[1] Dr. Fujio MASUOKA who is
the inventor of Flash Memory is the professor emeritus of Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Japan. He is one of YAMAMOTO's classmates of 1966 year's graduation in Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in Tohoku University. He was a quiet person and listened to all the lectures earnestly sitting up straight. The Medal with Purple Ribbon was granted to him by the Emperor of Japan in 2007 and
the 2013 Japan's Order of Persons of Cultural Merit Award was received.
Flash memory, one of thte biggest inventions of the century was made in 1980's. Nowadays, we all receive benefit directly or indirectly from this invention.This invention in the field of semiconductor electronics is praised equally to, or more than the discovery of transistor action and the invention of its transistor by Shockley , Bardeen and Brattain in the second half in 1940's, the invention of the PIN diode, the electrostatic induction transistor and the other several species of transistors by Jun-ichi NISHIZAWA in 1950's, the discovery of the tunnel effect in the tunnel diode (Esaki diode) and the invention of its tunnel diode by Leona ESAKI in 1950's, the invention of the integrated circuit by Kilby in 1958 and the invention of the blue LED by Shuji NAKAMURA in 1990's.
Prof. emeritus Jun-ichi NISHIZAWA was Dr. F. Masuoka's teacher in Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
It is heard that "Flash memory" was denominated by F. Masuoka himself expecting "the remarkable invention in the limelight such as a flash of camera".
Maybe, this thought of the expectation stands on the simile that the action of the flash memory, in which electrons carrying the information move into the floating gate of a ferro-dielectric thin film layer with tunnel effect, is compared to the action of the ordinary camera in which a picture is recorded on a film.
[Hall of Fame to Computer History Museum in the United States, etc.] Dr. Fujio MASUOKA was enshrined in the Hall of Fame to Computer History Museum (CHM) in the United States in 2010 and also to Consumer Electronics of America (CEA) in 2011. Moreover, he was awarded the Progress Medal, the highest honor of the Photographic Society of America (PSA) in 2012.
We will introduce Masuoka's pictures in his college days (in 4th April, 1965) below, when he was enrolled in Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
|