In 1904, Frye invented the world's first vacuum tube. The advent of the electronic tube has promoted the vigorous development of radio electronics, but the electronic tube is very heavy, energy-consuming, short-lived, and its manufacturing process is very complicated, and it is really not easy to use.
In 1918, J. Czochralski published a report on the growth of single-crystal metal wires from the melt, and later the Czochralski method was named after him.
In 1946, Bell Labs in the United States decided to conduct semiconductor research. In December 1947, Shockley, John Barding, and Bratton developed the first germanium transistor. The advent of the transistor is the forerunner of the microelectronics revolution. It also sounded the clarion call for the subsequent birth of integrated circuits, which has unparalleled advantages compared with electronic tubes. At this time, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party are in full swing.
The first silicon transistor was produced in 1950, which increased people's interest in preparing high-quality silicon single crystals. Teal and Little successfully cultivated silicon single crystals by the Czochralski method (CZ) in 1952. Xie Xide graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined the Fudan Department of Physics as a professor.
In 1953, the first commercial hearing aid using germanium transistors was put on the market. In 1954, the first commercially manufactured transistor radio was born in Texas Instruments. The detector was a germanium diode. In 1955, Motorola, a manufacturer of car radios, still used germanium transistors. This was also the first manufacturer to use transistors to make radios. The high-temperature performance of germanium transistors is very poor, and it is considered to replace germanium with silicon to manufacture transistors. However, at this time, the use of zinc to reduce silicon tetrachloride to produce pure silicon cannot meet the requirements for manufacturing transistors.
In June 1955, Lin Lanying received a Ph.D. in solid-state physics from the University of Pennsylvania. After that, she was hired as a senior engineer at Sophia (Sylvania), a semiconductor research company.
In 1956, the hydrogen reduction method of trichlorosilane was successfully studied, which can produce semiconductor-grade pure silicon on a large scale. The three scientists who invented the transistor in 1946 won the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics. In the same year, Premier Zhou launched the slogan "Push into Science", and the country formulated the 12-year "Science and Technology Development Vision 1956-1967." When Lin Lanying returned to China, Xie Xide, Huang Kun, Gao Dingsan, etc. established my country's first semiconductor specialized training class to cultivate my country's first batch of semiconductor talents at Peking University. During the period, the milestones were only 5-7 years behind the United States, almost at the same time as Japan, and a full decade ahead of Korea.
In 1957, the United States produced nearly 30 million transistors, but only 1 million silicon transistors and nearly 29 million germanium transistors. With a 20% market share, Texas Instruments has become a giant in the transistor market. my country's Beijing Electronic Tube Factory (Factory 774, now BOE) pulled out germanium single crystals, and in the same year, developed germanium transistors. "Semiconductor Physics" co-authored by Xie Xide and Huang Kun came out, which is also the first work in this field in my country, and it is also a professional classic textbook until now.
In July 1958, Kilby was hired by Texas Instruments. In December Kilby combined transistors, diodes, and resistors into a circuit on the same silicon wafer and invented the integrated circuit. 42 years later, in 2000 Won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The Chinese Academy of Sciences developed the first batch of germanium alloy high-frequency transistors in my country, and they were successfully applied to the computers of Factory 109 (now the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences). In September, Tianjin established the "601 Laboratory" (the predecessor of the 46th China Electric Power Research Institute), and began experimental research on the preparation of silicon from quartz stone, using the sulfur-aluminum reduction method to prepare powdered polysilicon from quartz stone. There is no progress in further smelting silicon single crystals. In the same year, China had the first semiconductor radio of its own, and the 7 transistors and 2 diodes used were all foreign products.
In 1959, Khrushchev officially stated that he would stop all aid to China. Under the leadership of Lin Lanying, the mother of Chinese semiconductor materials, my country broke the Western embargo and pulled out silicon single crystals. Set off a wave of Chinese semiconductor independence.
In 1960, the Americans invented planar lithography technology, and Fairchild immediately developed the world's first transistor integrated circuit. The 601 laboratories successfully pulled the first silicon single crystal rod with a purity of 7 9s. The Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hebei Institute of Semiconductors (now CLP 13) were formally established.
In October 1964, the Emei Semiconductor Materials Research Institute, my country's first large-scale enterprise integrating scientific research, trial production, and production of semiconductor materials, was established with the former Ministry of Metallurgy Nonferrous Metals Research Institute 338 and the Shenyang Smelter High Purity Metal Workshop as the mainstay. Now it is directly under the Dongfang Electric Group.
In 1965, Moore's Law was born. Academician Wang Shoujue etched a circuit of 7 transistors, 1 diode, 7 resistors, and 6 capacitors in a silicon wafer about 1 square centimeter in size, and my country's first integrated circuit was born.
In 1966, the country established the 740 (Luoyang Monocrystalline Silicon Plant) using Japanese equipment and technology and subsequently built the 739 (Sichuan Emei Semiconductor Material Plant) and 741 (Shaanxi Huashan Semiconductor Material Plant), which later became the leading industry in my country’s silicon industry. The development and training of a large number of backbone talents are the "Whampoa Military Academy" for the development of my country's silicon industry.
Federico Feikin joined Intel in 1970 and developed the first single-chip central processing unit (CPU)-Intel 4004, which has only 2,300 transistors.
1966-1976, ten years of the Cultural Revolution. Beijing 878 Factory, Shanghai Radio 19 Factory, Yongchuan Semiconductor Institute (the predecessor of the 24 Institute) were established one after another and completed the development of PMOS, NMOS, and CMOS. But the gap between big countries has gradually widened. Looking at the achievements made in the 1960s and 1970s, Qian Xuesen's words are thought-provoking: In the 1960s, we devoted ourselves to the "two bombs and one star" and gained a lot; in the 1970s, we did not engage in semiconductors and lost a lot of it. When we closed the door, Chinese semiconductors were only five years behind the world; when China returned to the world again, it was already 20-30 years behind.
Only a few years after the invention of the integrated circuit, Japan launched the Very Large Scale Integrated Power Program (VLSI). The means of competition is simple, crude, and practically efficient: it is always 10% cheaper than Intel. The Japanese quickly blazed a trail in the market invented by the United States.
In the 1980s, the output value of Japanese semiconductors surpassed that of the United States, and Intel announced its withdrawal from the memory market. The United States has organized attacks against Japan from the perspectives of legislation, industrial policy, direct intervention, and trade wars. Trade negotiations with Japan are threatened with 100% tariffs and various conditions. In the end, Japan promised to regulate its own semiconductor products, reduce output, and increase prices.
The 1990s was a time when the computer industry was booming. Japan’s the production and price restrictions provided great convenience for South Korea’s development of semiconductors. In 1994, South Korea introduced the "Semiconductor Chip Protection Law" and continued to increase research and development investment, and finally successfully stood in the world's top semiconductor echelon.
At the end of the 20th century, due to the impact of the national defense energy crisis, countries all over the world began to develop green energy, especially the solar photovoltaic industry, which drove the price of polysilicon soaring. This business opportunity caused the nationwide polysilicon fever after 2000, and various monocrystalline silicon factories have also Layout of polysilicon production. Domestic single crystals have gradually developed rapidly towards the photovoltaic end, which has also slowed down the path of domestic single crystals in the semiconductor industry. It is conservatively estimated that more than 95% of large-size silicon wafers are currently imported.
Driven by Moore's Law, from the first transistor to the recent release of Nvidia's new professional GPU, more than 54 billion transistors are integrated. The size of the silicon wafer varies from 6 inches to 8 inches to 12 inches. In the 1980s, 4-inch silicon wafers became the mainstream, in the 1990s 6-inch wafers were the mainstream, and 8-inch wafers were the mainstream in the 2000s. At present, the 12-inch market is in an explosive period, and domestic manufacturers have also deployed the largest 12-inch silicon wafers in the market, hoping to change the status quo that domestic large semiconductor wafers are completely dependent on foreign countries.