engineering

Simon Sze

Simon Sze is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Simon Sze rather than just read about it. In short: Simon Min Sze, or Shi Min (Chinese: 施敏; pinyin: Shī Mǐn; 21 March 1936 – 6 November 2023), was a Taiwanese-American electrical engineer. He is best known for inventing the floating-gate MOSFET with Korean electrical engineer Dawon Kahng in 1967.

Key takeaways

Simon Sze belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Simon Sze to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Simon Sze from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Simon Min Sze, or Shi Min (Chinese: 施敏; pinyin: Shī Mǐn; 21 March 1936 – 6 November 2023), was a Taiwanese-American electrical engineer. He is best known for inventing the floating-gate MOSFET with Korean electrical engineer Dawon Kahng in 1967.

Early life and education Simon Min Sze was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu, and grew up in Taiwan. After graduating from National Taiwan University in 1957, he received a master's degree from the University of Washington in 1960 and a doctorate from Stanford University in 1963.

Career and research Sze worked for Bell Labs until 1990, after which he returned to Taiwan and joined the faculty of National Chiao Tung University. He is well known for his work in semiconductor physics and technology, including his 1967 invention (with Dawon Kahng) of the floating-gate transistor, now widely used in non-volatile semiconductor memory devices. He wrote and edited many books, including Physics of Semiconductor Devices, one of the most-cited texts in its field.

Death Simon Sze died on 6 November 2023, at the age of 87.

Recognition 1977: IEEE Fellow 1991: J. J. Ebers Award 1994: Academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan 1995: Member of National Academy of Engineering, United States 1998: Foreign Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, China 2010: Tenured Chair Professor, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan 2014: Honorary Chair Professor, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan 2017: IEEE Celebrated Member 2021: The Future Science Prize, China 2022: Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist

Bibliography Physics of Semiconductor Devices, S. M. Sze. New York: Wiley, 1969, ISBN 0-471-84290-7; 2nd ed., 1981, ISBN 0-471-05661-8; 3rd ed., with Kwok K. Ng, 2006, ISBN 0-471-14323-5. Nonvolatile Memories: Materials, Devices and Applications 2-volume set, Tseung-Yuen Tseng and Simon M. Sze. Los Angeles: American Scientific Publishers, 2012; ISBN 1-58883-250-3. Semiconductor Devices: Physics and Technology, S. M. Sze. New York: Wiley, 1985; 2nd ed., 2001, ISBN 0-471-33372-7; 3rd ed., 2012, ISBN 978-0470-53794-7. VLSI Technology, ed. S. M. Sze. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983, ISBN 0-07-062686-3; 2nd ed., 1988, ISBN 0-07-062735-5. Modern Semiconductor Device Physics, ed. S. M. Sze. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1998, ISBN 0-471-15237-4.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon Sze

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simon Sze claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Simon Sze before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Simon Sze ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Simon Sze

In research: Simon Sze appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Simon Sze in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Simon Sze is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 2023 deaths, 20th-century Chinese inventors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon Sze outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Simon Sze in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Simon Sze means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Simon Sze out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon Sze in simple terms?

Why does Simon Sze matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Simon Sze?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Simon Sze.