A Briefing On Integrated Circuits

Although technology is constantly racing to faster / smaller / more, so many of the fundamentals of how it is made remains similar, if not the same. This interesting 30 minute video clip [thanks to The Computer History Museum] was made in 1967 by Fairchild Semiconductor as a briefing on integrated circuits, and shows the different steps to produce ICs including:

Design, making the photo masks, manufacturing the silicon ingots, preparing the wafers, building of the circuit and its components (like transistors, resistors, and capacitors), testing, and final packaging. Add in some other cool items of interest such as a 1960’s pick n place machine, wave soldering, an automatic wirewrap machine, and toss in some retro computer action and it’s surely a video worth watching, with something for everyone.

So join us after the break, kick back and enjoy the show!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z47Gv2cdFtA&w=450]

14 thoughts on “A Briefing On Integrated Circuits

  1. Yeah this rocks!
    Fairchild invented most of our modern technology as it seems :-)

    By the way: Some parts of this were used in “Podfather” – a documentary on Robert Noyce – a founder of Intel and mentor of Steve Jobs… You should download that!

    Btw: Was the music in this video made by Raymond Scott? Sounds a LOT like it was!

  2. Well done ! Still fundamental to what we all work with. Ignoring the PC CPUs this still covers most ICs and discreet devices we use on a daily basis.
    I work with SMT printers and this is relevant to 90% of the devices “placed” on your average phone or other board.

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