Technical diversity and technological change in the American semiconductor industry, 1952-1965.

摘要

This dissertation examines the U.S. semiconductor industry and its technology during the 1950s and early 1960st including the development of the transistor and the invention of the integrated circuit. Using a variation and selective retention theory, it argues that diverse inputs of knowledge were necessary for the technology to develop as rapidly as it did. Building on themes from both the history of technology and evolutionary economics, the dissertation seeks to outline the sources of diversity, its function in technological development, and its persistence. Thus it complements studies that emphasize the centrality of selection processes in technological development.;Semiconductor technology developed in a complex military, commercial, and academic organizational environment. Semiconductor technology was itself complex, requiring scientific, technical, and artisanal knowledge. Environmental and technological complexity produced a high level of technological opportunity; thus semiconductor electronics became a field ripe for the expression of diverse approaches to innovation.;Two types of diversity are proposed: complementary diversity, in which multiple approaches to different aspects of a problem are dominant; and competitive diversity, characterized by the pursuit of different solutions to the same problem. Technical case studies of materials research, the integration of circuitry (including the monolithic ICs of Robert Noyce and Jack Kilby), and device packaging reveal that diverse inputs contributed to the overall development of semiconductor technology. The packaging chapter demonstrates the constraints on diversity imposed by existing and de facto technical standards and market forces.;The final chapter examines Sprague Electric, Motorola, Shockley Semiconductor, and Fairchild Semiconductor (established by, among others, Noyce and Gordon Moore, later founders of Intel) and their strategies in the semiconductor arena. It finds that the firms, existing organizational capabilities could either help or hinder success. Key individuals, perceptions were decisive in conditioning the firms' actions.;Diversity stemmed from the confluence of organizational and individual strategies and perceptions. Diverse innovative activities were crucial to the development of semiconductor technology; even technical and commercial "failures" contributed to the industry's pool of knowledge. Widespread channels of communication, both formal and informal, provided the means through which that knowledge was conveyed between individuals and firms.