This photo gallery represents a salute to Perkin-Elmer.
Though perhaps more well-known as the maker of the Hubble space
telescope, Perkin-Elmer is nevertheless one of the grandfather's of
the chip making industry, without whom computer chips might very
likely still be in the dark ages of SSI (small scale integrated
circuits) with under 100 transistors rather than today's super-sized
SOC (system on a chip) integrated circuits holding more than 600
million transistors.
Follow the success and travails of this amazing company from its
first glimmers of hope via a 1967 Air Force contract to culmination
in the PE100 projection aligner; then through its rise to the summit
of the industry with more than 3000 shipments of that indispensable
equipment line. Then down to its nadir, failing to believe in the
possibility of ruin; finally acceptance and the emergence of a
totally new step-and-scan system. But, too late! The train had left
the station. So the business line was sold off to SVG and IBM in
1990, then sold again to ASML in 2001.