Achievements of MOSFET and the floating gate, which functioned as breakthroughs for the semiconductor technology
A globally renowned researcher who was admitted to the Hall of Fame of inventors in the USA, the only Korean to have been admitted
(Late) Kang Dae-won
Research Fellow, Bell Labs, USA (1931~1992)
- Academic background
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1955
B.S. at College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Seoul National Univ. (Physics)
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1956
M.S. at Graduate School of Ohio State University, USA (Physics)
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1959
Ph.D. at Graduate School of Ohio State University, USA (Physics)
- Professional career
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1959 ~ 1988
Researcher at the Bell Telephone Laboratories, USA
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1988 ~ 1992
1st President of the NEC Institute, USA
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1988
Fellow of the International Electric and Electronic Engineers Association (IEEE)
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Life member of the Korea Physics Society
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Advisor of LG Electronics
- Awards
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1975
Awarded the Stuart Ballantine Medal by the Franklin Institute
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1986
Proud Alumnus Award by the College of Engineering, Ohio State Univ.
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2009
Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, USA
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2017
Established Dawon Kahng Award by the Korea Semiconductor Conference
Dr. Dawon Kahng is a world-class researcher who published unrivaled research accomplishments which fundamentally changed the world’s semiconductor technology and history of the industry.
He was a semiconductor researcher who majored in physics. He graduated from Seoul National Univ. in 1955 and went to the US to receive a Ph.D. in four years from the graduate school of Ohio State Univ. This academic background functioned as the source of his interest in the basic research on semiconductors. He worked at Bell Telephone Laboratories, which was the global cradle of semiconductor development after his Ph.D. Since 1947, when William Shockley, etc. developed the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and won the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Lab has made important technological inventions on semiconductors. Dr. Kahng was able to make 30 years of research along with the giants after joining the lab in 1959.
One of his great achievements is the development of the MOSFET (metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor), which is the basis of the semiconductor IC. Previous transistors (BJT) had fundamental limits in integration and mass production as they had large electricity consumption levels and complexity in production. He developed and announced the MOSFET for IC which could be manufactured at smaller scales and had less electricity consumption as a new semiconductor jointly with Martin M. Atalla at the Bell Labs in 1960. Later, semiconductors grew into a huge industry where mass production was made based on that source technology. CPU and D-ram, which are broadly used in industries along with computers and mobile phones, are the follow-ups of the research.
After this, he developed the floating gate, a basis of the large capacity, non-volatile memory technology. Semiconductors so far had the problem that data disappeared when there was a sudden disconnection of electric power. He developed the floating gate technology for memory in the form where oxide thin films and gates are accumulated in turn on the MOSFET in 1967 jointly with Simon Sze at the Bell Labs. This made the technical foundation to develop semiconductors that could store data even in the case of an electric power disconnection. Later, this technology greatly contributed to the development of the electronic communications industry used for large capacity memory storage media such as flash memory, EP Rom, EEP Rom, etc.
Three academic books containing these achievements and 35 research papers as well as 22 patents are his major achievements. Especially, the MOSFET patent in 1963 and the paper on the floating gate, which was published in 1967, are regarded as the most prominent achievements and are still quoted a lot.
He won many international awards commensurate with his great achievements. The most representative is the Stuart Ballantine Medal awarded to him in 1975 by the Franklin Institute. The award is for prominent scientists and technologists. In 2009, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the transistor invention, he was admitted to the Hall of Fame operated by the US Patent and Trademark Office, recognized as a milestone figure. So far, Dr. Kahng is the only Korean admitted to the Hall of Fame among 562 (as of 2018) global inventors.
The reason that he has not been known so far is that his major activities were in the USA. As he passed away suddenly while working at the Bell Labs, his relations with Korean science and technology area or industry were limited. However, the semiconductor area which is globally led by Korea is still going forward based on his historical achievements.
Dr. Kahng is a globally renowned researcher who pioneered and presented the core technology of the semiconductor industry. The great leap of the semiconductor industry is greatly attributable to his development of MOSFET and the floating gate. He now stands as one of the giants in the history of semiconductors. Also, the Korean semiconductor industry enjoys astounding development based on his achievements. His historic achievements are still continued by the Korean semiconductor industry, leading the world.