Fairchild Semiconductors was first to invent Transistors

William Shockley Founds Shockley Semiconductor

1955

William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor seven years earlier, founds Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in Santa Clara Valley. He recruits 12 young scientists dedicated to the use of germanium and silicon for transistors -- his "Ph.D. production line." Shockley wins the Nobel Prize¨ for Physics in 1956, but his management style and disenchantment with pure research causes the eight young scientists to leave company.

The "Traitorous Eight" Develop A Method Of Mass Producing Silicon Transistors

1957

Gordon E. Moore, C. Sheldon Roberts, Eugene Kleiner, Robert N. Noyce, Victor H. Grinich, Julius Blank, Jean A. Hoerni and Jay T. Last—the "Traitorous Eight" from Shockley Semiconductor—use $3500 of their own money to develop a method of mass-producing silicon transistors using a double diffusion technique and a chemical-etching system. The silicon and germanium mesa allows manufacturers to produce multiple transistors on a single wafer. (Previously, transistors could only be manufactured one at a time.) The potential for the new "mesa process" is enormous, but the inventors need financial backing.

Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation invests $1.5 million in return for an option to buy the company within eight years. On October 1, 1957, Fairchild Semiconductor is born. Its goal: the development and production of silicon diffused transistors and other semiconductor devices. The new company is profitable in six months with the help of its first sale: an order from IBM™ for 100 transistors at $150 a piece. The order is shipped in a Brillo® carton picked up at a local supermarket by Jay Last.

Robert Noyce Develops The Monolithic Integrated Circuit—A Miniaturized Electrical Circuit On A Fingernail-Size Wafer Of Silicon

1958

Noyce's Fairchild colleague, Jean Hoerni, takes the idea a step further and puts a collector, base and emitter all on one plane. The planar transistor is born, and so is a new industry. Today, nearly fifty years later, the planar process is the primary method for producing transistors.

Monolithic Integrated Circuit Patented

1961

On July 30, 1959 Robert Noyce, co-founder and general manager of Fairchild Semiconductor, filed for a patent for a monolithic integrated circuit.

The patent was granted on April 25, 1961 and it started the dawn of the integrated circuit era. The resistor-transistor logic (RTL) product – a set/reset flip/flop – was the industry’s first integrated circuit available as a monolithic chip.

This Day In History, April 25, 1961, Noyce Awarded Patent For "Integrated Circuit"

1961

The US Patent Office issues Robert Noyce a patent for the integrated circuit, starting a long battle with Jack Kilby over who had rights to the patent. Kilby had invented a germanium version of the circuits, while Noyce developed the silicon integrated circuit—the one that grew to be more accepted. Integrated circuits replace transistors in computers, allowing the machines to be significantly smaller.

The Integrated Circuit Of Jack Kilby And Robert Noyce

1962

As with many inventions, several people had the idea for an integrated circuit at almost the same time. In 1950s many inventors realize, that despite of the fact, that transistors had become commonplace in everything from radios to phones to computers, and that transistors were smaller than vacuum tubes, for some of the newest electronics, they weren't small enough.

Fairchild Opens Facility

1962

In 1962, Fairchild opens a facility in South Portland, Maine for the manufacture, test and assembly of transistors for use in radios, oscilloscopes and other instrumentation.

Dual-Gate Device

1963

A second-generation RTL product, the dual-gate device was the first to incorporate buried-layer isolation technology.

The NPN Planar Power Transistor

1964

The first in the industry to incorporate a thin-film emitter resistor process.

The First OpAmp (Operational Amplifier)

1965

Fairchild develops the first OpAmp (operational amplifier) generally used throughout the industry--a milestone in the linear integrated circuit field.

First Standard TTL Product

1966

Fairchild launches the first standard TTL product, a quad two-input NAND gate. TTL logic, still a workhorse of the industry, offers speed and power advantages over earlier types of circuitry.

32-Gate Custom DTL Logic Array

1967

The industry's first two-layer metal process, a 32-gate custom DTL logic array, is put into production.

Fairchild Introduces A New OpAmp

1968

Fairchild introduces an OpAmp (operational amplifier) that is one of the earliest linear integrated circuits to include temperature compensation and MOS capacitors.

Source : https://www.fairchildsemi.com/