The original MC68000 was fabricated using an HMOS process with a 3.5 µm feature size. Formally introduced in September 1979, initial samples were released in February 1980, with production chips available over the counter in November. Initial speed grades are 4, 6, and 8 MHz. 10 MHz chips became available during 1981, and 12.5 MHz chips by June 1982. The 16.67 MHz "12F" version of the MC68000, the fastest version of the original HMOS chip, was not produced until the late 1980s.