silicongate 1967 step 17 industry adoption curve early 1970s

# Trace the Industry-Wide Adoption Curve: How Silicon Gate Became the Default by the Early 1970s

## 1. From One Adopter to an Industry Default

Step 16 of this extension named Intel as the fastest early adopter beyond Fairchild itself; this step covers the broader pattern that followed -- other MOS manufacturers converting their own lines to silicon-gate processes through the early 1970s, as the combined speed, density, and threshold-stability advantages this series has measured became difficult for any competing metal-gate line to match commercially. By the mid-1970s, metal-gate MOS had become the exception in new high-volume designs rather than the rule, a reversal from its status at this series' own 1967 starting point.

Share of New MOS Designs Using Silicon Gate, by Year an approximate, illustrative adoption curve, not precise market data 5 1967 30 1969 60 1971 85 1974 The curve illustrates the general adoption pattern this step describes, not exact measured market share.

## 2. Why No Single Company Could Hold Out on Metal Gate

Once competitors' silicon-gate parts offered meaningfully higher density and better threshold stability at comparable or lower cost, a company continuing to ship metal-gate parts was competing on a worse cost-performance curve with no compensating advantage -- which is the specific competitive mechanism, not merely a preference, that drove the conversion this step describes.

The Competitive Mechanism Behind the Conversion why holding out on metal gate stopped being viable METAL-GATE HOLDOUT worse density, step 15 less stable Vt, step 14 SILICON-GATE COMPETITOR better on both metrics comparable or lower cost MARKET OUTCOME holdout loses sockets conversion becomes necessary This is a cost-performance mechanism, not simply an industry fashion shift.

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