Notice: The current evaluation report is intended solely for the purpose of soliciting comments. The team kindly requests your valuable feedback and suggestions. We are committed to continuously revising the report based on the available evidence.

Background

The evolution of chip technology indeed represents a remarkable trajectory, originating from the advent of computers in the 1940s. The revolutionary concept of integrated circuits, which significantly transformed the field, can be traced back to the genesis of Boolean algebra in 1854. This innovative idea of symbolizing logical operations via binary digits established the cornerstone for contemporary digital circuits. Over subsequent decades, the progression of chip development has burgeoned into an extensive industry and ecosystem. The advancements in semiconductor manufacturing technology have facilitated the production of progressively miniaturized yet more potent chips, with transistor dimensions now quantified in nanometers. This incessant trend towards miniaturization has catalyzed an exponential augmentation in computing power, fostering breakthroughs in diverse domains such as artificial intelligence, mobile technology, and the Internet of Things.

Evaluation Standards

We single out the top Chip achievements with huge impacts and significant boosts for developing Chips and related scenarios and disciplines from the chip design, manufacturing, packaging, and products. Our evaluation criteria are as follows:

  • The original or pioneering works in chips.
  • The works that play a significant role in promoting the development of chips.
  • The works are widely used or cited by industry or academia.

Chip100: Top 100 Chips achievements(1940s-2021)

The data and figure are from the technique report which will be released on 2023 BenchCouncil International Federated Intelligent Computing and Chip Conferences (FICC 2023).

Overview of Top Chips achievements

（Please note that the tree diagram can be zoomed in, zoomed out, and moved. You can click on the circles at the branches to expand or collapse the content of the diagram.）

Top Chips Achievements

When considering the main academic contributors, we only list:

  • the first author (including the authors with equal contribution)
  • the corresponding author (the last author if there is no corresponding author)

If you have any comments or suggestions about the list, please send an email to benchcouncil.evaluation@gmail.com

Categories Sub-Categories Years Work Main Contributors Institution Country
Chips Design System-level Design 1940s Von Neumann architecture John von Neumann Princeton USA
1940s Harvard architecture Howard Aiken, G. M. Hopper Harvard USA
1949 Stored-program computers Maurice Wilkes Cambridge UK
1950 Error Correction Codes Richard Hamming Bell Laboratories USA
1960 ISA Frederick Brooks IBM USA
1964 CISC John Cocke, Gene Amdahl IBM USA
1965 Moore's Law Gordon Moore Intel USA
1965 Cache Memory Maurice Wilkes Cambridge UK
1966 SIMD Architecture Michael J. Flynn Northwestern University/Argonne National Laboratory USA
1967 Amdahl's Law Gene Amdahl IBM USA
1967 Out-of-Order Execution and Re-order Buffer Robert Tomasulo IBM USA
1970 The Principle of Locality Peter J. Denning, Stuart C. Schwartz Princeton USA
1974 Dennard Scaling Robert H. Dennard IBM USA
1978 X86 Robert Noyce, Jack Kilby, Andy Grove, Gordon Moore Intel USA
1970s Floating Point Unit William Kahan Berkeley USA
1979 Virtual address translation Peter J. Denning, David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy Princeton, Berkeley, Stanford USA
1980 RISC David A. Patterson, C. Sequin Berkeley USA
1981 MIPS John L. Hennessy, N Jouppi, F Baskett, J Gill Stanford USA
1980s Branch predictor Tse-Yu Yeh , Yale N. Patt Michigan USA
1980s Advanced RISC Machines Sophie Wilson, Steve Furber Cambridge UK
1984 FPGA Ross H. Freeman XILINX USA
1980s Superscalar William M. Johnson Stanford USA
1980s CC-NUMA JAMES ARCHIBALD, JEAN-LOUP BAER University of Washington USA
1987 3C model Mark Hill Berkeley USA
1988 Gustafson's Law John Gustafson Sandia National Laboratory USA
1990 A Quantitative Approach David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy Berkeley, Stanford USA
1990 Neural Networks Accelerator Dan Hammerstrom, Ulrich M Ramacher Adaptive Solutions, Infineon Technologies AG USA/Germany
1995 Multi-Core Processors Anant Agarwal, D. Yeung MIT USA
1997 Single-Chip Multiprocessor Basem A. Nayfeh, Kunle Olukotun Stanford USA
2000s System-on-Chip Wayne Wolf Georgia Institute of Technology USA
2000 Power-aware microarchitecture David Brooks, P.W. Cook IBM USA
1990s Stream Architecture Ujval J. Kapasi, BrucekKhailany Stanford USA
2000s Network-on-Chip Luca Benini, Giovanni De Micheli University of Bologna, Stanford Italy , USA
2010s RISC-V Andrew Waterman, Yunsup Lee, David A. Patterson, Krste Asanović Berkeley USA
2014 Deep Neural Networks Accelerator Tianshi Chen,Yunji Chen,Olivier Temam ICT, ICT, HuaWei, Inria China, China, China, France
2000s Graphics Processing Unit Jen-Hsun Huang NVIDIA USA
2016 Tensor Processing Unit Norman P. Jouppi, Cliff Young, Nishant Patil, David Patterson Google USA
Logic Design 1854 Boolean algebra George Boole UK
1938 Digital logic Circuits Claude Shannon MIT USA
1970s VLSI Carver Mead, Lynn Conway California Institute of Technology, Michigan USA
2010s Chiplet-based design Lisa Su AMD USA
Physical Design 1990s Electrostatic Discharge Michel Mardiguian University of Paris South France
Verification and Simulation 1980s Formal Verification Edmund Clarke,Allen Emerson, Joseph Sifakis CMU, UT Austin, Verimag Laboratory USA, USA, France
1986 EDA Aart de Geus synopsys USA
1980s Verilog Phil Moorby Gateway Design Automation USA
2010s Chisel Jonathan Bachrach, Huy Vo,John Wawrzynek, Krste Asanović Berkeley USA
2011 gem5 Nathan Binkert, David A. Wood HP, Wisc USA
Manufacturing 1930s PCB Paul Eisler Austria
1947 Transistor William B. Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain Bell Laboratories USA
1950s Integrated Circuit Jack Kilby Texas Instruments USA
1955 Photolithography Carl Frosch, Lincoln Derick Bell Laboratories, ASML USA, Netherland
1967 CMOS Frank M. Wanlass, C.T.Sah Fairchild Semiconductor USA
1970s Electron Beam Lithography A.A. Tseng, K.J. Ma Arizona State University, IBM USA
1980s III-V Compound Semiconductors R. Dingle, A. C. Gossard, W. Wiegmann Bell Laboratories USA
1990s Copper interconnects IBM USA
1990s Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Lithography Obert Wood Global Foundries USA
2000s FinFET Hu Chenming Berkeley USA
1990s Optical Proximity Correction Chris A. Mack UTAustin USA
Packaging 2010s wafer level packaging T Braun, M Wöhrmann The Fraunhofer Institute Germany
2010s Microelectronics Packaging Rao R. Tummala, Alan G. Klopfenstein Georgia Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, AGK Enterprises USA
2010s System-on-Package Rao R. Tummala,Madhavan Swaminathan Georgia Institute of Technology, The Fraunhofer Institute USA, Germany
1990s Vacuum Packaging Intel, IBM USA
2010s Chiplet Packaging IBM USA
2020s Embedded Die Packaging Intel USA
Product 1940s ENIAC University of Pennsylvania USA
1949 EDSAC Cambridge UK
1960s IBM 360 IBM USA
1971 Intel 4004 Intel USA
1978 Intel 8086 Motolona USA
1980s Motorola 68000 Intel USA
1980s Intel 80386 Intel USA
1993 Intel Pentium Intel USA
1999 NVIDIA GeForce Nvidia USA
2001 IBM POWER4 IBM USA
2003 AMD Opteron AMD USA
2006 Intel Core 2 Duo Intel USA
2007 ARM Cortex-A9 ARM UK
2009 AMD Radeon HD 5870 AMD USA
2010 ARM Cortex-A15 ARM UK
2012 ARM Cortex-A53 ARM UK
2016 Google Tensor Processing Unit Google USA
2017 Intel Core i9 Intel USA
2020 NVIDIA A100 Nvidia USA
2021 Apple M1 Pro Apple USA
2021 AMD EPYC AMD USA
2021 Intel Alder Lake Intel USA


Top Chips Contributors

Ranking Contributor Grade Institution Country
1 Maurice Wilkes 2 University of Cambridge UK
2 David A. Patterson 1.83 UC Berkeley USA
3 Gene Amdahl 1.5 IBM USA
4 Gordon Moore 1.33 Intel USA
5 John L. Hennessy 1.08 Stanford University USA
6 Aart de Geus 1 Synopsys USA
6 Chris A. Mack 1 UT-Austin USA
6 Claude Shannon 1 MIT USA
6 Frederick Brooks 1 IBM USA
6 George Boole 1 - UK
6 Hu Chenming 1 UC Berkeley USA
6 Jack Kilby 1 Texas Instruments USA
6 Jen-Hsun Huang 1 NVIDIA USA
6 John Gustafson 1 Sandia National Laboratories USA
6 John von Neumann 1 Princeton University USA
6 Lisa Su 1 AMD USA
6 Mark Hill 1 UC Berkeley USA
6 Michael J. Flynn 1 Northwestern University USA
6 Michel Mardiguian 1 University of Southern Paris France
6 Obert Wood 1 Global Foundries USA
6 Paul Eisler 1 - Austria
6 Phil Moorby 1 Gateway Design Automation USA
6 Rao R. Tummala 1 Georgia Institute of Technology USA
6 Richard Hamming 1 Bell Labs USA
6 Robert H. Dennard 1 IBM USA
6 Robert Tomasulo 1 IBM USA
6 Ross H. Freeman 1 Xilinx USA
6 Wayne Wolf 1 Georgia Institute of Technology USA
6 William Kahan 1 UC Berkeley USA
6 William M. Johnson 1 Stanford University USA
7 Peter J. Denning 0.83 Princeton University USA
8 A.A. Tseng 0.5 Arizona State University USA
8 Alan G. Klopfenstein 0.5 AGK Enterprises  USA
8 Anant Agarwal 0.5 MIT USA
8 Andrew Waterman 0.5 UC Berkeley USA
8 Basem A. Nayfeh 0.5 Stanford University USA
8 BrucekKhailany 0.5 Stanford University USA
8 C. Sequin 0.5 UC Berkeley USA
8 C.T.Sah 0.5 Fairchild Semiconductor USA
8 Carl Frosch 0.5 Bell Labs USA
8 Carver Mead 0.5 California Institute of Technology USA
8 D. Yeung 0.5 MIT USA
8 Dan Hammerstrom 0.5 Adaptive Solutions USA
8 David A. Wood 0.5 University of Wisconsin System USA
8 David Brooks 0.5 IBM USA
8 Frank M. Wanlass 0.5 Fairchild Semiconductor USA
8 G. M. Hopper 0.5 Harvard University USA
8 Giovanni De Micheli 0.5 Stanford University USA
8 Howard Aiken 0.5 Harvard University USA
8 James Archibald 0.5 University of Washington USA
8 Jean-Loup Baer 0.5 University of Washington USA
8 John Cocke 0.5 IBM USA
8 K.J. Ma 0.5 IBM USA
8 Krste Asanović 0.5 UC Berkeley USA
8 Kunle Olukotun 0.5 Stanford University USA
8 Lincoln Derick 0.5 Bell Labs USA
8 Luca Benini 0.5 University of Bologna Italy
8 Lynn Conway 0.5 University of Michigan USA
8 MWöhrmann 0.5 Fraunhofer IKTS Germany
8 Madhavan Swaminathan 0.5 Fraunhofer IKTS Germany
8 Nathan Binkert 0.5 HP USA
8 Norman P. Jouppi 0.5 Google USA
8 P.W. Cook 0.5 IBM USA
8 Sophie Wilson 0.5 University of Cambridge UK
8 Steve Furber 0.5 University of Cambridge UK
8 Stuart C. Schwartz 0.5 Princeton University USA
8 T Braun 0.5 Fraunhofer IKTS Germany
8 Tse-Yu Yeh 0.5 University of Michigan USA
8 Ujval J. Kapasi 0.5 Stanford University USA
8 Ulrich M Ramacher 0.5  Infineon Technologies AG Germany
8 Yale N. Patt 0.5 University of Michigan USA
9 A. C. Gossard 0.33 Bell Labs USA
9 Allen Emerson 0.33 UT-Austin USA
9 Edmund Clarke 0.33 CMU USA
9 John Bardeen 0.33 Bell Labs USA
9 Joseph Sifakis 0.33 Verimag Laboratory France
9 R. Dingle 0.33 Bell Labs USA
9 W. Wiegmann 0.33 Bell Labs USA
9 Walter H. Brattain 0.33 Bell Labs USA
9 William B. Shockley 0.33 Bell Labs USA
10 Andy Grove 0.25 Intel USA
10 Cliff Young 0.25 Google USA
10 F Baskett 0.25 Stanford University USA
10 Huy Vo 0.25 UC Berkeley USA
10 J Gill 0.25 Stanford University USA
10 John Wawrzynek 0.25 UC Berkeley USA
10 Jonathan Bachrach 0.25 UC Berkeley USA
10 Nishant Patil 0.25 Google USA
10 Olivier Temam 0.25 INRIA France
10 Robert Noyce 0.25 Intel USA
10 Tianshi Chen 0.25 ICT, CAS China
10 Yunji Chen 0.25 ICT, CAS China
10 Yunsup Lee 0.25 UC Berkeley USA


Top Chips Institutions

Ranking Institution Grade Country
1 IBM 11 USA
2 Intel 10.5 USA
3 UC Berkeley 6.83 USA
4 Stanford University 5.33 USA
5 AMD 4 USA
5 University of Cambridge 4 UK
6 Bell Labs 3.5 USA
7 ARM 3 UK
7 NVIDIA 3 USA
8 Princeton University 2.33 USA
9 Google 2 USA
9 MIT 2 USA
10 Georgia Institute of Technology 1.83 USA
11 Fraunhofer IKTS 1.5 Germany
11 University of Michigan 1.5 USA
12 UT-Austin 1.33 USA
13 Apple 1 USA
13 Fairchild Semiconductor 1 USA
13 Gateway Design Automation 1 USA
13 University of Pennsylvania 1 USA
13 Texas Instruments 1 USA
13 Global Foundries 1 USA
13 Harvard University 1 USA
13 University of Washington 1 USA
13 Motorola 1 USA
13 University of Southern Paris 1 France
13 Xilinx 1 USA
13 Sandia National Laboratories 1 USA
13 Synopsys 1 USA
14 Adaptive Solutions 0.5 USA
14 ASML 0.5 Netherlands
14 Infineon Technologies AG 0.5 Germany
14 Argonne National Laboratory 0.5 USA
14 University of Bologna 0.5 Italy
14 HP 0.5 USA
14 California Institute of Technology 0.5 USA
14 University of Wisconsin System 0.5 USA
14 Northwestern University 0.5 USA
14 Arizona State University 0.5 USA
14 ICT, CAS 0.5 China
15 AGK Enterprises 0.33 USA
15 Verimag Laboratory 0.33 France
15 CMU 0.33 USA
15 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 0.33 USA
16 INRIA 0.25 France
16 Huawei 0.25 China


Top Chips Countries

Ranking Country Grade
1 USA 80.67
2 UK 8
3 Germany 2
4 France 1.58
5 Austria 1
6 China 0.75
7 Netherlands 0.5
7 Italy 0.5