Below are the first 10 and last 10 pages of uncorrected machine-read text (when available) of this chapter, followed by the top 30 algorithmically extracted key phrases from the chapter as a whole.
Intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text on the opening pages of each chapter.
Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.
Do not use for reproduction, copying, pasting, or reading; exclusively for search engines.
OCR for page 320
OCR for page 321
A l F. Ta s c h , J r .
1941–2004
Elected in 1989
“For outstanding contributions to semiconductor memory technology.”
BY LOUIS C. PARRILLO
AL F. TASCH, JR., Cockrell Family Regents Chair Professor
at the University of Texas at Austin and truly a giant in the
semiconductor industry, passed away at Seton Medical Center
in Austin on November 30, 2004. To many of us who knew
him well, Al was a devoted husband, a loving father, a faithful
friend, a staunchly devout man, and a great scientist and
leader.
Al was born May 12, 1941, the son of Dr. Al F. and Dorothy
Tasch. He received his B.S. degree in physics in 1963 from the
University of Texas at Austin and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
physics in 1965 and 1969, respectively, from the University of
Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His thesis research in impurities
in silicon was the pioneering work that led to the widely
known deep-level transient spectroscopy for characterizing
impurities in semiconductors, which is still used today
worldwide. In 1969 he joined Texas Instruments, performing
research that resulted in the first demonstration of a metal-
insulator-semiconductor structure in mercury cadmium
telluride, and he helped lay the foundation for infrared detector
development and products throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
He and his group did pioneering work in charge coupled
device memories, dynamic memory, silicon on insulator, and
scaled metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors. Today’s
industry-standard MOS transistor structure, used in countless
321
OCR for page 322
322 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
integrated circuit products worldwide, is based on seminal
patents with sidewall oxides and self-aligned, silicided gates,
sources, and drains patented by Al and his colleagues. They
pioneered the charge coupled dynamic random access memory
(RAM) cell, the Hi-C dynamic RAM cell, the grounded gate
dynamic RAM cell, and leakage current analyses of dynamic
memory structures. His patents on the Hi-C MOS dynamic
RAM cell and the grounded gate MOS dynamic RAM cell
have been used by most dynamic RAM manufacturers in the
multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry. In 1978, Al was
honored as a Texas Instruments fellow for his contributions
to charge coupled devices and MOS dynamic memory
technology. He was appointed associate director of the Very
Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Laboratory in the Central
Research Laboratories at Texas Instruments in 1980.
Al joined Motorola in July 1982, leading the start-up
of the company’s most advanced MOS integrated circuit
manufacturing facility in Austin. In January 1984 he was
promoted to director of the Advanced Products Research
and Development Laboratory (APRDL), the laboratory with
responsibility for the technological development of Motorola’s
new MOS memory, microprocessor, and logic products.
A major endeavor in this responsibility was the move of
APRDL from Phoenix to Austin and the start-up of a new
R&D facility in 1984–1985. During this period, Al recruited
me to Motorola to assist in this enormously challenging and
complex program. I was drawn to join him in his vision of
changing the organization, the technology, and the company.
Al worked tirelessly to build the new R&D organization in
Austin while keeping the Phoenix operation going. He had
the highest expectations, continually striving to improve the
ways in which we worked. Throughout this daunting project
he exhibited the highest integrity and demanded the most
of himself. During the simultaneous operation of the labs in
Arizona and Texas, he was on a plane for 39 of 52 weeks in
1984, personally supporting both teams. He was appointed
vice president of the technical staff of Motorola in February
1985.
OCR for page 323
A l F. Ta s c h , J r . 323
Always drawn to education, Al joined the faculty of the
electrical and computer engineering department at the
University of Texas at Austin in July 1986, holding the Cockrell
Family Regents Chair in Engineering. During 1987 he was
in charge of the technical effort to successfully bring
SEMATECH to Austin. Al played a major role in building
the silicon-based education and research program at UT
Austin to a level of national and international recognition.
He established the silicon device fabrication laboratory in late
1987 with his students and his academic funds. This facility
is used by most of the faculty and students in silicon-based
materials, fabrication, and device research. Al initiated a
research program with his students in MOS device modeling
and analysis that is recognized worldwide.
Since starting at UT Austin, Al worked with the new
faculty members as a mentor and collaborator to assist them in
developing their graduate education and research programs.
One of his colleagues at UT whom he closely mentored for
many years reminisced that as an assistant professor he shared
an office suite with Al. When he showed up for work the first
day at UT at 8 a.m., Al was already hard at work in his office
next door. Slightly embarrassed, his younger colleague would
come in to work progressively earlier each day, but Al would
always beat him to the office and welcome him with a wicked
grin, a stack of papers to read, and countless ideas to try out
jointly in the lab that day with graduate students. Over the
next decade, the two of them progressed from mentor-mentee
to the closest of friends and colleagues.
Al made many contributions to the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and to the Electron Devices Society
(EDS). To name a few, he was a leader in the International
Electron Devices Meeting, the largest and most prestigious
meeting in the electronic devices industry, which he chaired
in 1982. Additionally, he chaired the Symposium on VLSI
Technology (1984) and the Semiconductor Interface Specialists
Conference (1979)— heavily attended forums for the most
advanced electronic devices research. He was associate editor
of the IEEE’s Transactions on Electron Devices between 1978
OCR for page 324
324 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and 1991 and a member of the EDS Advisory Committee from
1982 to 1988. His contributions to industry and academia
were well recognized with numerous awards. These included
election to the National Academy of Engineering (1989); the
IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award for outstanding contributions
to solid state devices and technology (2001); the J. J. Ebers
Award, the highest EDS award (1988); IEEE fellow (1983);
Texas Instruments fellow (1978); the Semiconductor Research
Corporation Technical Excellence Award (1992); the Billy
and Claude Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering
Research Award (1995); the University Leadership Award
from the Semiconductor Industry Association (1997); the
Electrochemical Society’s Electronics Division Award (1997);
the University of Illinois Alumni Award for Distinguished
Service (1997); and election as one of the founding members of
the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas in
2003. He held 38 U.S. patents.
Al was a respected mentor to many students, he had a
strong sense of community responsibility, and he always had
a clear vision for the future. He was a brilliant yet practical
man, and, up until the end, his focus was on the well-being of
his family. Al loved the outdoors and enjoyed being a part of
the community of the Texas hill country. He was a member of
the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce, the Stonewall Heritage
Society, and the Fredericksburg Antique Tractor and Engine
Club. He was also an active parishioner at both St. Mary’s
Cathedral in Austin and St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church
in Stonewall. Throughout his many pioneering efforts, he was
fortunate to have the unconditional love and support of his
wife and soul mate, Judie. At their farm in Stonewall, they were
able to integrate seamlessly into a very different world from
that of Al’s highly sophisticated and demanding professional
life. Many of their rural neighbors honored Al at his funeral
and had no idea that he was a man regarded internationally
with such enormous professional respect. He was viewed as a
neighbor who always gave of his own time and efforts to help
make things better for his friends and his community.
OCR for page 325
A l F. Ta s c h , J r . 325
Al is survived by his wife Judith; his son Edward and wife
Anne; his son David and wife Sara and their children, Carsten
and Kelsey; and his sister, Mary Jo Snider.
Professor Al F. Tasch, Jr., is sorely missed.
