Abstract :
The invention of complementary-MOS (CMOS) logic circuitry by Frank Wanlass in 1963 is recounted. The difficulties encountered by Wanlass in an attempt to make stable silicon MOSFETs and how they led him to the CMOS circuit are described. The first demonstration circuit, a two-transistor inverter, consumed just a few nanowatts of standby power and exhibited propagation delay times on the order of 100 ns.<>
