Kilby invented the integrated circuit in 1958 and was later awarded the National Science Medal by President Richard Nixon for his pioneering work in integrated circuits. The working heart of the first miniature calculator was an integrated semiconductor circuit array that contained all the necessary electronics for performing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Other elements of this early example of the miniature calculator included a small keyboard with 18 keys and a visual display in the form of a semiconductor thermal printer for printing out calculations of up to 12 decimal digits. Since the invention of this first miniature calculator, semiconductor technology has had a dramatic impact on the electronic calculator industry with ever-decreasing prices characteristic of this new breed of computational machines. Unit production is a primary design parameter equal with performance.
Unit cost is a firm design requirement fully equal to the performance requirements of the product.
A cost target is essential for each quarter of every year of the life of the product. Evolving over the years since 1966 has been a trend toward more complex calculator integrated circuits with resulting semiconductor economies and lower prices to end-use customers. Integrated circuit application, therefore, reduced the cost of parts as well as having a substantial impact on parts handling and assembling. Texas Instruments intends to make licenses on this miniature calculator patent generally available to the industry in the near future. Texas Instruments Incorporated.