General Microelectronics uses a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) process to pack more transistors on a chip than bipolar ICs and builds the first calculator chip set using the technology.

Achieving the MOS promise of higher density and lower cost than bipolar (1960 Milestone) proved more difficult than anticipated due to complex manufacturing and reliability issues. Speakers at a symposium on the Physics of Failure in Electronics likened competing solutions to the story of the blind man and the elephant – it depends on which part you examine. Frederic Heiman and Steven Hofstein built an experimental 16-transistor IC at RCA in 1961 and later made important contributions to understanding surface oxide quality. Between 1963 and 1966, Bruce Deal, Andrew Grove, and Ed Snow at Fairchild identified the issue of sodium contamination and published many papers on the electrical nature of oxides that informed Grove’s classic textbook Physics and Technology of Semiconductor Devices. Collaboration and competition across the globe, including researchers from NEC, IBM and Philips, resolved the fundamental yield and reliability issues by the end of the decade that allowed MOS to emerge as the dominant IC technology.

General Microelectronics introduced the first commercial MOS integrated circuit in 1964 when Robert Norman used a 2-phase clock scheme to design a 20-bit shift register using 120 p-channel transistors. To fund an ambitious 23 custom IC project for the first MOS-based electronic calculator for Victor Comptometer, GMe sold the company to Philco-Ford. When the operation was transferred to Philadelphia most employees moved on to other companies, including AMI and General Instrument, where they continued to develop calculator chips for a burgeoning new market. By 1969 Rockwell Microelectronics had reduced the chip count to four devices for Sharp"s first portable machine, the microCompet QT-8D, and went on to become the largest supplier of calculator chips in the early 1970s. Mostek and TI (1974 Milestone) introduced single-chip (except for external display drivers) solutions in 1971.