The wellstone [Book Review]

Microchip brings to life the history of the integrated circuit, including a time when the very concept generated professional hostility among many electrical engineers. The low yield of early semiconductor devices did not inspire confidence, but more significantly, EEs at the time had built careers around selecting, qualifying, and combining individual transistors, resistors, and capacitors into purpose-built circuits. Now they were being asked to use preconfigured circuits that permitted no testing of their individual components, and many felt their livliehoods were threatened. As Zygmont clearly describes complex concepts, the problems, both technical and cultural, faced by the early microchip manufacturers and how they solved them leave the reader in awe. Although the occasional error is introduced by Zygmont’s reliance on firsthand accounts, vivid eyewitness descriptions of the early days make up for them. Corporate cultures, personalities, skills at patent writing, and royalty negotiations, along with market timing and high-profile military and aerospace projects, are all part of the tale of how these strange little devices got made and eventually affected our lives. Although the historian may wish for more detail, this is a good and readable survey of a vital industry.