree, Kilby and his wife moved to

He went to Dallas, Texas, and worked for Texas Instruments, because it was the only company that allowed him to spend almost all his time studying the miniaturization of electronic devices, providing him with a lot of time and good experimental conditions.

Kilby had a gentle nature and was taciturn. With his height of 6 feet 6 inches, Kilby was called a "gentle giant" by his assistants and friends.

It was this inexpressible giant who hatched a giant idea.

At that time, Texas Instruments had a tradition that employees could enjoy two-week long vacations during the hot August.

However, Kilby, who had just arrived, was unable to take a long vacation and could only stay in the deserted workshop to study alone.

During this period, he gradually developed a genius idea: resistors and capacitors (passive components) can be made from the same materials as transistors (active devices).

In addition, since all components can be made from the same piece of material, these parts can be fabricated on the same piece of material first and then connected to each other to form a complete circuit.

He chose semiconductor silicon.

“I sat down at the table and seemed to stay a little later than usual,” he recalled in an interview in 1980. “The whole idea actually took shape that day, and then I sorted out all the ideas and wrote them down in a notebook.

I drew some design drawings. When the supervisor came back, I showed them to him. Although some people were a little skeptical at the time, they basically understood the importance of this design. "So, we returned.

In the scene at the beginning of the article, that day, the company's director came to the laboratory and connected the test line with the giant.

The experiment was successful.

Texas Instruments soon announced that they had invented the integrated circuit, and Kilby patented it.

The significance of the invention of the integrated circuit: ushering in the silicon era At that time, he may not have really realized the value of this invention.

After winning the Nobel Prize, he said: "I knew that the integrated circuit I invented was very important to the electronics industry, but I never thought that its application would be as widespread as it is today." Integrated circuits replaced transistors and provided the basis for the development of electronic products.

Functionality paved the way and dramatically reduced costs, and the third generation of electronic devices took the stage.

Its birth made the emergence of microprocessors possible and made computers a daily tool accessible to ordinary people.

The application of integrated technology has given rise to more convenient and fast electronic products, such as the common handheld electronic calculator, which is Kilby's new invention after the integrated circuit.

To this day, silicon remains the main material for our electronic devices.

Therefore, in 2000, 42 years after the advent of the integrated circuit, people finally understood the value of him and his invention, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Nobel Prize Jury once commented on Kilby: "Laid the foundation for modern information technology."

In 1959, Robert Royce of Fairchild Semiconductor applied for a more complex silicon integrated circuit and immediately entered the commercial field.

But Kilby applied for the patent first, so Royce is considered the co-inventor of the integrated circuit.