Digital Foundations: The Making of Silicon-Gate Manufacturing Technology

Abstract

From 1960 onward, the expanding use of microchips played a major role in the establishment of the digital world. This paper examines the dominant manufacturing technology for microchips in this period: silicon-gate MOS technology . It reconstructs the development of silicon gate technology from its emergence at Bell Labs, Fairchild, General Micro-electronics, and Hughes in the mid-1960s to its stabilization at Intel and its augmentation with ion implantation at Mostek in the early 1970s. This article argues that silicon gate emerged at the convergence point of three contextual logics: material logic (the opportunities and constraints offered by materials and material capabilities), market logic (the dynamics of semiconductor markets), and competitive logic (the imperative of surviving in a fiercely competitive industry). Thus, this article is intended as a contribution to materials-centered studies and to recent interest on the connection between intentionality and materiality in technology and science.

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