Dr. Ghavam Shahidi

An Iranian-American electrical engineer and IBM Fellow, he received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, all in Electrical Engineering, from MIT. He wrote his PhD thesis on "velocity overshoot in deeply scaled MOSFETs", under supervision of Professor Dimitri Antoniadis. He joined IBM Research in 1989, where he initiated and subsequently led the development of silicon on insulator (SOI) complementary metal?oxide?semiconductor (CMOS) technology at IBM. Overcoming challenges that had long frustrated many researchers outside IBM, he and his team pushed CMOS, the leading microelectronics technology used to manufacture computer chips, ahead by one to two years. This work resulted in the qualification of multiple CMOS SOI technologies and their transfer to manufacturing; establishment of design infrastructure; and the first mainstream use of SOI. His fundamental contributions extended from early research on materials to the qualification and first successful production of commercially viable devices. This achievement has once more strengthened IBM?s leadership position in high-performance digital logic, forcing competitors to follow and spurring customer demand for IBM eServers and microelectronics products. In the 1990?s, his team at IBM Research demonstrated the device design and 5-inch SOI material. The group was then moved to IBM Microelectronics and the Advanced Silicon Technology Center (ASTC). While there, he led the development of SOI CMOS technology at ASTC. This work resulted in: the development of 8-inch SOI technology infrastructure; the demonstration of SOI performance gain; qualification of multiple CMOS SOI technologies and their transfer to manufacturing; establishment of design infrastructure; and the first mainstream use of SOI. He remained with IBM Microelectronics as the Director of High-Performance Logic Development until 2003. He then moved back to IBM's Watson's Laboratory as the Director of Silicon Technology. He received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' J J Ebers Award in 2006 ?For contributions and leadership in the development of Silicon-On-Insulator CMOS technology?. He has been granted more than 65 U.S. Patents.