In 1970, Dr. Shunpei Yamazaki invented the basic element of flash memory, now widely used for storage everywhere. Shunpei Yamazaki holds the Guinness World Record for the most patents credited as inventor, at 11,353 as of 30 June 2016. At present, he is the president of Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL) and is energetically doing R&D on many different advanced technologies with his team. His present R&D theme is the crystalline Indium-gallium-zinc (IGZO) oxide semiconductor, namely, C-axis aligned crystalline (CAAC)-IGZO. Displays using CAAC-IGZO are already being manufactured by companies such as Sharp. You can see my videos of Sharp IGZO displays here. CAAC-IGZO can be used not only in displays but also is CPUs and memories. If silicon LSI is replaced with IGZO LSI, the power consumption for processors may become less than 1%. Silicon used mainly at present will be replaced with CAAC-IGZO in the near future. In the coming AI age, it is indispensable to develop IGZO LSI. Dr. Yamazaki and the researchers of SEL are concentrating on R&D of IGZO LSI.
Dr. Yamazaki, President of SEL, inventor of CAAC-IGZO and the basic element of Flash memory
Posted by – June 4, 2018
