NobelLaureateLectureDecember8,2000–StockholmTurningPotentialintoRealitiesTheInventionoftheIntegratedCircuit.docVIP

Jack St. Clair Kilby Nobel Laureate Lecture December 8, 2000 – Stockholm “Turning Potential into Realities: The Invention of the Integrated Circuit” Thank you for that kind introduction/welcome. It is an honor to share the Nobel Prize in Physics and to speak with you today. My title for this lecture is “Turning Potential into Realities: The Invention of the Integrated Circuit.” The field of electronics had strong potential when I invented the integrated circuit in 1958. The reality of what people have done with integrated circuits has gone far beyond what anyone – including myself – imagined possible at the time. Charles Townes won the Nobel for his work with laser technology, and he summed up how I feel. Townes said, “It’s like the beaver told the rabbit as they stared at the Hoover Dam. ‘No, I didn’t build it myself. But it’s based on an idea of mine!’ ” At its most basic level, the integrated circuit manipulates the characteristics of electricity. In fact, the entire field of electronics is about manipulating the flow of electrons – in other words, making electricity perform advanced kinds of work. A long line of people have been involved in harnessing electricity, from William Gilbert who first used the word “electricity” 400 years ago, to Thomas Edison who built one of the first practical electrical generators in the 1880s. Figure 1: Vacuum tube The invention of the vacuum tube launched the electronics industry. Sometimes called “electron tubes,” these devices controlled the flow of electrons in a vacuum. They initially were used to amplify signals for radio and other audio devices. This allowed broadcast radio to reach the masses in the 1920s. Vacuum tubes steadily spread into other devices, and the first tube was used as a switch in calculating machines in 1939. By the end of World War II, it was obvious that the cost, bulk and reliability of vacuum tubes would limit commercial and military electronic systems. A naval destroyer built in 1937