Donald Klein | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1930-12-19)December 19, 1930 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Chemist |
| Known for | Invention ofMOSFETtransistor |
| Spouse | Ruth Kintzburger (married 1952) |
| Children | 6 |
| Awards |
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Donald Lee Klein (born December 19, 1930) is an American inventor and chemist, most known for inventing the process tofabricate theself-aligned gateMOSFETtransistor along with Robert E. Kerwin and John C. Sarace in 1967 atBell Labs.[1]
In 1994, together with Kerwin and Sarace, Klein received theIEEE Jack A. Morton award (renamed in 2000 to theIEEE Andrew S. Grove Award) "For pioneering work and the basicpatent on the self-aligned silicon-gate process, a key element in fabrication ofvery large scale integrated circuits."[2]
That same year, Klein, Kerwin and Sarace were declared "Inventors of the Year" by theNew Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.[3]
Klein was born inBrooklyn, New York to Kalman Klein, aHungarianJew who immigrated to theUnited States at age 16, and Emily Vogel, an American bornAustro-Hungarian Jew.
Donald's brother Herbert, who was 7 years older, was aradio amateur from a young age. He served inWWII as aradio operator on a ship for theNavy.
For Donald's 13th birthday, Herbert gave him his firstchemistry set (which he obtained through hisElectrical Engineering studies).
Klein began experimenting with the chemicals, while collecting more from family members and buying his own. Eventually he had built his own laboratory in his parents' basement.
After high school, Donald followed in his brother's footsteps, becoming a licensed radio amateur.
In 1945, Klein attendedBrooklyn Technical High School where he took many chemistry courses includinginorganic,qualitative andquantitative analysis,organic chemistry,physical chemistry andchemical engineering.[4]
After high school, Klein attended Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (nowNew York University Tandon School of Engineering). After briefly debating betweenMetallurgy andinorganic chemistry, Klein decided to major in inorganic chemistry. Eager to combine his passions of chemistry and electronics, Klein decided to researchradio frequencytitrimetry for his undergraduate thesis, a new field at the time.
Upon graduation, Klein began working atSylvania Electric Products Inc. inBoston, Massachusetts to support his new family (he got married one week after graduating). Klein enjoyed his time at Sylvania where he was able to combine his passions for electronics and chemistry, working onsolid-state electronics. During his time at Sylvania, Klein wrote numerous articles forQST aboutsemiconductor device applications.
After 2 years at Sylvania (which Klein refers to as his "post-graduate education"), Klein decided to pursue a graduate degree at theUniversity of Connecticut working with Dr. Roland Ward who he'd met during his undergraduate studies. Ward, often considered the father of solid-state chemistry,[5] had moved from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn to the University of Connecticut. Klein's research with Ward, which focused onphotochemistry was published in theJournal of the American Chemical Society.[6]
In 1958, Klein graduated from the University of Connecticut with a PhD in inorganic chemistry.
In 1958, Dr. Ward introduced Klein to a headhunter from Bell Labs who was eager to recruit Klein. Klein Joined Bell Labs in November, 1958.Although he was originally recruited to join the chemistry research department, Klein began working in the chemistry development department where he worked on the development of semiconductors.
Klein was thrilled to be working along some of the brightest chemists in the world. As Klein said during an interview with the Chemical Heritage Foundation, "There were more experts under that one roof atMurray Hill, than at any university that I had ever been to, or have been in since. You could always find an expert in every single field you could think of."[7] Klein referred to his time at Bell Labs as "the greatest post graduate education I ever had."
Along with his colleagues, Klein worked to developetching techniques and ways to preventcontamination in the process of semiconductor production.
In February 1966,Willard Boyle, a high level manager at Bell Labs, posed a problem to Klein. At the time, the production process ofintegrated circuits required 6 or 7 steps, each with a yield rate of below 90%, resulting in unacceptably low yield rates. What was desired was a process that would be go/no-go, meaning a process in which an entire batch ofwafers can be eliminated early on in the production process. Following his discussion with Dr. Boyle, Klein led a brainstorming session with several other Bell scientists to design a better process for buildingFET devices. Out of that meeting came the idea of using a heavilydopedpolycrystallinesilicon layer as the gate of an FET. The gate was to be supported on dual layers of asilicon nitride andsilicon dioxide serving as the gateinsulator. Using the FET as a model for integrated circuits, theyfabricated and characterized hundreds of FET devices at high yield that exhibited close electrical tolerances.[8]
Klein and his group published numerous papers on this new technology and also patented the process.[9]
Klein remained at Bell Labs until 1967, when he joinedIBM. Before joining IBM, an agreement was made between Bell Labs and IBM that Klein would not be allowed to work intimately on the problems that he had been working on at Bell Labs, for at least a period of time.
Unable to work directly on MOSFET technology, Klein was asked to set up a group to advance the technology oflithography. More specifically, Klein's group worked on developing newphotoresist technologies.
While at IBM, Klein worked as a senior engineer, manager, and technical staff consultant.[10]
In 1987, Klein retired from IBM and began teaching chemistry at the department of physical sciences atDutchess Community College in his hometownPoughkeepsie, New York.
In 1952, Klein married Ruth Kintzburger (also a chemist and radio amateur), a childhood friend from Brooklyn. Together they had 6 children and 21 grandchildren.