From one switch to billions
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1947 | Transistor invented at Bell Labs |
| 1958–59 | First integrated circuits, by Kilby and Noyce |
| 1965 | Moore's law: transistor counts double about every two years |
| 1971 | Intel 4004: about 2,300 transistors |
| Today | Top chips: tens to hundreds of billions |
A modern transistor is a few dozen atoms wide in places.
How a chip is made
- Purify siliconGrown into a large crystal and sliced into wafers
- Print patterns with lightLithography draws circuits smaller than a virus
- Add and etch layersDozens of layers of wiring and switches
- Test and packageEach wafer becomes hundreds of chips
A transistor
An electrical switch with no moving parts: on is 1, off is 0.
Where chips are
Phones and computers
Processors and memory
Cars
Dozens to thousands of chips per vehicle
Medicine
Scanners, monitors and pacemakers
AI
Specialized chips train and run models
Sources: Computer History Museum; Semiconductor Industry Association
Remember
Every digital device is built on transistors, tiny switches made by the billions on silicon.
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Answer key
- Where was the transistor invented?Bell LabsAt Bell Labs in 1947.
- What is a transistor?A tiny electrical switchIt switches current on and off.
- What does Moore's law describe?Transistor counts doubling about every two yearsGordon Moore's 1965 observation.
- What material are most chips made from?SiliconPurified silicon wafers.
- What process prints circuit patterns onto chips?LithographyLithography uses light to print patterns.