Name T. Rodgers | Role Executive | |
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Education | ||
Thurman John "T. J." Rodgers (born March 15, 1948) is the founder and chief executive officer of Cypress Semiconductor. He is known for his public relations acumen, brash personality, and strong advocacy of laissez-faire capitalism.
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Early life
Rodgers received his bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1970, graduating as salutatorian with majors in chemistry and physics. He received his master's degree (1973) and Ph.D. (1975) in electrical engineering from Stanford University. While pursuing his Ph.D. degree, Rodgers invented the VMOS process technology, which he later licensed to American Microsystems, Inc. He founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala City.
Rodgers on quotas
In 1996, Rodgers made headlines when Sister Doris Gormley, the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, sent him a form letter encouraging him to hire women and minorities on the Cypress board. He replied with a long letter defending a pure meritocracy in terms of hiring practices. In 1999, he wrote an editorial in the San Jose Mercury News denouncing Jesse Jackson's attack on Cypress Semiconductor on what Jackson claimed was discriminatory hiring practices.
Personal life
Rodgers is an avid jogger and wine enthusiast. He is a supporter of several charities, including Second Harvest Food Bank, and served as a trustee on the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2012. He is the husband of Valeta Massey.
Awards and recognition
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Patents
1975
US3878552 – Bipolar Integrated Circuit and Method.
US3924265 – Low capacitance V groove MOS NOR gate and method of manufacture
1976
US3975221 – Low capacitance V groove MOS NOR gate and method of manufacture
1980
US4222063 – VMOS Floating gate memory with breakdown voltage lowering region
US4222062 – VMOS Floating gate memory device
1988
US5835401 – DRAM with hidden refresh
US4764248 – Rapid thermal nitridized oxide locos process
1999
US5977638 – Edge metal for interconnect layers.
2000
US6131140 – Integrated cache memory with system control logic and adaptation of RAM bus to a cache pinout
2001
US6185126 – Self-initializing RAM-based programmable device.
2004
US6835616 – Method of forming a floating metal structure in an integrated circuit
US6730545 – Method of performing back-end manufacturing of an integrated circuit device
2005
US6903002 – Low-k dielectric layer with air gaps.
US6847218 – Probe card with an adapter layer for testing integrated circuits.
2006
US7045387 – Method of performing back-end manufacturing of an integrated circuit.