Chenming Hu

Chenming Hu (; born 12 July 1947 ), also known by his English name Calvin Hu, is a Chinese-American electronic engineer who specializes in microelectronics. He is TSMC Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the electronic engineering and computer science department of the University of California, Berkeley. In 2014, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation cited "For pioneering innovations in microelectronics including reliability technologies, the first industry-standard model for circuit design, and the first 3-dimensional transistors, which radically advanced semiconductor technology.

Early life and education Hu was born in Beijing on July 12, 1947.

Career Hu began his academic career as an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1973 to 1976. In 1976, he joined the University of California, Berkeley as a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, where he remained for decades.

Hu is known for his role in transistor modeling. Since 1995, he has led the ongoing development of BSIM (Berkeley Short-channel IGFET Model), the industry-standard transistor modeling tool for integrated circuit (IC) design, which is provided royalty-free and underpins the design of trillions of dollars’ worth of IC products.

Hu has supported education and community service initiatives. He served as Chairman of the East Bay Chinese School (1988–1990) and Chairman of Friends of Children with Special Needs (2015–2017).

From 2001 to 2004, Hu served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s leading semiconductor foundry. During his tenure, TSMC advanced key technologies that positioned it as a global leader in advanced chip manufacturing. He has also served on the boards of technology companies including SanDisk, Inphi, Ambarella, and ACM Research.

Research Hu is credited with leading the invention and development of the FinFET (Fin Field-Effect Transistor) in 1999, a 3D thin-body transistor architecture that overcame scaling limitations of traditional planar transistors.

In 1995, amid predictions of Moore’s Law's imminent end, Hu conceived the FinFET, a three-dimensional transistor structure with a thin raised channel wrapped by the gate on three sides. Developed under a DARPA-funded project, the FinFET allowed for reduced leakage current and continued transistor scaling below 25 nanometers. Intel introduced FinFETs into commercial production in 2011, and the technology remains foundational to modern CPUs, GPUs, AI processors, and mobile devices.

In addition to FinFET, Hu made contributions to IC device scaling, reliability modeling, and low-power transistor design. His research has shaped the semiconductor industry for more than four decades.

Personal life Hu lives in California with his family and has two sons, Raymond and Jason. 1997: IEEE Jack Morton Award, "for outstanding contributions to semiconductor devices and technology" 2002: IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award (for developing the first international standard transistor model BSIM) 2002: IEEE Paul Rappaport Award 2009: IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal, "for technical contributions to MOS device reliability, scaling of CMOS and compact device modeling" 2011: Asian American Engineer of the year award, 2011: National Taiwan University Distinguished Alumni Award, 2011: Semiconductor Industry Association Award, 2013: Phil Kaufman Award for Distinguished Contributions to EDA, 2014: National Medal of Technology and Innovation, given at the White House by Barack Obama in 2016. 2015: SEMI Award for North America, for the BSIM transistor family. 2016: Pan Wen Yuan Award, by the Industrial Technology Research Institute. 2020: IEEE Medal of Honor Award. 2023: Taiwan Presidential Science Prize

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