A History of Silicon Valley
This biography is an appendix to my book "A History of Silicon Valley"
Biographies
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(Copyright © 2009 Piero Scaruffi)
Frank Wanlass
Frank Wanlass (Utah, 1933) graduated in physics from the
University of Utah in 1962 and immediately joined Fairchild in Mountain View.
In 1963 he invented a new technique to build integrated circuits,
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS).
However, he quit in
december 1963 to join General Microelectronics (GMe), where the
first MOS product was completed in 1964, a few months ahead of Fairchild,
and first used in a commercial product in 1965.
MOS was initially sold only to government agencies (NSA and NASA).
Wanlass left GMe in december 1964 to join General Instruments in New York
and create their integrated-circuit business. GI eventually let him set up
a lab in his home state of Utah.
The gospel of CMOS spread thanks to Wanlass' continuous job changes and to
his willingness to evangelize.
History of Silicon Valley
| Biographies
| History pages
| Editor
| Correspondence
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