Jack Kilby’s revolutionary idea was to make all the different components of a circuit out of the same flat block of semiconductor material. Not only would this get rid of wires and faulty connections, it would make the entire circuit much more compact. Kilby demonstrated his first “integrated circuit” on Sept. 12, 1958.

   Six months later, in California, another engineer, Robert Noyce, independently came up with the idea of making an integrated circuit. Noyce’s chip was better suited to be manufactured in large numbers, and soon he was part of a young company called Intel.

   Thus was launched a revolution. The first chip-based computer was the first U.S. Air Force computer, built in 1961. The true potential of the integrated circuit was shown when Texas Instruments unveiled the pocket calculator. Previously calculators had been bulky devices that needed to be plugged in to electrical mains. The pocket calculator, small enough to hold in one’s palm, had a chip inside and batteries were adequate to power it.

   Progress was rapid thereafter. Many have already heard of Moore’s law, which has become a mantra of the digital age. First put forward by the Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in the 1960s, it says that the processing power of a chip doubles every two years, while the price falls by half. For more than four decades, Moore’s law has held, driving incredible growth and miniaturization — and wealth.

  The question is whether the semiconductor industry can sustain this pace. Further increasing the processing power of chips is proving to be problematic as certain fundamental physical barriers are being reached. At the same time, new frontiers are opening up. The quest is on to make chips that are powered by light instead of electricity, which will enable much faster computers.

Saswato Das. The Chip that Changed the World. Internet: <www.nytimes.com> (adapted).