Equipment & Material
1950s
The transistor invented in 1947 was industrialized in the 1950's. In the development of transistor manufacturing technology leading to industrialization, there were new combinations of various equipment and science and technology of materials, and it was established through various collaborations among semiconductor device manufacturers, equipment/materials companies and research institutes. Production technology development through these new combinations also triggered the invention of integrated circuit (IC) technology in 1958/59.
Early 1950's Germanium (Ge) single crystal
Germanium single crystals by the Czochralski method was used for the first point contact type transistors.
Germanium/silicon single crystal pulling equipment
Late 1950's : Silicon single crystal
Metallic silicon by the chlorine reduction method was used for silicon single crystal formation, which was used for the first Si transistor in the early 1950's. At the end of the 1950's, metallurgical silicon by the hydrogen reduction method came to be used for the further purification of silicon.
Late 1950's : Vapor diffusion source and diffusion furnace
Vapor phase diffusion method was adopted for n-type and p-type diffusion layer formation which lead to planar process, and gases of POCl3 and BH3 were used. The silicon thermal oxidation method was born during the development of this vapor phase diffusion method.
Late 1950's : Vacuum vapor deposition equipment
Vacuum vapor deposition method was indispensable for initial transistor formation. Furthermore, aluminum interconnect film formation by the vacuum vapor deposition method became one of the core technologies for establishment of the planar type integrated circuit technology in 1959.
1950's : Ultra pure water
Ultra pure water by ion exchange method came to be used in semiconductor manufacturing where high purification is required.
Late 1950's : Negative type photoresist
Negative resist (KPR) was used for the first lithography technology for semiconductors.
1959 : Step and repeat camera
In the invention of planar process type integrated circuit technology, a step-and-repeat camera was used for pattern formation by photolithography. It became the prototype of the photo repeater which appeared in the 1960's and the reduced projection exposure apparatus (stepper) which appeared in the latter half of the 1970 's.
