sep 12, 1958 - The Integrated Circuit

Description:

An integrated circuit, or IC, is a small chip that can function as an amplifier, oscillator, timer, microprocessor, or even computer memory. An IC is a small wafer, usually made of silicon, that can hold anywhere from hundreds to millions of transistors, resistors, and capacitors. Between late 1958 and early 1959, the first monolithic IC chip was invented by Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor. The purpose of this chip is that it acts as an amplifier, oscillator, timer, and microprocessor that can hold anywhere from hundreds to millions of transistors.
This was important for society because these circuits improved the velocity that a chip could read and follow the instructions to billions of instructions per second, which further improved computing as well.

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