International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, IEAS

Academician

Hwa-Nien YU

Profile:

Elected Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences in 1999, Professor Hwa-Nien Yu is a distinguished Chinese-American electronics engineer whose research and professional work have focused on solid-state devices, semiconductor technology, and very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit design. Born in January 1929 in Cixi, Zhejiang Province, he received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1953, 1954, and 1958, respectively. He subsequently joined IBM Research, where he served in a series of research and technical leadership positions, including Research Staff Member, Senior Manager of the Silicon Technology Department, member of the Research Headquarters Strategy Committee, and Special Assistant to the Vice President. He was also a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. His work at IBM was recognised through numerous awards for invention, technical achievement, and patent contribution. He was elected an IEEE Fellow in 1986 and a member of Academia Sinica in 2000, and received the IEEE Jack A. Morton Award, the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Chinese Institute of Engineers in America, the Pan Wen-Yuan Foundation Semiconductor Industry Outstanding Contribution Award, and the Chinese National Friendship Award. He has also held honorary professorships at Xi’an Jiaotong University and Xiamen University and was named an Academician of the Industrial Technology Research Institute in 2014.

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Professor Yu’s research has centred on solid-state electronic devices and silicon technologies underlying modern integrated circuits. During nearly four decades at IBM Research, he led the Silicon Technology Department and contributed to the development and scaling of semiconductor device technologies, while also participating in corporate research strategy and technology planning. His professional service subsequently extended to the development of semiconductor and high-technology industries in East Asia. From 1983 to 1992, he served on the Technology Review Board of the Science and Technology Advisory Group of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, including as Executive Secretary, and he was a Director of the Institute for Information Industry. He also served on the Guidance Committee of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Submicron Project, advising on the development of integrated-circuit programmes. From 1977, he served on the Americas Technical Advisory Committee of the Industrial Technology Research Institute and later chaired it; he subsequently served as Chairman of its Frontier Technology Guidance Committee from 1994 to 2003 and as Honorary Chairman. Through sustained industrial research, technology advisory work, and international scientific exchange, Professor Yu has contributed to the development of semiconductor technology and to the growth of electronics industries across China, Taiwan, and the United States.