To the digital age : research labs, start-up companies, and the rise of MOS technology / Ross Knox Bassett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bassett, Ross Knox, 1959-

Series:

Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Metal oxide semiconductors--History.

Metal oxide semiconductors.

Electronics--Social aspects.

Electronics.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 421 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Edition:

Johns Hopkins Paperbacks edition.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Likely to Number in the tens of millions in the home of a typical American, the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor, a fundamental element of digital electronics, makes possible today's personal computers, automobile ignition systems, most household appliances, and even smart toys. To the Digital Age: Research Labs, Start-up Companies, and the Rise of MOS Technology for the first time explores the history of the MOS transistor, which overthrew the previously dominant bipolar transistor and made digital electronics ubiquitous. Combining technological with corporate history, To the Digital Age examines the breakthroughs of individual innovators as well as the research and development power (and problems) of companies such as IBM, Intel, and Fairchild. Bassett discusses how Bell Labs invented but spurned the MOS transistor and then how, in the early 1960s -- spurred on by the possibilities of integrated circuits -- RCA, Fairchild, and IBM all launched substantial MOS R&D programs. The development of the MOS transistor involved an industry-wide effort, and Bassett emphasizes how communication among researchers from different firms played a critical role in advancing the new technology. Bassett sheds light on the development of the integrated circuit, Moore's Law, the success of Silicon Valley start-ups (as compared to vertically integrated East Coast firms), the development of the microprocessor, and IBM's multi-billion-dollar losses in the early 1990s. To the Digital Age offers a captivating account of the intricate R&D process behind a technological device that transformed modern society.

Contents:

1 How a Bad Idea Became Good (to Some): The Emergence of the Mos Transistor, 1945-1963 12

2 Back from the Frontier: Ibm Research and the Formation of the Lsi program, 1951-1965 57

3 Development at Research: The Research Phase of Ibm's Mos Program, 1963-1967 79

4 MOS in a Bipolar Company: Fairchild and the Mos Transistor, 1963-1968 107

5 It Takes an Industry: The Mos Community 139

6 The End of Research: Intel and the Mos Transistor, 1968-1975 167

7 IBM: Mos and the Visible Hand, 1967-1975 210

8 The Logic of MOS: Intel and the Microprocessor, 1968-1975 251.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC:

249612763