is a Japanese engineer who researches image sensors, and is known for inventing the

pinned photodiode A photodiode is a light-sensitive semiconductor diode. It produces current when it absorbs photons. The package of a photodiode allows light (or infrared or ultraviolet radiation, or X-rays) to reach the sensitive part of the device. The packag ...

, an important component of modern

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...

s. He was one of four recipients of the 2017

Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, also known as the QEPrize, is a global prize for engineering and innovation. The prize was launched in 2012 by a cross-party group consisting of David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband, then Prime Mi ...

. His industrial career wasa at

NEC Corporation is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

(1978–2000) and

Panasonic Corporation formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb s ...

(2000–13). As of 2018, he is a professor at the

University of Hyogo The is a public university in Japan. Its headquarters is in Chuo-ku, Kobe City. History The University of Hyogo (UH) was established in April 2004 by integrating three universities which were run by Hyogo Prefecture government: , and th ...

and at

Shizuoka University is a national university in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Shizuoka University is well known in the field of engineering, in creative innovation, and in the invention of next generation technology, with the prestigious international exchange ...

Education

Teranishi studied physics at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...

, gaining B.S. (1976) and M.S. degrees (1978) in the subject.

Career and research

He joined

in 1978, remaining there until 2000, when he moved to

(2000–13). In 2013, he moved to academia, becoming a professor at the

and at

in Japan, where he remains as of 2018. At NEC Corporation, Teranishi invented the

in 1980; the device was named in 1984. The pinned photodiode is a development of the

charge-coupled device A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

(CCD) imager. It has improved efficiency compared with the CCD, resulting in reduced

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...

size and higher image resolution. It remains an important component of

technology.

Awards, honours and societies

Teranishi's awards include medals from the British

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

(2010) and the

Photographic Society of America The Photographic Society of America (PSA) is one of the largest, non-profit organizations of its kind. Established in 1934, it has expanded to include members of over 60 countries. The mission of this association is to promote and enhance the ar ...

(2011), the Yamazaki Teiichi Award (2013), the ITE Niwa-Takayanagi Lifetime Achievement Award (2013) and the J.J. Ebers Award of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE; 2013). He received the

in 2017, with Michael Tompsett,

Eric Fossum Eric R. Fossum (born October 17, 1957) is an American physicist and engineer, which with the help of other JPL scientists, co-developed some features of the CMOS sensor, CMOS image sensor. He is currently a professor at Thayer School of Engineerin ...

and George Smith. He is a fellow of the IEEE, and of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers (2003). He has edited three special issues of ''

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices ''IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices'' (T-ED) is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal publishes original and significant contributions relating to the theory, modeling, design, performance and reliability of electron and ion integrated cir ...

''. In 2006, he was one of the founders of the International Image Sensor Society, and served as its president in 2018.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teranishi, Nobukazu 1953 births Living people University of Tokyo alumni Japanese engineers Japanese inventors Fellow Members of the IEEE NEC people