Finding inspiration for the future of the electronics industry in its history
Returning to De Forest’s invention, it was fundamentally an “electronic switch,” and as such likely served as an inspiration to those who were trying to build faster operating calculators. The were stuck in an inefficient mechanical world, and someone looked over and saw the benefit of a faster acting electronic switch, which lead in turn to electronic calculators and computers using his much faster switch. Similarly the invention of the transistor by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley in 1947 was based on the idea of making a more efficient lower power and more reliable “switch.” Their idea was later adapted to making integrated circuits by Jack Kilby, who appears to have used printed circuit manufacturing methods as an inspiration for making his innovative IC prototypes because he had worked in a ceramic circuit shop before going to Texas Instruments. Moreover there was the fact that transistors were already being interconnected and “integrated” on circuit boards at that time and had been for almost a decade, but Kilby made the leap by pushing off from PCB technology to integrate semiconducting transistors by interconnecting them with silver ink. The integrated circuit gave rise to the electronic
memory chip and the microprocessor. In recent years, there has been a lot of
talk of the next generation of electronics, which will be printed electronics. There is some merit to this idea, and it is likely to play an important role in the future, but it also is a technology deeply rooted in history. One need only think of what a printed circuit is and what Jack Kilby did to see that the basic concept of printed electronics is not all that new. The important advances have not been so much in the idea of making printed electronics but in the manufacturing technologies that are making them possible. New conductive inks and semiconductor inks made of organic materials and the machines that can deliver those inks with submicrometer precision are amazing feats of chemistry, materials science and engineering, but they are not ideas that sprang from mid air. There was much history beneath them. In summary, innovation is the life’s
blood of the electronics industry, and to a fully conscious and well schooled mind, history can serve as an important muse to the process of furthering innovation as was hopefully shown. It is worth noting that most of the individuals and technologies
cited here have justifiably resulted in Noble Prizes for the inventors because have been important contributions and vital to the growth and progress of the industry and advancement of human kind but if one looks beneath the surface they have not been leaps from places that are not solidly grounded in history. So in conclusion, one might want to brush up on one’s history if one desires to make some of one’s own— and be prepared to leap.
Verdant Electronics founder and president
Joseph (Joe) Fjelstad has more than 35 years of international experience in electronic interconnection and packaging technology in
a variety of capacities from chemist to process engineer and from international consultant to CEO. Mr. Fjelstad is also a well known author writing on the subject of electronic
interconnection technologies. Prior to founding Verdant, Mr. Fjelstad co-founded SiliconPipe a leader in the development of high speed interconnection technologies. He was also
formerly with Tessera Technologies, a global leader in chip-scale packaging, where he was appointed to the first corporate fellowship for his innovations.
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Global SMT & Packaging – Celebrating 10 Years – December 2010 – 5
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