Before the advent of semiconductors, vacuum tube-based technology was dominant and used in giant computers, radio transmission, television, and military applications. Most appliances we use today in every facet of our life (social media, banking, even wearable health devices) rely on semiconductors. Life today cannot be imagined without these products. Yet, most of these appliances did not exist sixty years ago. If we went back to 1940, the computer (just a mathematical computation device) could be a five-story building with less than 1% of the iPhone’s computation capability. The vacuum valve technology used much power and was inefficient and unreliable.

The world was changed in 1947 when the transistor was invented at AT&T Bell Labs, replacing the vacuum tube-based triode valve. The next twenty years saw rapid development and improvement in transistor fabrication and performance. A spectrum of new semiconductor companies was established, including Fairchild, Intel, National Semiconductors, and Texas Instruments. However, a giant leap in development occurred when transistors and supporting devices were integrated into a single chip. Before this, discrete transistors and components were connected on a board with external wires. The invention of integrated circuits (IC) was a revolution in the semiconductor industry. Integrated circuits resulted in both area and power reduction rapidly. The so-called scaling (area, power, number of devices per chip) was so fast and predictable that Gordon Moore created the famous Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law is still valid and has guided the semiconductor industry’s growth over the last fifty years.

Continuous power and area reduction led to the transformation of semiconductor technology from giant computers and military equipment to simple portable devices used by most humans. In a true sense, the impact of semiconductors can be compared to the invention of fire. Semiconductors are now as common as clothes or onions in our daily life.

The semiconductor industry is one of the largest in modern times and is forecasted to be worth more than $1 trillion in the next few years. The semiconductor industry can be divided into two categories: logic (devices for logical mathematical solutions, computation like the human brain) and memories (where the data is saved). Big names in logic include Intel, Samsung, Micron, Kioxia, Western Digital, and SKHynix. Major memory companies include Micron, Samsung, Kioxia, and Western Digital. There are many companies spread across the globe to support numerous applications and an equal or more significant number of product design and tool companies to support the semiconductor industry. Some central design and tool companies include Cadence, Synopsis, Applied Materials, ASML, and LAM. A third category that has emerged in the last three decades is getting bigger by the day: fabless product design houses such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. These companies are all part of the large ecosystem called “Semiconductors” and are interdependent.

The world of semiconductors is exciting, rewarding, and challenging. Semiconductor jobs are not just limited to engineers, as business and liberal arts graduates are required for administration, sales, marketing, and management roles. Semiconductor jobs are also not limited to physicists, chemists, or electrical engineers. All engineering disciplines are employed in ever-growing semiconductor job market. The field of semiconductors will provide jobs to anyone who is interested in getting involved in this fascinating world, and will continue to do so for a long time.

 

Arvind Kumar