17) Announcement of CCD without Pre-notice
Picture: Attending panelists at the panel discussion of “Which way ICs will
move in 1970s” hosted by IEEE
Charge-coupled devices (CCD), which are widely used today as
image sensors of digital cameras, appeared suddenly. Willard Boyle of US Bell
Telephone Laboratories announced his research result without pre-notice in
the panel discussion of “Which way ICs will move in 1970s” hosted by IEEE
in March 1970.
The photo shows the panelists who attended this panel discussion. Boyle in
the center, Intel’s R. Noyce on the left side and TI’s J. Kilby on the right.
At that time, the semiconductor industry was in the middle of a strong growth
period in US, and companies were actively announcing new technologies and
new products in competitive manners.I had a chance to cover this panel discussion
and I remember that Boyle made a comment on the new semiconductor CCD device
saying, “This device is neither bipolar type nor MOS type, and it will be
practically used as image sensors and memories in the near future”.
He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics together with his colleague,
George Elwood Smith, for this achievement.