Fairchild Semiconductor

Fairchild Semiconductor was an American electronics company founded in 1957 that pioneered commercial silicon transistors and integrated circuits, helping establish Silicon Valley and the modern semiconductor industry.

Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory: A semiconductor company founded by William Shockley in 1956 in Mountain View, California. Eight researchers left this laboratory to found Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957.
Planar process: A semiconductor manufacturing method that forms device regions and protective oxide layers on a wafer’s surface. Jean Hoerni developed this process at Fairchild, making reliable integrated circuits possible.
Fairchildren: The entrepreneurs and engineers who left Fairchild Semiconductor to found or lead other technology companies. Their departures spread Fairchild’s expertise across the emerging technology sector.
Fairchild μA702: An early monolithic integrated-circuit operational amplifier introduced by Fairchild in 1964. It exemplified the company’s move from discrete transistors to complex integrated circuits.
Traitorous Eight: The eight engineers who left Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in 1957 to establish Fairchild Semiconductor. Their departure formed the company’s founding technical team.
Integrated circuit: An electronic circuit whose components are fabricated together on a single semiconductor substrate. Fairchild developed and commercialized early silicon integrated circuits.
Intel: An American semiconductor company founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, among others. Its founders left Fairchild, carrying its semiconductor experience into a new company.
Fairchild 904: A silicon integrated circuit developed by Fairchild for the Apollo Guidance Computer. Its use in a major spaceflight system demonstrated the reliability of Fairchild circuits.
William Shockley: An American physicist and inventor who shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on semiconductors and the transistor. His management of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory prompted the founders’ departure.
Silicon transistor: A transistor made from silicon, which controls or amplifies electrical signals. Fairchild’s early commercial success came from manufacturing silicon transistors.

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