HomeDate: 2025-09-12
Academician Chih-Tang Sah passed away on July 5, 2025, at the age of 93.
Academician Sah was an internationally influential scholar in semiconductor physics and microelectronics. In 1963, he co-invented the first complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit with Frank Wanlass, an invention that played a pivotal role in the development of modern consumer electronics. His Pao–Sah model for the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) provided the theoretical foundation for the development of MOS integrated circuits. He pioneered junction transient capacitance spectroscopy, which became the forerunner of deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) for detecting trace impurities in semiconductors. He also introduced the direct-current current-voltage (DCIV) method for semiconductor reliability measurements.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1956, Dr. Sah worked at Fairchild Semiconductor before joining the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1961, where he taught for almost 30 years. In 1988, he joined the University of Florida, serving as the Beauchamp Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Research Professor, and Chief Science Advisor to the College of Engineering. Since 2010, he had been an Honorary Professor at the School of Physics and Mechanical-Electrical Engineering at Xiamen University.
Dr. Sah was elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Life Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was also named a Life Fellow of the IEEE and received several prestigious honors from the society, including the J. J. Ebers Award, the Jack Morton Award, and recognition as an IEEE Electron Devices Society Celebrated Member. Dr. Sah was elected Academician of Academia Sinica in 1998. His father, Academician Pen-Tung Sah, was also an Academician of Academia Sinica.
