The Global Futures Speech was rather interesting, but I have to take issue with one historical reference. I did not
research all of the facts asserted, but I am an old timer and I know something about the history of the
semiconductor industry. I can even remember when chip design engineers used black electrician tape on the mylar to
layout the circuits before they were sent to the photo room to be reduced.

The speech says:

        "Another master of the living business is Gordon Moore, the cofounder of Intel. In the old, pioneer
industrial model, companies scoured the world for pockets of complex resources, like hydrocarbons, extracted them,
and sold them into the economy, which spent down their complex design. Moore's company did something different. It
took the most abundant metal on earth - silica, simple sand - and turned it into the microchip. The value in the
microchip isn't the physical resources. The value is the design, a product of human genius, patterned on the
designs of nature."

Well, I am sure the friends of William Shockley, Bell Labs, and Fairchild (and, I am sure they will want to claim
some credit - Texas Instruments) would have something to say about this.  The germanium semiconductor (transistor)
was invented by Shockley when he was at Bell Labs in 1947. He left them and came out to California to form Shockley
Semiconductor Labs and worked on developing the silicon transistor. Among his top engineers were Gordon Moore,
Charlie Spork, Robert Noyce, Jean Hoerni, et al. who jumped ship in 1957 to go to Fairchild Camera & Instrument
Corp. It was at FCI that the silicon transistor was made commercially useful and products were developed. Gordon
Moore and Robert Noyce left FCI in 1968 to head up a small, existing company called Intel.

Shockley Labs used silicon because of its unique and suitable characteristics for semiconductors, not because it
was cheap, plentiful and made from a common material (i.e. sand).  Intel, for all of its recent value to the
industry, was a relative late-comer in the development of silicon based semiconductors. It was Shockley Labs and
Fairchild that drove the use of silicon in transistors and semiconductors.

In fact, in Gordon Moore's own words:
        "Not content with his lot at Bell Labs, Shockley set out to capitalize on his invention. In doing so, he
played a key role in the industrial development of the region at the base of the San Francisco Peninsula. It was
Shockley who brought the silicon to Silicon Valley.

        Until this time, nearly all transistors had utilized germanium because it was easier to prepare in pure
form. Silicon offered advantages, at least in theory, mainly because devices made from it could operate at higher
temperatures. Also, silicon is a very common chemical element, whereas germanium is relatively rare. Silicon,
however, melts at a much higher temperature, making its purification and processing more difficult."

So even though silica (sand) is cheap and common place, pure silicon ingots and wafers were not.

I hope Bill Shireman did a little better research in his case studies of the other companies cited in his speech.

Chuck Dolci


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MIME-Version: 1.0
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EN] Global futures
To: [log in to unmask]

Hello to all,

Some of you may have already seen this but for those who have not, the
article at the address below is an interesting one.

I don't agree with all of the authors thoughts and comments and visiting a
rain forest does not automatically make one an environmentalist but it has
some good things to think about.

Best to all,
Joe

http://www.globalfutures.org/bills-speech.htm


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