Manufacturing Integrated Circuits (1959)

Independently of Jack Kilby, Robert N. Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, Mountain View, California, invented a process that made it practical to manufacture integrated circuits. Based on the "planar" technology, an earlier Fairchild breakthrough, Noyce's invention consisted of a complete electronic circuit inside a small silicon chip. Noyce filed for a patent on "Semiconductor Device-and -Lead Structure" on July 30, 1959.  U.S. patent 2,981,877 was granted on April 25, 1961.