Richard B. Merrill

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dick Merrill, 2007

Richard Billings Merrill (born 1949 in New York City - October 17, 2008 ), also known by his nickname Dick Merrill , was an American inventor, engineer and photographer.

Life

Merrill was born to Frederick Hamilton Merrill and Joan Williams Merrill. In 1996 he married his wife Sengchanh (Seng) Phomphanh. The two lived in Woodside, California .

Merrill earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Dartmouth College and has worked for National Semiconductor since 1980 .

He was one of the founders of Foveon in 1997 and worked there until his death in 2008 from cancer. He invented the vertical color filter technology of the Foveon X3 sensor, which is at the heart of Sigma's digital cameras (the SD9 , SD10 , SD14 , DP1 and DP2 ).

Merrill's invention of the vertical color filter was originally based on a CMOS - DRAM process. He later refined his invention by using multiple epitaxially grown silicon layers for each of the three vertically stacked, color-sensitive layers.

Along with Dick Lyon and Carver Mead , Merrill received the 2005 Royal Photographic Society Medal of Progress for developing Foveon X3 technology. Shortly before his death in 2008, he received the Kosar Memorial Award from the Society for Imaging Science and Technology for significant contributions to an unconventional photographic system.

For Carver Mead , Merrill was the most creative engineer he has ever met. Merill explained his invention process by saying that a great deal can be achieved by looking for symmetries and patterns and applying a technological trend from one area to another.

On February 8, 2012, Sigma honored its long-term business partner Merrill by renaming Sigma's SLR camera SD1 to SD1 Merrill. The latest Foveon image sensor is installed in the Sigma SD1 Merrill .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dick Merrill, 59: Invented Sensor For Digital Cameras; Lineage Goes Back To Norman Williams; Many hobbies and interests . In: Vermont Standard , Oct. 30, 2008, p. 4-A. 
  2. ↑ Digital Photography Essentials # 003: "Color Separation" . In: Digital Outback Photo . Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  3. ^ Thomas Kreis: Handbook of Holographic Interferometry: Optical and Digital Methods . Wiley-VCH, 2006, ISBN 3-527-60492-8 .
  4. ↑ Patent US5965875 : Color separation in an active pixel cell imaging array using a triple-well structure. Registered on October 12, 1999 , inventor: Richard Billings Merrill. ‌
  5. ↑ Patent US6632701 : Vertical color filter detector group and array. Filed October 14, 2003 , inventor: Richard B. Merrill. ‌
  6. ^ Mark Peters: Royal Photographic Society Award for Foveon sensor . November 6, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  7. ^ Kosar Memorial Award . Society for Imaging Science and Technology. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ a b George Gilder : The Silicon Eye . WW Norton & Company, 2005, ISBN 0-393-05763-1 , p. 46.
personal data
SURNAME Merrill, Richard B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merrill, Richard Billings (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American inventor, engineer, and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH October 17, 2008