110 patents from over three decades of Semiconductor I.C. Inventions

Over the course of more than 30 years, my career in Integrated Circuit (IC) design has spanned both R&D and product innovation across a broad range of semiconductor technologies, including CCD, DRAM, SRAM, ROM, EPROM/EEPROM, analog and multi-bit-per-cell (MLC) Flash memory, Erasable Programmable Logic Devices (EPLDs), speech-synthesis, and voice-recording consumer products.

I began my career at Intel in 1972 after earning both my B.S.E.E. (with Honors) and M.S.E.E. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. During my years at Intel, I gained extensive experience in the design and development of advanced memory products, and had the privilege of being mentored by several legendary innovators, including Dr. Sunlin Chou, George Perlegos, and Bob Abbott.

In 1983, I was recruited by Robert Hartmann, co-founder of Altera, to join the company’s startup team. There, I pioneered the development of EPLD technology, initially based on EPROM and later on Flash memory. The success of the EP-Series and MAX family of programmable logic products helped establish Altera as an industry leader and contributed to its successful initial public offering (IPO) in 1988.

Later, I was recruited by Dr. Peter Chen, whom I had previously known at Fairchild, to join MOSEL, which later merged with Vitelic. I managed two IC design teams developing memory and speech-synthesis products — one located in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan, and the other in Hong Kong, where I was born and spent my teenage years. As a result, I traveled weekly between the two locations.

After returning to Silicon Valley following a two-year assignment in Asia, I co-founded Invoice/Invox Technology, where we pioneered single-chip voice recording ICs utilizing analog Flash memory technology. SanDisk later acquired Invox’s engineering team and its intellectual property, recognizing the technology’s significant value in advancing its multi-bit-per-cell (MLC) Flash memory products.

Seeing the tremendous potential of MLC Flash technology, I subsequently founded Multi Level Memory Technology (MLM), a consulting company specializing in multi-bit-per-cell (MLC) Flash memory design IP. The company’s portfolio of proprietary technologies was later acquired by Samsung, where it contributed to the continued advancement of its next-generation Flash memory products.