Advancing the industry
In its short life the semiconductor industry has had a far-reaching impact on the way we live. Many individuals have been instrumental in the origin and growth of this rapidly evolving field. Two of the pioneering chemical engineers who have made significant contributions are briefly profiled below.
Andrew Grove
Andrew Grove was a founding member of Intel Corporation, one of the original and leading semiconductor manufacturers. In 1979 he was named president and is generally considered to be the strategist behind the company’s unprecedented growth.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Grove emigrated to the United States, where in 1960 he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the City College of New York. After moving to California he received in 1963 his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Farhang Shadman
Farhang Shadman is the founder of the Sematech Center of Excellence for Contamination/Defect Control at the University of Arizona and the director of the SRS/SEMATECH Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Environmentally Benign Semiconductor Manufacturing. The ERC addresses environmental, safety, and health considerations of semiconductor manufacturing. The focus is on the creation of effective, environmentally benign manufacturing processes.
Born in Iran, Shadman graduated from Iran’s Abadan Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in chemical and refinery engineering. He later received a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.