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Relive
the excitement of innovation.
Rekindle the spirit of discovery.
The First Transistor Radio
The
first
transistor radio hit the consumer market in October, 1954.
Initially offered in a host of bright colors, the Regency TR-1
radio could fit in a shirt pocket and sold for $49.95. It contained
four germanium transistors from Texas Instruments and operated
on a 22.5 volt battery, for 20 hours of listening pleasure
Today, TI continues to revolutionize radio
by spurring the development of digital radio. Supporting both
the digital audio broadcasting (DAB) standard for Europe/Asia,
and the HD Radio™ technology in the US, our signal processing
technology is changing the way consumers will listen to the
radio.
The First
Integrated Circuit
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All
great inventions revolutionize society, either by drastically
altering human lifestyles or by changing the way people perceive
themselves and their world.
By these standards, the integrated
circuit is a great invention.
It is at the heart of all electronic equipment today, and has
revolutionized the way we live. Its invention has had noticeable,
lasting impact on navigational systems, computers, pocket calculators,
industrial monitoring and control systems, digital watches,
digital sound systems, word processors, communications networks,
and innumerable others. Few of these devices would exist, or
could not work as reliably, without the integrated circuit.
The IC represents the first great invention that deals with
the storing, processing and interpretation of information, rather
than the manipulation of the physical environment. The success
with which the IC performs these functions has given technology
an entirely new dimension.
While employed at Texas Instruments, Jack
S. Kilby invented the first integrated circuit in 1958 and commercialized
the technology in 1960. Holding over 40 US patents, Mr. Kilby
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his integrated
circuit invention.
Integrated Circuits Impact Consumers
Leveraging
the invention of the integrated circuit, in 1964 Zenith Radio
Corp. used a TI microminiature, solid-state IC to perform amplifying
functions in a new
hearing aid. This development heralded the
first use of an IC in a consumer product, yielding better performance
than previous generations, which required a printed circuit
board. The miniaturization of products was now well on its way.
Today,
we have taken the hearing aid one step further—from simply
amplifying to cochlear ear implants, which digitally process
sounds into electrical impulses, enabling the profoundly deaf
to hear the world around them.
Apollo Space Missions
In 1969,
NASA launched the historic Apollo 11 mission which landed a
man on the moon. Apollo
12 followed within a few months. These
missions carried hundreds of TI products, including semiconductors,
precision electrical switches, germanium transistors, integrated
circuits, computer diodes, rectifiers and resistors. These products
not only made the trip to the moon successful, but also performed
tasks at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and Cape Kennedy,
as well as in the Saturn V boosters and other space vehicles.
Space
exploration had a profound impact on consumer electronics innovation.
Many products that we experience today are a direct result of
these efforts.
Human Voice Captured on a Single Silicon Chip
The first
time the human voice was electronically duplicated onto a single
silicon chip, only 100 seconds of speech could be stored. TI
improved its invention and developed a new learning aid called
SPEAK & SPELL™. Aimed at elementary school children,
it was introduced at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in
1978.
Now,
the human voice is found in numerous products including voice
message systems, automotive guidance systems and cell phone
help menus.
Taking Consumer Electronics to the Next Level
In the early
’80s, Texas Instruments introduced a new family of high-speed
digital signal processors which processed an amazing five million
instructions per second. That was then. Today, TI has developed
numerous DSPs which operate at 1
GHz and process 8000 million
instructions per second. Now, consumer electronics can process
voice, images and data at real-time speed. Our DSP technology
has revolutionized cell phones, audio players and digital cameras—to
name just a few.
Inventing an All-digital Display Solution
Taking a
unique approach to display technology, TI developed DLP™
Technology using an optical semiconductor to manipulate light
digitally. Invented in 1978, the Digital Micromirror Device
(DMD) contains a rectangular array of up to 1.3 million hinge-mounted
microscopic mirrors. Less than one-fifth the width of a human
hair, the DMD creates an entirely digital connection between
the graphic or video source and the screen.
Originally
invented for large format projection systems, DLP technology
is branching out to smaller form factors for home and office.
Movie projectors, home theaters systems, business projectors
and televisions can now benefit from maximum fidelity. |
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