Semiconductors & Chipmaking · Recorded milestone
Photolithography for chips
Recorded year1957
Jay Lathrop and James Nall print transistor patterns with light and photoresist, the method every chip fab still uses.
Explore this milestone on the interactive mapBuilt on
- TransistorRecorded · 1947enables
Led to
- Integrated circuitRecorded · 1958enables
- Planar processRecorded · 1959enables
- CCD image sensorRecorded · 1969requires
- MicroprocessorRecorded · 1971requires
- Wafer stepperRecorded · 1978enables
- Flash memoryRecorded · 1984requires
- MEMS sensorsRecorded · 1993enables
- Small fast-turn chip fabsForecast · ~2030enables
Sources & evidence
Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.