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Semiconductors & Chipmaking · Recorded milestone

Laminar-flow cleanroom

Recorded year1962

Willis Whitfield's cleanroom at Sandia filters air so dust stops ruining chips and instruments.

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Built on

TransistorRecorded · 1947requires
Integrated circuitRecorded · 1958enables

Led to

MicroprocessorRecorded · 1971enables
Pure-play chip foundryRecorded · 1987requires
SmartphoneRecorded · 1994requires
Wafer-scale AI processorRecorded · 2019requires
Small fast-turn chip fabsForecast · ~2030requires

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.