Pioneer
Mohamed M. Atalla
Also Known As Martin Atalla · "Martin" M. Atalla · "John" M. Atalla · Martin "John" M. Atalla
Security And Privacy
Mohamed M. Atalla (August 4, 1924 to December 30, 2009) was an Egyptian-American engineer, physicist, cryptographer, inventor and entrepreneur. A semiconductor pioneer, he is best known for inventing the MOSFET with his colleague Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, alongside his earlier work on surface passivation, which had a significant impact on the development of the electronics industry. He later became an entrepreneur in cryptography and data security, founding Atalla Corporation in 1972 and releasing the Atalla Box in 1973, the first hardware security module, which encrypted PIN and ATM messages and went on to secure the majority of the world's ATM transactions.
Facts
AwardNational Inventors Hall of Fame 1 FAQs
What problem did Atalla and Kahng solve to make the MOS transistor work?
They overcame surface states by growing silicon dioxide on silicon at Bell Labs in 1959.
An insulated-gate field-effect transistor had been anticipated for decades, but surface states at the semiconductor surface blocked electric fields from penetrating into the silicon. In 1959 Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs studied thermally grown silicon dioxide layers and found that these states could be markedly reduced at the interface between the silicon and its oxide. That let them achieve the first successful insulated-gate field-effect transistor, the device that became the MOSFET.
Connections
In Field
Source Mohamed M. Atalla (Wikipedia)
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Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikidata: Martin “John” M. Atalla
- Wikidata Q1759109, resolved via en.wikipedia pageprops (wave rule R-L)
- Wikidata Q1759109 P569 (date of birth)
View the SourceMohamed M. Atalla (Wikipedia)
- In Group: Applied Cryptography, lead sentence: Mohamed M.
In Field: Cryptography, Lead
Atalla (Arabic: محمد عطاالله; August 4, 1924, December 30, 2009) was an Egyptian-American engineer, physicist, cryptographer, inventor and entrepreneur.
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