A brief history of chips: how they were born and changed the world

Introduction

This is a powerful work that focuses on hot topics and popular industries, and fully presents the 60-year history of chip invention and development.

The book presents the complete process of chip invention and development, starting from quantum mechanics that supports the development of the chip industry, gradually developing to semiconductor physics, and then giving birth to semiconductor devices. These devices evolved from simple to complex, like a germinating seed, into bipolar transistors, MOS field-effect transistors, photodiodes, etc., and thus integrated and constructed analog chips (communication and sensor chips, etc.), digital chips (CPU, memory, FPGA, etc.) and photoelectric chips, etc. Finally, the book also shows the development process of chip design and manufacturing methods from manual to automatic, and points out the challenges and possible solutions that chips will face in the future. It can be said that this book is enough to understand chips.

The history of chip development is a history of innovation and rebellion - it tells the story of a group of rebels breaking through traditions and constantly innovating.

The author takes the birth and development of chips as the main line, reorganizes and arranges the complex information from laboratories, magazines, books or news reports scattered around the world, and writes such a comprehensive work while striving for accuracy and science. Through the four words "A Brief History of Chips", we can deeply understand the personal world of chip inventors scattered in the depths of history, experience the hardships and joys, tribulations and happiness they experienced in the process of invention, and walk the road of chip invention with them to see how they break through the difficulties in scientific research and the obstacles of the real world, and make inventions and innovations that change or even subvert the face of the world.

A history of technological innovation that transcends the barriers between professionals and the general public, an excellent business book for understanding the development of chips and seeing future development trends.

Chips constitute the core control unit for the normal operation of modern society, and their impact covers national security, business, politics, culture and other aspects. Without chips, we would not have anything we have now. In order to enable the public to understand chips more easily and clearly, the author of this book made the following efforts when writing: First, it highly restores the historical process of innovation, showing the concepts and technologies that once prevailed, as well as how new technologies sprouted, struggled with them and finally broke through. Second, it highlights the individual as an innovator, shining the spotlight of history on the scientists and engineers in front of the laboratory table, showing their inner desires, pursuits, difficulties, jealousy and joy. Third, the spark of invention is clearly presented. Although the "dose" of knowledge is compressed, it is enough to stimulate the reader's intellectual interest, and the thrill of the whole book's narrative is no less than that of a novel.