Shi Min, the father of Taiwan’s semiconductors, achieved “Nobel Prize level” | Public Opinion Forum | Comments

Academician Shi Min passed away suddenly on November 6 in California, USA. When the news came, friends and friends were deeply saddened by the news and regretted the loss of a giant in the academic world.

About two weeks ago, in the Council of Academia Sinica, I was shocked to hear that Academician Shi had resigned as a Council member due to illness. On that day, I thought that although the Council had a heavy responsibility, it did not have much daily work, so it seemed that there was no need to overreact. Now I know that he resigned because of illness. It is a sad decision to make because of a serious illness.

My encounter with Academician Shi can be traced back to the summer of 1955, when I was a sophomore student in the Department of Physics. During the summer, I attended a “summer seminar” held by Tsinghua University near my home. One of the courses was taught by Shi. “Semiconductor Device Physics” taught by academicians.

Academician Shi was engaged in semiconductor device physics research under a famous teacher at Stanford University in the United States. He received a doctorate in the Department of Electrical Engineering in the 1950s of the Republic of China, and then entered Bell Labs to work. Therefore, he was a young talent who returned to China to give lectures. Since the course was too advanced for sophomores, I have to admit that I barely understood it throughout the course. However, I was deeply impressed by Academician Shi’s approachability, loud voice and good words.

Academician Shi’s most famous achievement in academia is that he and Korean scientist Cui Dayuan jointly invented the “floating gate non-volatile memory” in the 56th year of the Republic of China. Many years later, he compiled Chinese scholars including Zhang Ligang, Sa Zhi Academician Tang and his own “non-volatile memory” and other five inventions are Nobel Prize-level achievements, and it is inevitable to regret that he missed the Nobel Prize.

On the other hand, what made Academician Shi Min a household name in the world’s semiconductor industry was his “Semiconductor Component Physics” textbook published in the 58th year of the Republic of China. It was the first comprehensive textbook in this field. Paper was expensive in Luoyang for a while, but it has endured for a long time. , becoming the best-selling textbook in engineering and applied sciences.

I still remember that in a speech, he described that he first read more than 4,000 papers before compiling them into a book. He was very proud that the global sales exceeded one million copies.

Academician Shi retired early from Bell Labs in the 1978 year of the Republic of China and returned to serve in China. After that, he mainly taught at the Institute of Electronics of Yangming Jiaotong University. Before that, he often mentored domestic graduate students, including academician Zhang Junyan, the former president of Jiaotong University, and cultivated many talents. At the same time, he spared no effort and made great contributions to promoting Taiwan’s semiconductor research and industrial R&D. He was elected to the Central Research Institute in 1983. Academician of the Academy of Sciences. Academic circles believe that if one wants to name the “Father of Taiwan Semiconductor”, Academician Shih is the best candidate.

Since Tsinghua University and Jiao Tong University are close to each other, I have many intersections with Academician Shi in the research fields and have frequent contacts. Especially for a period of time, he lived in the dormitory of Jiao Tong University, which was only separated by a wall from Tsinghua University. We often bumped into each other unexpectedly, and I can feel his influence Friendly and cheerful.

In my memory, he particularly praised the nearby restaurant opened by a chef who had resigned from a famous snack restaurant in Taipei as being “cheap and good.”

In various meetings of Academia Sinica, I often hear Academician Shi deliver high-level speeches, and I benefit a lot. What is surprising is that at the last academician meeting in 2011, because the accommodation hall of Academia Sinica was being renovated, the attending academicians We stayed in nearby hotels, and I happened to live in the same hotel as Academician Shi. We went to Academia Sinica for meetings in the same car every morning for four days in a row. We had frequent contact with him. Unexpectedly, we met him only once, and now we are separated forever. There seems to be a definite number.

Academician Shi passed away at the age of eighty-seven. During his lifetime, he added brilliance to the world. As a philosopher, he will be remembered forever.