Chih-Tang Sah

The native form of thispersonal nameisSah Chih-Tang.This article usesWestern name orderwhen mentioning individuals.

Chih-Tang Sah
Born	November 1932(1932-11)(age91) Beijing,China
Alma mater	Stanford University University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Known for	Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor
Scientific career
Fields	Engineering and Physics
Institutions	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign(1962-1988) University of Florida(1988-2010) Xiamen University(2010- )

Chih-Tang "Tom" Sah(simplified Chinese:Tát chi đường;traditional Chinese:Tát chi đường;pinyin:Sà Zhītáng;born in November 1932 inBeijing,China) is aChinese-Americanelectronics engineer and condensed matter physicist. He is best known for inventingCMOS(complementaryMOS) logic withFrank WanlassatFairchild Semiconductorin 1963.CMOS is used in nearly all modernvery large-scale integration(VLSI)semiconductor devices.

He was thePittmanEminent Scholarand a Graduate Research Professor at theUniversity of Floridafrom 1988 to 2010. He was a Professor of Physics and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering,emeritus,at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,where he taught for 26 years (1962-1988) and guided 40 students to thePh.D.degree inelectrical engineeringand in physics and 34MSEEtheses. At theUniversity of Florida,he guided 10 doctoral theses inEE.He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles with his graduate students and research associates, and presented about 200 invited lectures and 60 contributed papers in China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and in the United States on transistor physics, technology and evolution.

He wrote a three-volume textbook titledFundamentals of Solid State Electronics(FSSE, 1991). FSSE was translated into Chinese in 2003.

Biography

Sah is a member of the distinguished Fuzhou Sah Family, descendants of the prominentYuan dynastyofficial Sadula, inFuzhouChina. His father Pen-Tung Sah was a founding academician ofAcademia Sinicaof China (1928-1949) and served as president ofXiamen University(1937–1945) and Secretary General of Academia Sinica of China (1945–1949).C.-T. Sah also had a younger brother Chih-Han Sah who was amathematicianand professor at theState University of New York at Stony Brook.

Sah received twoB.S.degrees in 1953 in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Physics from theUniversity of Illinoisand theM.S.andPh.D.degrees fromStanford Universityin 1954 and 1956, respectively. His doctoral thesis research was ontraveling-wave tubesunder the tutelage of Karl R. Spangenberg.

His industrial career insolid-state electronicsbegan withWilliam Shockleyin 1956 and continued atFairchild SemiconductorCorporation inPalo Altofrom 1959 to 1964 until he became a professor of physics and electrical engineering at theUniversity of Illinoisfor 25 years (1962–1988). Under the management ofGordon E. Moore,Victor H. Grinich andRobert N. Noyceat Fairchild, Sah directed a 64-member Fairchild Physics Department on the development of the first generation manufacturing technologies (oxidation, diffusion, epitaxy growth, and metal conductor thin film deposition) for volume production of silicon bipolar andMOStransistors andintegrated circuittechnology including oxide masking for impurity diffusion, stableSiMOS transistor, theCMOScircuit, origin of the low-frequency noise, the MOS transistor model used in the first circuit simulator, thin film integrated resistance and Si epitaxy process for bipolar integrated circuit production.

After theMOSFET(metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOS transistor) was first demonstrated byMohamed AtallaandDawon KahngofBell Labsin early 1960, Sah introduced MOS technology to Fairchild Semiconductor with his MOS-controlledtetrodefabricated in late 1960.In 1963, Sah invented theCMOS(complementary MOS)semiconductor device fabricationprocess withFrank Wanlassat Fairchild.CMOS is used in nearly all modernLSIandVLSIdevices.

He was the founding editor (1991) of the International Series on the Advances in Solid State Electronics and Technology (ASSET) which has published three titles by invited authors (1990s) and eight monographs (2007–2013) by invited authors on compact modelling of devices for computer aided design of integrated circuits, all with theWorld Scientific PublishingCompany,Singapore.His previous (1961–2013) research has been on MOS transistor models since he was drafted in October 2004 by his young colleagues to join them, after 40 years of absence subsequent to the 1964-Sah, 1965-Sah-Pao and 1966-Pao-Sah journal articles on MOS transistor models, in order to help further in the development of compact models for computer aided design ofnanometerMOS integrated circuits. Since 2013, he has been studying condensed matter physics with his young colleague Bin Bin Jie, specifically water physics.

For contributions in transistor physics and technology, he received the Browder H. Thomson best paper Prize (IRE-1962) for an author under 30, theJ. J. Ebers Awardin Electron Devices (1981) and the Jack Morton Award (1989), all from theIEEE,theFranklin InstituteCertificate of Merit, the First Achievement Award in High Technology from the Asian-American Manufacturer Association inSan Jose,CA(1984) (Co-recipient wasMorris Chang), the Fourth Annual University Research Award of the Semiconductor Industry Association (1998), recipient in integrated circuit technology (Yung Cheng Fung in bioengineering) of the first Pioneer recognition Award of the Committee-of-100 (a Chinese-American citizen organization), the second annual Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award of the Asian-American Engineer of the Year sponsored by the Chinese Institute of Engineering/USA (2003) and theDoctor Honoris Causadegree from theUniversity of Leuven,Belgium (1975) and the Honorary Doctorate from Chiaotung University,Taiwan,R.O.C. (2004), and the National Honorary Doctorate of China (2010) nominated by Xiamen University. He was also the recipient of the celebrated member of the IEEE Electron Device Society (2012).

He was listed in a survey by theInstitute for Scientific Informationas one of the world's 1000 most cited scientists during 1963-1978. He is aLife Fellowof theAmerican Physical Society,theFranklin Instituteand the IEEE, aFellowof theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science,a member of the U.S.National Academy of Engineering(1986), the Academia Sinica inTaipei(1998) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (2000). He was appointed an Honorary Professor of Tsinghua University (2003), Peking University (2003) and Xiamen University (2004) of China.

Honors and awards

• 2012 – Celebrated Member of the IEEE Electron Device Society.
• 2010 – National Honorary Doctorate of China nominated by Xiamen University.
• 2004 – Honorary Doctorate, National Chiao-Tung University
• 2003 – Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, Chinese Institute of Engineers USA
• 2002 – Committee-100 Pioneer Recognition Award
• 2000 – Elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• 1999 – Academician, Academia Sinica of Taipei
• 1999 – Semiconductor Industry Association University Research Award
• 1998 – University Research Award, U S Semiconductor Industry Association
• 1995 – Fellow, American Association of Advanced of Science
• 1995 – IEEE Life Fellow
• 1994 – Alumni Achievement Award, University of Illinois
• 1989 – IEEE Jack Morton Award
• 1986 – Elected a member of theNational Academy of Engineeringin 1986 for fundamental contributions leading to the characterization, development, and engineering of silicon diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits.
• 1981 – J. J. Ebers Award, IEEE Electron Device Society
• 1978 – 1000 World's Most Cited Scientists, 1965–1978, Institute for Scientific Information
• 1975 – Doctoris Honoris Causa, K. U. Leuven, Belgium
• 1975 –Franklin InstituteCertificate of Merit
• 1971 – Fellow, American Physical Society
• 1969 – Fellow, Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers

Patents

• 3,204,160 – Surface Potential Controlled Semiconductor Device, August 1965
• 3,280,391 – High Frequency Transistor, October 1966
• 3,243,669 – Surface Potential Controlled Semiconductor Device, March 1969
• 4,343,962 – Oxide Charge Induced High Low Junction Emitter Solar Cell, with J. G. Fossum, S. C. Pao, F. A. Lindholm, 1982
• Patent Pending – DCIV Methodology for Rapid Determination of Reliability of Transistors.