Birthplace of Silicon Valley - Mountain View, CA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

"391 San Antonio Road, Mountain View. California is the Silicon Valley's humble beginnings. At a time when the semiconductor industry was concentrated on the East Coast and in Texas. Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory opened its doors to pursue silicon device
research at this site in 1956. The unique confluence of creative talent, hard work, and financial incentives that developed around this technology earned the area the designation "Silicon Valley."

William Shockley recruited a remarkable group of talented young
scientists and engineers from across the United States and beyond.
These bright, innovative minds were attracted to the area by the opportunity to work with Dr. Shockley and silicon devices. Here at 391
San Antonio Road, Shockley's four-layer diode was developed, Silicon
Valley's first silicon transistors were made, and emerging silicon processing technologies were developed.

John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for Bardeen and Brattain's 1941 discovery of the transistor effect at Bell Laboratories and Shockley's subsequent
invention of the junction transistor. Shockley left Bell Labs and formed a partnership with Arnold O. Beckman in 1955. They established Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory as a division of Beckrnan Instruments. with the intention of developing new silicon devices.

The sculptures located along the sidewalk are monuments to th
legacy of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Silicon Valley. The
two-pronged sculptures depict the four-layer diode: one with its
protective cap as it would have been produced, the other with its cap
removed showing the silicon chip. The third sculpture depicts the
ZN696 silicon transistor; the first commercially available transistor
manufactured in Silicon Valley.

Though Shockley was a brilliant researcher, he was not popular asa
manager. Shockley had placed the importance of the work on the four-layer diode above that of the silicon transistor?a priority that
the staff did not support. In 1957 a group of Shockley Labs? leading
staff left to form their own business. They founded Fairchild Semiconductor in nearby Palo Alto and within months brought an
advanced silicon transistor to market. Shockley doubted the future
success of these men, sometimes referred to as "The Traitorous Eight,"
but was proven wrong, as Fairchild Semiconductor became one of the
most well-known success stories of Silicon Valley.

The gifted young scientists and engineers that Shockley gathered here
at the birthplace of Silicon Valley became the driving force behind the ingenuity and entrepreneurship for which the area is known today.
Decades on, Silicon Valley continues to be a mecca for risk taking,
forward thinking, and technological innovation."

Group that erected the marker: City of Mountain View Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: 391 San Antonio Road Mountain View, CA USA URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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