Robert H. Dennard

Robert Heath Dennard (September 5, 1932 – April 23, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and inventor.

Biography Dennard was born in Terrell, Texas. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in 1954 and 1956, respectively. He earned a Ph.D. from Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1958. His professional career was spent as a researcher for International Business Machines.

One night while lying on the couch and pondering a presentation given by his peers earlier in the day, he had a notion: What if he could store a bit of information in a single transistor? The insight was the catalyst for DRAM — Dennard’s most important innovation. It became the basis for today's dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and almost all other memory types such as SRAM and FLASH memory. DRAM was instrumental in changing the world of computing through faster and higher capacity memory access.

Dennard Scaling

Dennard was also among the first to recognize the tremendous potential of downsizing MOSFETs. The scaling theory he and his colleagues formulated in 1974 postulated that MOSFETs continue to function as voltage-controlled switches while all key figures of merit such as layout density, operating speed, and energy efficiency improve – provided geometric dimensions, voltages, and doping concentrations are consistently scaled to maintain the same electric field. This property underlies the achievement of Moore's Law and the evolution of microelectronics over the last few decades.

Dennard died on April 23, 2024, at the age of 91. Kyoto Prize (2013) Carnegie Mellon University Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology (2010) IEEE Medal of Honor (2009) IEEE Edison Medal (2001) Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering from The Franklin Institute (2007) U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Charles Stark Draper Prize (2009) elected member of the American Philosophical Society (1997) Southern Methodist University Honorary Doctor of Science (1997) Harvey Prize from Technion Institute in Haifa / Israel (1990) Industrial Research Institute (IRI) Achievement Award (1989) U.S. National Medal of Technology (1988) National Academy of Engineering Member (1984) IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award (1982) appointed IBM Fellow (1979)