Simon Min Sze, or Shi Min (; born 1936), is a Chinese-American electrical engineer. He is best known for inventing the

floating-gate MOSFET The floating-gate MOSFET (FGMOS), also known as a floating-gate MOS transistor or floating-gate transistor, is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) where the gate is electrically isolated, creating a floating no ...

with Korean electrical engineer

Dawon Kahng Dawon Kahng ( ko, 강대원; May 4, 1931 – May 13, 1992) was a Korean-American electrical engineer and inventor, known for his work in solid-state electronics. He is best known for inventing the MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effe ...

in 1967.

Biography

Sze was born in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, and grew up in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. After graduating from the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

in 1957, he received a master's degree from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1960 and a doctorate from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1963. He worked for

Bell Labs 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 ...

until 1990, after which he returned to

and joined the faculty of

National Chiao Tung University National Chiao Tung University (NCTU; ) was a public research university located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Established in 1896 as Nanyang Public School by an imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor, it was one of China's leading universities. After th ...

. He is well known for his work in

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

, including his 1967 invention (with

) of the

floating-gate transistor The floating-gate MOSFET (FGMOS), also known as a floating-gate MOS transistor or floating-gate transistor, is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) where the gate is electrically isolated, creating a floating no ...

, now widely used in non-volatile semiconductor memory devices. He has written and edited many books, including ''Physics of Semiconductor Devices'', one of the most-cited texts in its field. Sze received the J. J. Ebers Award in 1991 for his work in electron devices.''Electron Devices Society J.J. Ebers Award
web page at the IEEE, accessed 11-I-2007. In 1995, he was elected a member of the

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 technical and educational contributions to semiconductor devices.

Bibliography

* ''Physics of Semiconductor Devices'', S. M. Sze. New York: Wiley, 1969, ; 2nd ed., 1981, ; 3rd ed., with Kwok K. Ng, 2006, . * ''Nonvolatile Memories: Materials, Devices and Applications" 2-volume set, Tseung-Yuen Tseng and Simon M. Sze. Los Angeles: American Scientific Publishers, 2012; . * ''Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology'', S. M. Sze. New York: Wiley, 1985; 2nd ed., 2001, ; 3rd ed., 2012, . * ''VLSI Technology'', ed. S. M. Sze. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983, ; 2nd ed., 1988, . * ''Modern Semiconductor Device Physics'', ed. S. M. Sze. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998, .

References

1936 births American electrical engineers Living people American people of Taiwanese descent National Taiwan University alumni Scientists at Bell Labs American people of Chinese descent Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering 20th-century Chinese inventors Engineers from Jiangsu Taiwanese people from Jiangsu Scientists from Nanjing University of Washington alumni Stanford University alumni National Chiao Tung University faculty Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering {{US-electrical-engineer-stub