IEEE Awards Booklet - 2012 - 12

I E E E

M E D A L S

2012 IEEE
Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal
Sponsored by the Federation of Electric Power Companies, Japan

Mark T. Bohr, Robert S. Chau, and Tahir Ghani

For sustained leadership in developing innovative transistor technologies for
advanced logic products

Mark T. Bohr, Robert S. Chau, and Tahir Ghani have played
key leadership roles at Intel Corp. in developing the three
biggest changes in transistor technology over the past
decade. Their work has allowed the continued shrinking
of transistor technology resulting in smaller, faster, and
more energy-efficient microprocessors. The first revolutionary change in transistor technology was the team's
development of silicon germanium strained-silicon transistors, first described by Dr. Ghani in 2003. Applied in
Intel's 90-nm technology node, these transistors were the
first material innovations implemented to improve transistor performance without increasing current leakage. This
method improves electron and hole mobility in a transistor, providing faster on-off switching and resulting in
faster microprocessors. Intel began volume production of
the 90-nm transistors in 2003. The team's second contribution to the continued scaling of chips was the high-k
metal gate transistor that permitted scaling to the 45-nm
generation. This technology overcame the performance
and leakage limits presented by not being able to scale
the gate dielectric in previous nodes. Intel replaced traditional silicon dioxide materials with a novel high-k
dielectric and special metal gate electrode to achieve record-setting transistor performance with dramatically

reduced current leakage. Intel began high-volume production of 45-nm microprocessors in 2007. The team's
third innovation was the tri-gate transistor featured in
Intel's 22-nm processors announced in 2011. Utilizing
three sides of tall and narrow silicon fins to provide better
gate control of current compared to traditional planar
devices, these transistors provide significantly lower
operating voltage, lower current leakage, and more "on
state" current. This invention allows transistors that are
smaller, faster, and use less power than ever before.
An IEEE Fellow, Mr. Bohr is currently an Intel Senior Fellow
and director of process architecture and integration at
Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Ore., where he has worked since
1978.
An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Chau is currently an Intel Senior Fellow
and director of transistor research and nanotechnology at
Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Ore., where he has worked since
1989.
An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Ghani is currently an Intel Fellow and
director of transistor technology and integration at Intel
Corp., Hillsboro, Ore., where he has worked since 1994.

Scope: For outstanding contributions to material and device science and technology, including practical application

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