Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers, 1959-1988, bulk 1959-1977

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Summary

Title:
Guide to the Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers
Dates:
1959-1988, bulk 1959-1977
Creators:
Fairchild Semiconductor
Abstract:
The Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers contains professional papers of early Fairchild Semiconductor employees Geri Hadley, Hazel White, Robert K. Waits and Lars Lunn. The collection does not contain any official corporate records of the company. The collection spans 1958 through 1988 with approximately half the collection comprised of newsletters and another quarter of the collection marketing brochures. The remainder of the collection consists of annual reports, advertisements, memoranda, articles, graphs, and a very small number of photographs.
Extent:
1.8 linear feet 2 record cartons
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], [Date], Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers, Lot [#], Box[#], Folder[#], Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Scope and Content of the Collection The Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers contains material from employees of Fairchild Semiconductor's Mountain View, California facility. The collection spans 1959 through 1988 with the bulk of the collection being from 1959 to 1977. Approximately half of the collection is comprised of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation (FCIC) and Fairchild Semiconductor employee newsletters Leadwire, Microwire, Horizons and Views as well as some smaller division specific newsletters. The collection also contains technical product and process brochures and a small amount of annual reports. Items of interest include a nearly complete run of Don C. Hoefler's Microelectronics News from January 1979 to May 1981, Fairchild Semiconductor National Sales Conference souvenir yearbooks and proofs of "Made in Fairchild" advertisements.

Biographical / historical:

Fairchild Semiconductor was founded in 1957 by Julius Blank, Victor Grinich, Jean Hoerni, Eugene Kleiner, Jay Last, Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce, and Sheldon Roberts with funding from New York based Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation (FCIC). These young scientists and engineers involved in solid-state electronics had developed a method of mass-producing silicon transistors using a double diffusion technique and a chemical etching system called the "mesa" process. FCIC provided the necessary backing for the group's project and the development and production of silicon diffused transistors and other semiconductor devices began.

Fairchild Semiconductor became a wholly-owned subsidiary of FCIC in 1959 and in 1961 became the Semiconductor Division. In 1959, Fairchild Semiconductor announced the development of the patented Planar process for semiconductor device manufacturing. The Planar process paved the way for such technological advances as the integrated circuit. In 1961 Fairchild introduced the world's first monolithic integrated circuit and in 1971 the isoplanar process for semiconductor manufacturing.

In 1979 Schlumberger Limited purchased Fairchild Semiconductor as a diversification move, but sold the assets to National Semiconductor Corporation (NSC) in 1987. In 1997 NSC divested a number of mature products to executives at Fairchild Semiconductor's former South Portland, Maine facility and the "new" Fairchild Semiconductor became a publicly traded company once again.

For a more detailed account of the history of Fairchild Semiconductor see the recommended readings in the bibliography.

Geri Hadley began working as a secretary at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1965. She soon moved into Marketing and Marketing Services/Communications, where she became Marketing Communications Manager. Hadley left Fairchild in 1981.

Hazel White began working at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1959. White worked in the Gate Array Division as an Assistant Engineer until 1987.

Robert K. Waits worked in the Exploratory Devices Section of the Device Physics and Development Department in Research and Development at Fairchild Semiconductor from 1960 to 1973

Lars Lunn was employee #29 at Fairchild Semiconductor where he worked from 1958 until 1961. Lunn was an engineer in the crystal growing section of Research and Development and grew some of the first silicon ingots used by the company.

Acquisition information:
The papers that make up the Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers were donated to the Computer History Museum by Geri Hadley in May of 2007, Hazel White in July of 2007, Robert K. Waits in October of 2007 and Lars Lunn in October of 2007. The papers were collected individually during each person's time as an employee of Fairchild Semiconductor and maintained by each person until their donation.
Processing information:

The decision was made to combine these separate donations into one collection to facilitate researcher's access to Fairchild Semiconductor material. It was also decided that the series arrangement would be by donor, rather than function, so that the provenance of the donations would remain distinct. Duplicates of printed material across donations have been weeded.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in 4 series:

  • Series 1: Geri Hadley papers
  • Series 2: Hazel White newsletters
  • Series 3: Robert K. Waits papers
  • Series 4: Lars Lunn papers
Unless otherwise noted dates are inclusive. Unless otherwise noted the original order of the papers has been maintained.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Bibliography:
Berlin, Leslie. The man behind the microchip: Robert Noyce and the invention of Silicon Valley: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Lécuyer, Christophe. Making Silicon Valley: innovation and the growth of high tech, 1930-1970. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2006. Lojek, Bo. History of semiconductor engineering. New York: Springer, 2006.Reid, T. R. The Chip: How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution. New York: Random House, 2001. Riordan, Michael, and Lillian Hoddeson. Crystal Fire: The Birth of the Information Age. New York: Norton, 1997.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Sara Chabino Lott
Date Prepared:
© 2008
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Sara Chabino Lott. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: November 6, 2008.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The Computer History Museum can only claim physical ownership of the collection. Users are responsible for satisfying any claims of the copyright holder. Permission to copy or publish any portion of the Computer History Museum's collection must be given by the Computer History Museum.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], [Date], Collection of Fairchild Semiconductor employee papers, Lot [#], Box[#], Folder[#], Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California.

Location of this collection:
1401 Shoreline Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043, US
Contact:
(650) 810-1010
research@computerhistory.org
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