Fields Semiconductor devices Role Designer Institutions Bell Laboratories Education University of Marburg | Known for Gummel-Poon model Doctoral advisor Melvin Lax Name Hermann Gummel | |
Born July 5, 1923 (age 100)
Hanover, Germany ( 1923-07-05 ) Alma mater Philipps University
Syracuse University Notable awards Phil Kaufman Award (1994)
David Sarnoff Award
National Academy of Engineering | ||
Hermann K. Gummel (born 5 July 1923 in Hanover, Germany) is a pioneer in the semiconductor industry.
Gummel received his Diploma in physics (1952) from Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. He received his M.S. (1952) and Ph.D. (1957) degrees in theoretical semiconductor physics from Syracuse University. Gummel joined Bell Laboratories in 1956; his doctoral advisor, Melvin Lax, had moved from Syracuse University to Bell the previous year. At Bell, Gummel made important contributions to the design and simulation of the semiconductor devices used throughout modern electronics.
Among the most important of his contributions are the Gummel–Poon model which made accurate simulation of bipolar transisors possible and which was central to the development of the SPICE program; Gummel's method, used to solve the equations for the detailed behavior of individual bipolar transistors,; and the Gummel plot, used to characterize bipolar transistors. Gummel also created one of the first personal workstations, based on HP minicomputers and Tektronix terminals and used for VLSI design and layout, and MOTIS, the first MOS timing simulator and the basis of "fast SPICE" programs.
In 1983, Gummel received the David Sarnoff Award "for contributions and leadership in device analysis and development of computer-aided design tools for semiconductor devices and circuits". In 1985, Gummel was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering for "contributions and leadership in the analysis and computer-aided design of semiconductor devices and circuits.". In 1994, he was the first recipient of Phil Kaufman Award.