Inventors of the Intel 4004
There are four men attributed with the creation of the Intel 4004, Marcian Huff, Stanley Mazor, Federico Faggin, and Masatoshi Shima. The first three were all employees of Intel, while Shima was employed by the Japanese company Busicom during the 4004's development. This page looks to explore the history of the three who were employed by Intel, as their contributions are more direct.
Marcian Hoff was the first of the three to arrive at Intel. His major contribution was not so much a literal contribution, but he was the first known supporter of the idea that Intel's MOS silicon gate technology could be used to create a single-chip CPU, which was crucial in achieving the microprocessor.
Stanley Mazor's contribution to the 4004 is twofold, as there were both changes to the microprocessor itself and the situation surrounding its development. Mazor helped secure Intel's claim to the rights of the 4004 from Japanese company Busicom, which was the employer of fellow 4004 contributor Masatoshi Shima. Furthermore, Mazor also contributed to helping further shrink the microprocessor, as he was part of compacting Busicom's 7-chip microprocessor down to 4 chips.
Federico Faggin made the biggest contribution in terms of helping bring about the 4004 through his development of MOS silicon gate technology. MOS silicon gate technology, also referred to as self-aligned gate technology, greatly improves the speed, power-efficiency, and overall size of a microprocessor.
This article further explains the self-aligned gate technology used to develop the Intel 4004.
From left to right, Marcian Huff, Federico Faggin, and Stanley Mazor talking with President Barack Obama after receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation on October 19, 2010, for their invention of the microprocessor.