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The Silicon Genesis interviews listed below are available in two formats:
*As VHS videotapes
housed in the Department
of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries. These copies
are non-circulating and must be viewed in the Special Collections Reading
Room in the Cecil H. Green Library. Archival beta-format copies are also
available for broadcast or other special purposes. The Reading Room is
open 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. For more information about
the collections and access policies, please contact Special Collections
by telephone at (650) 725-1022, by electronic mail at speccoll@sulmail.stanford.edu,
via the Department's Electronic
Reference Form, or by regular mail: Department of Special Collections,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6004.
* As streamed
video files using the RealMedia format. You may need to download the free
Real Player, available here: http://www.real.com/player/index.html.
If you have the Real Player installed on your computer, click on the
links below to view the Silicon Genesis videotapes in this format.
Stanford and the Silicon Valley Project
|
Interviews from the SEMI Oral History Project here |
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These three
men directed Fairchild's pioneering work in chip photography and art.
They have donated 35mm slides of their photographs to the Stanford Libraries'
Silicon Valley Archives. A transcript of this interview is available here.
Gil Amelio
started his semiconductor career at Bell Labs after receiving his Ph.D..
He developed CCD manufacturing techniques which made them commercially
practical. He was recruited to Fairchild where he headed up the MOS division.
Then he took over the Rockwell semiconductor operation, successfully transitioning
the operation to profitability. He then became CEO of National Semiconductor
when Charlie Sporck retired. He was recruited to Apple Computer as CEO,
ultimately being forced out of the position. A transcript is available
here.
Paul Brokaw
has held a variety of positions at Analog Devices, and is presently
an analog fellow. He has designed a variety of products, including
A/D and D/A converters, sensors, voltage references and amplifiers. He
holds over one hundred patents. In this 2006 interview, he describes
the attributes of a successful engineer. A transcript is available here.
Don spent
many years at Texas Instruments in variety of positions. He was recruited
to Fairchild and became the last CEO of the California company. He recounts
his efforts to save Fairchild that ultimately resulted in its sale to
National. He then took over the reins at Taiwan Semiconductor and made
it the first profitable semiconductor foundry. A transcript is available
here.
Dennis Carter
was Vice President and Director of Marketing at Intel in the 1990s, when
it grew from a component supplier to one of the world's most widely recognized
consumer brands in the world. In this 2004 interview, he recounts his
four years as Technical assistant to Andy Grove, and what he learned about
Grove's management style and drive. He then initiated and managed Intel's
successful Graffiti Program to encourage upgrades from the 286 to 386
and the 486, increasing both the company's margin and segment share of
the microprocessor market. He went on to create and manage the Intel Inside
Program that made Intel a household name alongside BMW and Coke.
A transcript
is available here.
Wilf Corrigan
has been a major player in the semiconductor industry since 1960. In this
1998 interview he reviews his 38-year career at Transitron, Motorola,
Fairchild, and LSI Logic and discusses advances in semiconductor technology
since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958. A transcript is
available here.
Bob
Dobkin and Jim Williams are world famous analog IC designers. Bob has
over 30 years experience in design and developed many
advanced products at National Semiconductor and Linear Technology,
including the first 3 terminal adjustable voltage regulator. Jim Williams
is well known for his writing and lectures on analog circuits and instrumentation.
A transcript is available here.
James Downey
directed Fairchild's work in MOS technology and ASIC, inventing "standard
cell" technology. He later went on to head Advanced Micro Devices
MOS operations. A transcript is available here.
John
East has been in the semiconductor industry for over forty years.
Beginning with his high school years as a ham radio enthusiast, he
always wanted to be an electrical engineer. Graduating from the University
of California with BSEE, and MBA degrees, he began his career at
Fairchild Semiconductor. He gained experience at a variety of manufacturing,
product engineering, design engineering and marketing positions.
He eventually left to move to AMD, where he supervised both bipolar
and MOS design. In 1998, he became CEO of Actel Corp, a provider
of field programmable gate arrays. A transcript is available here.
Federico
Faggin developed Fairchild's original silicon gate technology in the late
1960's, then joined Intel in 1970, where he designed the 4004 microprocessor.
In 1974, he struck out on his own to found Zilog, which produced the Z80
and Z8000 microprocessors. A transcript
of this interview is available.
Jack
Gifford went to Fairchild in 1965 and became the semiconductor industry's
first linear integrated circuit product manager. After leaving Fairchild,
Jack co-founded Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and recruited Jerry Sanders.
Always passionate about analog integrated circuits, he became president
of Intersil and then founded Maxim Integrated Products. In this 2002 interview,
Jack tells of his tempestuous relationships with industry legends Bob
Widlar, Jean Hoerni, Jerry Sanders, Jack Welch, and others. A transcript
is available here.
Paul Gray,
Engineering Dean of the University of California at Berkeley, has
made fundamental contributions in the fields of mixed signal MOS
integrated circuits. In this 1998 interview he discusses Fairchild,
early pioneers of the industry, and aspects of engineering education.
A transcript is available here.
The husband
and wife team of Arlene Harris and Martin Cooper have defined the wireless
age. Arlene, as a child of five, worked in her parents' radio mobile
telephone company, MetroCal , later ICS, in Los Angeles . She has been
a Wireless Entrepreneur for thirty-five years and is the founder and
CEO of GreatCall, who launched the Jitterbug, easy to use cell phone,
with partner Samsung in 2006. Martin Cooper is a pioneer and inventor
in the wireless communications industry. He introduced the first portable
cell phone in 1973 during his twenty-nine year career with Motorola.
He is a co-founder of GreatCall and is Chairman of ArrayComm, today,
a leader in cellular antenna development. A transcript is
available here.
John Hennessy is a pioneer in the fields
of computer architecture, microprocessor design and microprogramming.
In this 2005 interview, Professor Hennessy describes his development
of a tic-tac toe player in high school, which set him on the road to
computer design, beginning with his university studies leading to a
PhD at Stanford University. Through his many VLSI projects at Stanford
he gained an appreciation of microprocessor design that led to a leave
of absence to co-found RISC computer maker MIPS. He describes the RISC-CISC
wars and how, with the benefits of Moore's law and Intel's marketing
and production clout, they were able to prevail in the desktop and
server markets with the aging X86 architecture. He tells of his rise
through Stanford University from professor to Dean to Provost and most
recently to President, explaining why Stanford is the most entrepreneurial
university in the world. A transcript is available here.
Shawn and
Kim Hailey discuss the history of the SPICE circuit simulator and their
company, Meta Software. A transcript is available here.
Brian Halla served in a number of positions at Control
Data and Intel before joining LSI Logic as Executive Vice President of
the product group. In May, 1996, he joined National Semiconductor as
President and CEO. Up until that time, he'd been involved almost exclusively
with digital products. A transcript is available here.
The late
Richard Hodgson describes the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor in
this
1995 interview. A transcript is available here.
Dr. Marcian
Edward "Ted" Hoff, Jr. joined Intel in 1968, where he was the
architect for the very first microprocessor. In 1980, Ted was named the
first Intel Fellow, the highest technical position in the company. He
is currently VP and Chief Technical Officer with Teklicon, Inc. This 1995
interview covers his involvement in the design and development of the
first commercially available microprocessor, the Intel 4004. A transcript
of this video is available.
Lester Hogan
was an early innovator in the semiconductor and microwave electronics
industry. He was president of Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation,
which he joined in 1968 after demonstrating his leadership abilities at
Bell Telephone Laboratories and Motorola, Inc. This 1995 interview covers
the early days of Motorola's semiconductor operation and the post-Noyce
days at Fairchild. A transcript
of this video is available.
Dave was
at Intel for twenty-two years, thirteen of which as General Manager of
the microprocessor division. In this 2005 interview, he describes the
steps taken to maintain and strengthen Intel's position of dominance
in the microprocessor market. From the 286, 386, 486 and through
the Pentium line, Dave made sure that Intel remained the dominant player
in the microprocessor field. A transcript is available here.
Jim Koford
is a true pioneer of the semiconductor industry, having originated the
industries first logic simulator while at Fairchild in the 1960s. He was
in charge of LSI Logic's design automation for most of the 1980s and a
co-founder of Monterey Design Systems. A transcript is available here.
Regis McKenna
is founder and chairman of The McKenna Group, a management and marketing
consulting firm specializing in the application of information and telecommunications
technologies. He is responsible for helping to launch some of the most
important technology products of the last twenty-five years, including
the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, and the first commercially successful
personal computers (Apple Computer). This 1995 interview discusses early
developments at Intel and Apple as well as Silicon Valley philosophy.
A transcript
of this video is available.
Bernie
Marren has a long and notable career in semiconductors. He began
at Fairchild Semiconductor and later served as CEO of distributor
Western Micro Technology and MOS pioneer American Microtechnology.
He was a founder of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA)
and served as it's first president. At the time of this interview
he was president of OPTI, a chip set and technology licensing firm.
In the interview Bernie discusses the role of distribution in semiconductor
sales and the increasing importance of intellectual property protection. A transcript is available here.
Stan was
a member of the Intel 4004 design team, considered to be the first commercially
available microprocessor. Ted Hoff designed the architecture, Federico
Faggin the logical and physical design, while Stan wrote application programs
and defined some instructions. After the 4004, Stan contributed to the
8080 and 8086 microprocessors, the predecessors of today's Pentium products.
After leaving Intel, he became a computer-aided design specialist at Silicon
Compilers Synopsys and others. A transcript is available here.
William Mensch
headed development of the Motorola 6800 and the General Instrument 6801
microprocessors. A transcript of this interview is available here.
Gordon Moore
joined Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory shortly after its founding in
1956 and worked on semiconductor process technology with William Shockley,
co-inventor of the transistor. Moore was on the original team at Fairchild
Semiconductor in 1957 and co-founded Intel in 1968, where he developed
large-scale integrated products beginning with semiconductor memories.
His recognition of the trend that integrated circuit complexity doubles
every 18 to 24 months, known today as Moore's Law, has become one of the
driving principles of the semiconductor industry. A transcript
of this interview is available.
Jim
Morgan took charge of Applied Materials in 1976. The semiconductor equipment
maker was in default on bank loans and on the verge of bankruptcy. Jim
sold off its non-core businesses and refinanced loans to bring the firm
back to profitability. In 2003 Applied Materials was profitable, number
one in the semiconductor equipment marketplace and brought in sales of
over five billion dollars. In this 2004 interview, Jim
discusses his business philosophy, competing in the global marketplace
and why he routinely invests an astounding 20% of revenue in R&D.
A transcript is available here.
Gerry Parker
joined Intel Corporation as employee number 99 in 1969. After 32 years
with the company he retired in 2001 as Executive Vice President General
Manager of the New Business Group. In his career at Intel he defined manufacturing
processes and organization, including the all important introduction of
new semiconductor processes into manufacturing, before moving to the New
Business Group in 1999. In this 2003 interview Gerry describes the explosive
growth of Intel and the unending challenges of transferring technology
from R & D to production. A transcript is available here.
As
a young New York investment banker, Arthur Rock convinced the wealthy
industrialist Sherman Fairchild to talk to eight dissatisfied scientists
at the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory. Fairchild liked what he saw
and Fairchild Semiconductor was born out of their collaboration. Rock
later moved to San Francisco and became the first venture capitalist.
When Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore grew weary of the East Coast style of
Fairchild management, Rock in a single afternoon raised the money to start
a new company, Intel. Rock was also the money man behind Apple Computer,
Scientific Data Systems, and many other startups. In this 2002 interview
Rock describes his investment criteria and philosophy. A transcript
of this interview is available.
The
late George Rostky was a journalist who covered the development of the
semiconductor industry from its inception, which he discusses in this
1995 interview. He describes his interviews with semiconductor industry
notables; audiotapes of this interviews have been donated to the Stanford
University Libraries' Silicon Valley Archives. A transcript is available
here.
Jerry
Sanders graduated in 1958 with a degree in Electrical Engineering and
was recruited to Fairchild Semiconductor in 1961. He was a star performer
at Fairchild, becoming world-wide sales manager at the age of 31. When
Bob Noyce left to found Intel, C. Lester Hogan was brought in as head
of Fairchild and ended up firing the young and brash Sanders. Other
former Fairchild employees had left to form Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
but could not obtain funding. Sanders was asked to join them, got the
money, and became Chairman and CEO of AMD, a position he held from 1969
to 2002. In this 2002 interview, Sanders describes his 41 years in semiconductors
and speculates on the future of technology. A transcript is available
here.
Horst
Sandfort has been a leader in moving U.S. semiconductor companies
into Europe. Starting in 1968 with Texas Instruments, he introduced
their calculators into central Europe . Next, he did the same with
Litronix. In the late '70s, he initiated Fairchild Consumer Electronics
to Central Europe, and later became Director of International Marketing
at Fairchild in Mountain View . From 1984 to 1994, he managed LSI
Logic European operations. First, establishing a design center in
Munich , and then he became LSI's President in Europe , including
the responsibility for manufacturing. Since that time he has held
CEO positions with a variety of American electronic firms. A transcript
is available here.
George
Scalise, President of the Semiconductor Industry Association, the
SIA, has enjoyed a distinguished 30 year industry carreer. He has
worked in senior positions at Motorola, Fairchild, AMD, Apple and
MacStore. In this 2003 interview, George discusses the early days
of semiconductors, and the issues of Japanese DRAM dumping. A transcript
is available here.
Harry
Sello was recruited by William Shockley to join Shockley Semiconductor
Laboratories. He later became a senior member of Fairchild Semiconductor
through the Noyce, Hogan and Roberts regimes. A transcript is available
here.
According
to Business Week magazine, Larry Sonsini "is unquestionably the most
sought-after lawyer in Silicon Valley." As Chairman of law firm Wilson,
Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, he has overseen hundreds of stock offerings.
With a legal team of over 500 lawyers, roughly one third of Silicon Valley’s
public companies are his clients. In this 2003 interview Larry shares
his view on technology and public offerings. A transcript is available
here.
Charlie learned
manufacturing at General Electric and was recruited to Fairchild as their
first dedicated manufacturing director. He was there as the planar process
was being developed, which, together with the manufacturing equipment
and organization, became the foundation of Silicon Valley. Later he became
CEO of National Semiconductor where he instituted a no-nonsense style
of management. He offers his insights on the successes and failures of
Fairchild and National, and their abortive forays into consumer markets.
A transcript is available here.
Ray Stata
co-founded Analog Devices in 1965. In this 2006 interview, Stata, now
Chairman of the company, discusses his experiences in over forty years
in the analog module and integrated circuit business. He explains the
basic business tenets that have kept ADI growing through decades of
technological revolution. A transcript is available here.
Bob Swanson was the founder of
Linear Technologies Technology, a leader in the field of analog integrated
circuits. He was a veteran of Transitron, Fairchild & National Semiconductor
before founding Linear in 1981. In this 2006 interview, Bob describes
the profitability of analog ICs, the advantages of Silicon Valley as
a place to start a technology company and the importance of retaining
the best engineers. A transcirpt is available here.
Richard Tedlow is the class
of 1949 Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business
School where he a specialist in the history of business. He is the
author of several books including his latest ‘ Andy Grove:
the life and times of an American'. A transcirpt is available here.
Robert Ulrickson
and John Nichols chronicle Fairchild's pioneering developments in LSI
and MSI and discuss what it takes to run a small electronics company.
A transcript is available here.
Don Valentine
started his semiconductor career at Fairchild Semiconductor, where as
Sales Manager he hired bright young men such as Jerry Sanders, Jack Gifford,
Mike Markula and many others who went on to become industry leaders. Then,
as a founder of National Semiconductor, Don built its sales force from
scratch. In 1972 he entered the Venture Capital field then still in it's
infancy, founding Sequoia Capital. In this 2004 interview Don discusses
the factors that make Silicon Valley great, and his criteria for investing.
A transcript is available here.
Harold Vitale was responsible for the first high pin count computer-controlled IC tester, the Fairchild 8000A in the late sixties. This was followed by the 8000B and then to the Sentry Series of larger VLSI production testers. After the Schlumberger acquisition of Fairchild, he moved on to a series of larger test design challenges at GenRad, Trillium and Credence Corporation. Largely ignored in semiconductor histories, ever faster VLSI testers were key to the success of microprocessors and ASICS. A transcript is available here.
The late
Bernard Vonderschmitt served as vice president and general manager of
the solid-state division at the RCA Corporation for more than 20 years.
This 1995 interview covers the RCA semiconductor operation and the development
of CMOS. A transcript is available here.
Rob Walker
worked at both Fairchild and Intel before co-founding LSI Logic in 1981.
In this 1998 interview he describes the early days of Silicon Valley with
special emphasis on ASIC technology. A transcript is available here.
KK Yawata is a respected Japanese semiconductor
executive. In this 2007 interview, he tells of his grammar school introduction
to the power of electronics, his decision in college to pursue the physics
and manufacture of transistors; and later integrated circuits. In his
career at NEC, he rose to head-up NEC Electronics, USA. There he did
the unthinkable, in 1984, he left NEC to start LSI Logic KK, a Japanese
ASIC manufacture and partner of LSI Logic Corp. of California. After
10 years as CEO of the Japanese ASIC company, and two years as head of
Applied Materials Japan, he semi-retired to become an advisor and an
angel to young Japanese entrepreneurs. A transcript is available here.
Albert Yu
obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University
and began his career at Fairchild Semiconductor's R&D facility
in the Stanford Industrial Park. He was later recruited to Intel by
Andy Grove, where he remained for a distinguished thirty-year tenure.
In this 2005 interview, he recounts how as Senior Vice President, he
oversaw the development of the 386, 486 and many of the Pentium chips,
as well as the revolutionary Itanium. A transcript is available here.
Silicon Genesis Europe
Oral history interviews from European semiconductor
pioneers are currently being added to the Silicon Genesis collection.
These interviews have been produced by Horst G. Sandfort, veteran of
Fairchild Semiconductor and LSI Logic. They are conducted in the native
language of those interviewed.
“electronica” itself is an industry
controversy, which resulted from the early days' fierce competition between
the German Semiconductor Conglomerates like Siemens, AEG, VALVO, who
exhibited at the Hannover Industrial Fair's “Microtronic” – established
in the early fifties of the 20th Century, as the German Industrial recovery
show after World War II – and the USA Semiconductor Industry, which wanted
a foothold in the potentially largest European market for Semiconductor
applications in Germany – backed by Texas Instruments, Fairchild Semiconductor
and lead by Importers, Distributors and the Munich Exhibition Authorities,
establishing “Electronica” in the early sixties, which by now is the
leading Semiconductor Show worldwide, exhibiting the developments of
the worldwide companies active in the Semiconductor Industry. The discussion
recorded here on November 15, 2006 gives an overview of the early days
of controversy, joint ventures, co-existence and issues for limited growth
as well as world leadership for a company like Wacker / Siltronic by
producing wafers for the globally leading players in the Semiconductor
Industry. An English translation of the roundtable transcript prepared
by Horst G. Sandfort is available here. The German transcription is available here.
Dr. Schuetze has experienced the developments in “both worlds”: leading European
Semiconductor Companies from the late fifties to the mid sixties until he joined
Texas Instruments Europe as a leading scientist and ultimately General Manager
and Board member of the parent company in Dallas Texas . This was recorded November
16, 2006. The German transcription is available here.
Curt F. Kesting represents a group of individuals, who early on in their careers
joined a US based Semiconductor Company (Fairchild Semiconductor) in Germany
. In this November 16, 2006 interview he described his many historically interesting
engagements of a leading USA Semiconductor Company which was trying many different
ways to establish itself as a global player. The German transcription is available
here.
Prof. Dr. Hans Weinerth
Prof. Dr. Hans Weinerth is an individual who mastered many challenges in his
career, which relate to “opportunities” and “missed opportunities” in the Semiconductor
Industry. As Scientist he was instrumental in the development of Zener Diodes,
enhancing manufacturing processes. In this November 27, 2007 interview he describes
getting his PhD thesis approved by William Shockley, even though he never worked
for him, nor worked in the USA . He is author of many books relating to Physics
and Semiconductors, which students in Germany , Austria and Switzerland which
students in Germany , Austria and Switzerland still study today. The German
transcription is available
here. The English translation is
available here.
Fairchild
semiconductor was the mother of the semiconductor industry; Fairchild
put the silicon in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1957 by eight scientists,
it quickly reached heights of influence and prestige including the invention
of the integrated circuit in 1959. Then beset by inept absentee management
woes, it begin to hemorrhaging key people who founded new semiconductor companies
like Intel, AMD, National, LSI Logic and many others. Finally, in 1986 it was
sold to National Semiconductor for just $122 million. Today, Fairchild
Semiconductor has been reconstituted and is headquartered in Portland Maine.
The Fairchild Chronicles is the story the 29 years of the west coast Company,
both creative and chaotic, prolific and profane, told in the words of those who
were there. It was a turbulent period representative of the sixties replete with
alcohol, fistfights and aggressive behavior that most corporate histories don't
discuss. The 180 minute documentary is told with video clips assembled from this
site and a series of vintage photographs. The transcript is available here.
Oral history interviews from Semiconductor Equipment
and Materials International, better known as SEMI, are currently being
added to the Silicon Genesis collection. These interviews have been produced
by Craig Addison, Senior Editor, Communications, at SEMI.
Morris Chang has been the chairman of TSMC since the
company was established in 1987 and served as CEO from its founding until
June 2005. From 1985 to 1994, he was president and then chairman of ITRI,
the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Taiwan . Earlier in his
career, Chang served as president and chief operating officer of General
Instrument, and prior to that he was corporate group and senior vice
president for Texas Instruments. Chang holds a bachelor's degree and
a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University
, and has been active in the semiconductor industry for 51 years. A transcript
is available here.
The late Nick DeWolf began his career in the semiconductor
industry in the mid-1950s as chief engineer for Transistron, where he
developed a tester for germanium diodes. In 1960, he founded Teradyne,
a Boston-based company specializing in test equipment for semiconductors.
At Teradyne he served as CEO for just over 10 years and during that time
designed more than 300 testers, including the J259 computer operated
test system for ICs. DeWolf retired as CEO in 1971 and moved to Aspen
, Colorado , where he was active in community projects. In 1979, he was
a recipient of the SEMI Award for outstanding contributions to the semiconductor
test industry. DeWolf died April 16, 2006, aged 77. A transcript is available
here.
The late Jim Gallagher's career started in the military
in 1943 when the U.S. Air Force sent him to New York University to take
an M.S. in Meteorology, after which he served in Italy and Germany as
a staff meteorologist. In 1958, along with several colleagues including
Milt Greenberg, he founded the Geophysical Corporation of America (GCA).
Gallagher held a number of positions at GCA including director and senior
vice president of operations in charge of the IC Systems Group. In addition
to his roles at GCA, Gallagher served as president and chairman of the
SEMI board of directors for two terms from 1978-1980. In 1981, he was
honored by the Semiconductor Equipment Marketing Council of Japan for
his contributions in bringing influence and understanding to the area
of U.S.-Japan trade relations. Gallagher died on February 7, 2006 , aged
85. A transcript is available here.
Theodore J. (Ted) Gallagher began his working career
in the early 1960s with Perkin Elmer, involved in the sale and marketing
of analytical instruments. In 1966, he joined Tracer Labs, a division
of LFE, and promoted plasma processing technology for the semiconductor
industry. Gallagher founded Tegal Corporation in 1972 and founded Matrix
Integrated Systems in 1985. A transcript is available here.
Sam Harrell served as senior vice president
of strategic business development for KLA Tencor from 1995 to 2002, when
he retired from the semiconductor industry. He was one of the founders
of SEMATECH and served as its senior vice president and chief strategy
officer. From September 1987 to October 1992, Harrell was president of
SEMI-SEMATECH, the consortium of equipment and materials suppliers. Earlier
in his career, Harrell spent nine years in senior management positions
at Texas Instruments, with responsibility for computer aided design (CAD)
services, photomask production, photoresist development, lithography
system development, and wafer fabrication technology. After TI, Harrell
worked for Computervision for nine years as senior vice president, corporate
strategy officer, and general manager of the Cobilt Division. He then
went on to establish Micronix to develop x-ray lithographic systems and
medical x-ray sources. Harrell has served as a member of the SEMI board
of directors and was SEMI chairman in 1985. He received a Bachelor of
Science with a major in chemistry from Texas Technological University
in 1961 and a PhD in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University
of Cincinnati in 1964. A transcript is available here.
David Lam founded Lam Research
in 1980. Under his guidance as CEO, the company introduced the industry's
first fully automated plasma etching system for semiconductor manufacturing.
Lam Research went public in 1984 and has since become a global leader
in semiconductor capital equipment. Since his departure from Lam Research,
Lam has served as chairman of the David Lam Group, which invests and
advises emerging technology companies in semiconductors, semiconductor
equipment, computer hardware and software, biotech, networking, and communications.
A transcript is available here.
Jay Last received a BS degree
in Optics from the University of Rochester in 1951, and a Ph.D. in Physics
from MIT in 1956. He was then recruited by William Shockley to work at
the Shockley Semiconductor Labs. In September 1957, Last was one of the
group of eight who founded Fairchild Semi conductor. At Fairchild he
worked on the first commercial silicon planar transistors, and then ran
the R&D group that produced the first integrated circuits. In 1961,
Last joined Teledyne where he formed the Amelco division, and served
as vice president for technology, overseeing the technical interaction
of Teledyne's large number o f divisions. After he left Teledyne in the
late 1970s, Last became involved with a number of venture capital activities,
and was a founder of the Archaeological Conservancy, dedicated to saving
American archaeological sites. He started Hillcrest Press in 1982, publishing
books dealing with California art, ethnic art, and the graphic arts.
A transcript is available here.
Michael A. McNeilly's career began at 25 when
he co-founded Apogee Chemicals to provide the semiconductor industry
with ultra-high purity chemicals and chemical delivery systems. At 28,
McNeilly founded Applied Materials. During his tenure at Applied, he
issued over 20 patents and was the co-recipient of the first SEMI award
for “ Outstanding Contributions to the Semiconductor Industry.” After
Applied, McNeilly went on to establish 14 high technology companies.
He also received the NASA award for “ Outstanding Contributions to NASA
Technology Commercialization.” Most recently, McNeilly served as CEO
of TwinStar Systems in Fremont , California. He died October 30, 2005,
aged 66. A transcript is available here.
Robert Palmer served as chairman and CEO of Digital
Equipment Corporation from 1995 to 1998, and was appointed president
and CEO of Digital in October 1992. From 1985 to 1992, he served in various
executive positions at Digital, primarily in the semiconductor manufacturing
operations. Before Digital, Palmer was executive vice president of Semiconductor
Operations at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), joining UTC in 1980
when it acquired Mostek Corporation. In 1969, Palmer was a member of
the founding team at Mostek, where he pioneered the use of ion implantation
technology for the manufacture of MOS circuits. Palmer currently serves
on the board of directors of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. A transcript
is available here.
Ed Segal served as chairman and CEO
of Metron Technology from 1995 until 2004 when it was acquired by
Applied Materials. Previously, he was president and CEO of Transpacific
Technology Corporation, a company he founded in 1982. Early in his
career Segal worked in senior sales and marketing positions at Materials
Research Corporation, Kasper Instruments and Cobilt. He is a member of the
board of directors of SEMI and a past recipient of the SEMI Bob Graham Award
for significant contributions to semiconductor equipment marketing. He holds
a Bachelor of Science degree in metallurgical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute. A transcript is available here.
Sheldon Weinig spent five years as
a professor at Columbia University before founding Materials Research
Corporation (MRC) in 1957, where he served as chairman and CEO for
more than 20 years. Sony acquired MRC in 1989 and following the merger
Weinig remained with Sony America for seven years as vice chairman
of engineering and manufacturing. In April 1996, he retired and accepted
Adjunct Professorships at Columbia University and The State University
of New York at Stony Brook, New York . In 1980, he received the
SEMI Award for developing the critical materials necessary for the
growth of the semiconductor industry. In 1990, he was elected to
the International Technology Institute's Hall of Fame for Engineering,
Science and Technology. Weinig served two terms as a member of President
Ronald Reagan's Board of Advisors on Private Sector Initiatives,
was a member of the U.S.-Japan Scientific Exchange Committee, and
served on the board of directors of SEMI. Weinig received his doctorate
in metallurgy from Columbia University. A transcript is available here.
Peter Wolken started his career
in the semiconductor and electronics industry and later spent more
than 25 years in the venture capital business. In 1982, he founded
and was a general partner at Associated Venture Investors (AVI),
which specialized in seed and early-stage investments in IT companies.
Prior to AVI, Wolken was a general partner at Page Mill Partners. In 1970, he co-founded
and was vice president of sales at Cobilt, a semiconductor equipment
maker that later was acquired by Computervision. Prior to entering
the venture capital business he worked for Etec. Earlier in his career
he worked for RCA, General Electric, Beckman Instruments and Electroglas. Wolken
received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
California at Berkeley and a Masters degree in International Marketing
from the Thunderbird School of International Management in Arizona. A
transcript is available here.
Shoichiro Yoshida joined Nikon Corporation
in 1956 after graduating from the University of Tokyo with a major
in precision mechanical engineering. For the first 15 years at Nikon
he was involved in the design of optical and other precision instruments,
including astronomical telescopes, spectroscopic instruments and
ruling engines for optical grating. Yoshida was instrumental in Nikon's
strategy to merge optical technology with precision instrumentation to develop
products for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. He led the development
of the NSR step-and-repeat system during the 1970s and Nikon's first stepper,
the NSR-1010G, which was released in 1980. In 1983, Yoshida was appointed division
manager for Nikon's stepper products. Five years later he was promoted to managing
director of Nikon Corporation, with wider responsibility for the microscope
and measuring instruments division as well as steppers. Yoshida was subsequently
appointed executive vice president and in 1997 became president of Nikon Corporation.
He served as chairman and CEO from 2001 until his retirement in 2005, when
he was named as Corporate Advisor to Nikon. Yoshida was elected to the board
of directors of SEMI in 1990 and served a term as chairman of SEMI in 1998/1999.
A transcript is available here.
Last Modified:
December 3, 2008 (crw)
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