Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award

Takashi MIMURA

Takashi MIMURA  Dr. Mimura graduated from the Department of Physics, the School of Science, at Kwansei Gakuin University in 1967, and the Department of Physics, the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University in 1970. Thereupon, he joined Fujitsu and began to study semiconductor electronic devices. He received a Ph.D. in Engineering from Osaka University in 1982. He became a research principal at Atsugi Office, Fujitsu Laboratories, in 1990 and its fellow in 1998. Since 2017, he has been an honorary fellow at the same laboratories. In 2006, he also became a visiting researcher at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, and since 2016, he has been a chief special researcher at the same institute.
   Dr. Mimura has been engaged in research and development of high-speed semiconductor electronic devices and their application to industry over a long period, and, based on these technologies, has made significant contributions to the development of the information and communication society. In particular, in 1979, he invented a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), a transistor that has a new structure and uses high mobility electrons. He noticed that electrons are generated at a high density at the heterojunction interface formed between two types of semiconductors and that this phenomenon can be used to spatially separate an electron transit layer from impurities. This was the worldfs first implementation of a field-effect element that uses a heterojunction and was particularly highly rated. He then led a project to use HEMTs to develop high-frequency elements and high-speed elements. In 1985, he developed the first commercial HEMT product, a low-noise amplifier for radio telescopes, which brought dramatic breakthroughs in radio astronomy, such as the discovery of unknown interstellar matter. In the area of consumer products, he dramatically improved the performance of low-noise amplifiers for satellite receivers, thereby making it possible to substantially reduce the diameter of parabolic antennas to around 30 cm. This reduction in antenna size led to the explosive spread of satellite broadcasting and to the promotion of global information sharing, making a big impact on society. HEMTs are now widely applied to high-frequency amplifiers used in vehicle-mounted collision prevention lasers and high-output amplifiers used in mobile phone base stations. HEMTs are thus contributing to the realization of a safe and secure, advanced information society. The invention of the HEMT has also led to the exploration of a new scientific area in the field of high-frequency, high-speed electronic devices. Today, 40 years after their invention, HEMTs are still being actively studied and developed with the aim of enhancing their performance and finding their application to new systems. These activities continue to be useful for the development of many younger researchers.
   In recognition of these achievements, Dr. Mimura received the Achievement Award from IEICE in 1982, IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award in 1990, the Imperial Invention Prize from the Japan Institute of Invention and Innovation in 1992, the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1998, Achievement Award from the Japan Society of Applied Physics in 2004, and the Kyoto Prize (category of advanced technology) from the Inamori Foundation in 2017. He has been designated a fellow by IEICE, the Japan Society of Applied Physics and IEEE.
   As shown above, Dr. Mimurafs contributions to the electronics, information and communication field based on semiconductor electronic devices and their application technologies have been outstanding and we are convinced that he fully deserves to be a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award.
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