Over 70 years have passed since the first transistor was invented at Bell Labs,New Jersey,USA on 16 December 1947 by William Shockley,John Bardeen and Walter Brattain,which was perhaps the most important electronics event of the 20th century as it later made possible the integrated circuit(IC)and microprocessor that are the basis of modern electronics.The first electronic products were made from individual transistors but before long engineers learnt how to integrate several simultaneously,giving birth to the first IC in 1957.Industry development thereafter followed a predominantly evolutionary process with the number of transistors on an IC increasing exponentially each year,a process known as Moore’s Law after one of the semiconductor industry’s key founding fathers.
展开▼
