The Evolution of Circuit Compression (opens in new tab)

Miniaturization replaced the tube with the transistor. The currency of compromise changed from watts of heater power to milliwatts of leakage and dissipation. The circuit remained a set of separate decisions, each of which could be touched, desoldered, rearranged. Compromises lived in four distinguishable layers, from the specification to the printed circuit board artwork. Micro-miniaturization did not continue shrinking, it changed the method of packaging. The four layers were pressed into a...