RCNEWS-MICRALIGN

The Retiree Club

An organization of Perkin-Elmer retirees and other former employees

This page is designed for Reflections on Perkin-Elmer,
Technology, Space and many other interesting items

MICRALIGN
Bellwether of the Semiconductor Industry

Perkin-Elmer's introduction of the Micralign projection mask aligner in the early 1970s was a major technological breakthrough that revolutionized the semiconductor industry.

The evolution of Micralign represents one of the most successful products
in the long history of Perkin-Elmer.

The machines print fine line integrated circuit patterns on the silicon wafers for high density microchips. The chips are the "brains" inside a multitude of electronic devices from handheld calculators to video games to sophisticated computers.

Please click on the link below for a historical and technological overview of Micralign, featuring a video that highlights the importance of the product. The video is a salute to all those former Perkin-Elmer men and women who contributed to the success of the product.

http://vstream1.vlsiresearch.com:80/public/history/dave_markle_070807/dave_markle_index.htm

Pioneers of the Micralign include Peter Moller, fourth

from left; John Bossung, fifth from left; Harold Hemstreet,

third from right; Abe Offner, second from right; and Jere

Buckley, far right, with their creation in 1977.

This Micralign photo represents a salute to Perkin-Elmer. Though perhaps more well-known as the maker of the Hubble space telescope, Perkin-Elmer is nevertheless one of the grandfather’s of the chip making industry, without whom computer chips might very likely still be in the dark ages of SSI (small scale integrated circuits) with under 100 transistors rather than today’s super-sized SOC (system on a chip) integrated circuits holding more than 600 million transistors.

Follow the success and travails of this amazing company from its first glimmers of hope via a 1967 Air Force contract to culmination in the PE100 projection aligner; then through its rise to the summit of the industry with more than 3000 shipments of that indispensable equipment line. Then down to its nadir, failing to believe in the possibility of ruin; finally acceptance and the emergence of a totally new step-and-scan system. But, too late! The train had left the station. So the business line was sold off to SVG and IBM in 1990, then sold again to ASML in 2001.

Left photo from:
https://www.chiphistory.org/exhibits/Near Impossibility of Making a Microchip/I_and_T_Fall1999_PP44-52.pdf