Morris Tanenbaum

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Morris Tanenbaum (born November 10, 1928 in Huntington , West Virginia ) is an American chemist and manager, known for his contributions to semiconductor manufacturing and bipolar transistor development.

life and work

Tanenbaum received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1949 and his PhD in physical chemistry from Princeton University in 1952 . From 1952 he then worked in the chemistry department at Bell Laboratories , where he researched single crystal semiconductors, initially germanium . William Bradford Shockley set him on the problem of developing silicon transistors. After a year, in collaboration with Ernest Buehler, he succeeded in developing the first silicon transistor (demonstrated in January 1954), which Bell Labs kept secret. A few months later, Gordon Teal at Texas Instruments also succeeded in doing this, bringing the first silicon transistor onto the market. In 1954/1955 Tanenbaum and Calvin S. Fuller and others developed the gas diffusion process for doping the semiconductors, which was superior to the previously used doping in the melt phase.

When Shockley left Bell Labs, he also made an offer to Tanenbaum, who stayed with Bell Labs. He headed the group in which Gene Kunzler developed magnets with high field strengths with superconductors and from 1962 to 1964 headed a laboratory in the Solid State Development Laboratory , which was responsible for devices outside the semiconductor area (such as solid-state lasers , magnetic memories ). From 1964 to 1968 he was director of research and development at Western Electric , from 1968 to 1972 vice president of engineering and from 1972 to 1975 responsible for manufacturing in the transmission equipment division . From 1976 he held management positions again at ATT and Bell Labs. From 1978 to 1980 he was President of the New Jersey Bell Company, 1980 Executive Vice President Administration at ATT (and during that time involved in the break-up of the telephone company due to the anti-trust laws) and from 1984 to 1986 CEO and Chairman of the Board of ATT Communications . From 1986 to 1988 he was Vice Chairman Finance and from 1988 to 1991 also Chief Financial Officer of ATT Corporation.

He became Vice President and Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering in 1972 , a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1969 , an IEEE Fellow in 1970, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990 . He is a lifetime member of MIT Corporation and holds multiple honorary doctorates. In 1984 he received the IEEE Centennial Medal.

He was also involved in the development of the (silicon) mesa transistor in 1956 (with Charles A. Lee ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ M. Tanenbaum, LB Valdes, E. Buehler, NB Hannay: Silicon npn Grown Junction Transistors . In: Journal of Applied Physics . tape 26 , no. 6 , May 14, 2004, p. 686-692 , doi : 10.1063 / 1.1722071 .
  2. ↑ Tanenbaum, DE Thomas Diffused Emitter and Base silicon transistors. In: Bell Systems Technical Journal. 35, 1956, pp. 1-22. Archives . Thomas was a technician in the laboratory.
  3. ↑ On the story of Nick Holonyak The origin of diffused silicon technology at Bell Labs 1954-55 , The Electrochemical Society Interface, Fall 2007, pdf .
  4. ↑ 1954 - Diffusion Process Developed for Transistors , Computer History Museum.
  5. ↑ Kirpal Chronicle of Electrical Engineering: Semiconductors, Transistors and Microelectronics , VDE .
personal data
SURNAME Tanenbaum, Morris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist
DATE OF BIRTH November 10, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Huntington , West Virginia