Hermann K. Gummel (5 July 1923 – 5 September 2022) was a German physicist and pioneer in the semiconductor industry. Gummel received his '' Diplom'' degree in physics from Philipps University (

Marburg, Germany Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

) in 1952. He received his M.S. (1952) and Ph.D. (1957) degrees in theoretical semiconductor physics from Syracuse University. Gummel joined

Bell Laboratories Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...

in 1956; his doctoral advisor, Melvin Lax, had moved from Syracuse University to Bell the previous year. At Bell, Gummel made important contributions to the design and simulation of the semiconductor devices used throughout modern electronics. Among the most important of his contributions are the

Gummel–Poon model The Gummel–Poon model is a model of the bipolar junction transistor. It was first described in an article published by Hermann Gummel and H. C. Poon at Bell Labs in 1970.H. K. Gummel and H. C. Poon, "An integral charge control model of bipolar ...

which made accurate simulation of

bipolar transistors A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a type of transistor that uses both electrons and electron holes as charge carriers. In contrast, a unipolar transistor, such as a field-effect transistor, uses only one kind of charge carrier. A bipolar t ...

possible and which was central to the development of the

SPICE A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spice ...

program; Gummel's method, used to solve the equations for the detailed behavior of individual bipolar transistors,; and the

Gummel plot In electronics, the Gummel plot is the combined plot of the base and collector electric currents, I_\text and I_\text, of a bipolar transistor vs. the base–emitter voltage, V_\text, on a semi-logarithmic scale. This plot is very useful in device ...

, used to characterize bipolar transistors. Gummel also created one of the first personal workstations, based on HP minicomputers and Tektronix terminals and used for

VLSI Very large-scale integration (VLSI) is the process of creating an integrated circuit (IC) by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when MOS integrated circuit (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) ...

design and layout, and MOTIS, the first MOS timing simulator and the basis of "fast SPICE" programs. In 1983, Gummel received the David Sarnoff Award "for contributions and leadership in device analysis and development of computer-aided design tools for semiconductor devices and circuits". In 1985, Gummel was elected to the

United States National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

for "contributions and leadership in the analysis and computer-aided design of semiconductor devices and circuits.". In 1994, he was the first recipient of

Phil Kaufman Award The Phil Kaufman Award was established in 1994 by the EDA Consortium (now the Electronic System Design Alliance, a SEMI Technology Community) to recognize individuals for their impact on electronic design by their contributions to electronic de ...

. Gummel died on 5 September 2022, at the age of 99.

Selected bibliography

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References

1923 births 2022 deaths Syracuse University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Scientists at Bell Labs German electronics engineers Electronic design automation people Engineers from Hanover German expatriates in the United States {{Germany-engineer-stub

See also

Selected bibliography

References