IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021 - 61

" Impossible " Problems, Unexpected and Powerful Outcomes
I first met Jim Meindl not long after I came to Stanford as a graduate
student. At the time, he was a relatively new electrical engineering faculty member whom Stanford had hired to build a program in ICs. That
was a topic I knew very little about, but Jim had a vision for how tiny
silicon chips could literally change the world. His excitement about this
possibility was contagious, and I ended up being one of his first Ph.D.
students.
What was particularly compelling about Jim's research was that he
and his students didn't just work on building silicon chips. They worked
on creating chips that solved important problems. Chips that enabled
the Optacon, a reading aid for the blind. Chips that transmitted and
received ultrasound for medical imaging systems. Chips that operated at
low enough power that they could be implanted and operate on small
batteries for long periods of time. Jim and his students prototyped systems that later started companies and became commercial products. I
was truly fortunate to be in the middle of all of that.
Throughout my career, Jim Meindl has been a role model, mentor,
friend, and someone whose advice I have sought countless times. He
taught me that working on important problems brought great satisfacDigital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2020.3036262
Date of current version: 25 January 2021

tion. He also showed me that working with great people and treating
them with respect were crucial to being successful. He helped me
understand that challenging people with " impossible " problems often
leads to unexpected and powerful outcomes.
Jim Meindl had an amazing ability to see opportunities before others did. Throughout his career, he always seemed to be working on
things that others would recognize as truly important only many years
later-low-power circuits, medical applications of ICs, interconnects
on chips, and the fundamental limits of silicon technology, to name
just a few.
Jim was fond of saying that " one of the reasons I became an engineer
is because I believe engineering is a profession that allows you to predict
the future. " By this, he meant that engineers create the future by building
systems that solve important problems. This is exactly what he did, and he
leaves a remarkable legacy. He was an innovator, an inspiration to many,
and, most importantly, a friend. Along with many others, I miss him.
-Jim Plummer
About the Author
Jim Plummer joined the Stanford University faculty in 1978. He is currently
a professor of electrical engineering and was dean of Stanford's Engineering
School from 1999 to 2014.

A Visionary and Nurturer
Prof. Jim Meindl was a visionary. He could see the importance of future
technology well before others as if he had a crystal ball.
Jim saw the potential of research on ICs in academia by establishing
Stanford's IC Lab in 1967, well before other universities followed his
footsteps. He fostered research not just on mainline electronics but in
diverse fields, such as medical electronics and manufacturing science.
He was also an early proponent of the university-industry partnership
model, cofounding the Stanford Center for Integrated Systems in 1983
and helping forge lasting relationships between Stanford and notable
semiconductor companies.
While he was a giant tree with a huge shadow, Jim nurtured small
plants to grow and blossom. He was instrumental in shaping me not
just as an academician and a scientist but as a better human being. He
heavily influenced my career, not just during my Ph.D. degree studies
under him from 1971 to 1974, but as a member of his research team
from 1975 to 1982 and, finally, as a colleague upon becoming a faculty
member in 1983.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2020.3036264
Date of current version: 25 January 2021

In the 1970s, when the rest of the world was focusing on transistors,
Jim encouraged me to work on interconnects. That early research was
instrumental in shaping my career. Decades later, when he joined Georgia Tech in 1993, he founded the Interconnect Focus Center and led
a team of more than 60 researchers from leading U.S. universities to
continue advancing Moore's law. I was fortunate enough to lead the
effort of the Stanford team.
In addition to his invaluable contributions to technology, Jim left an
everlasting impression on academia and industry through the more
than 90 doctoral students he graduated who have become leaders
in their fields. Prof. Jim Meindl left an incredible legacy that will
be transmitted through his research and students for generations to
come.
-Krishna Saraswat
About the Author
Krishna Saraswat is the Rickey/Nielsen Professor of Electrical Engineering at
Stanford University. His research involves materials, structures, and process
technology of semiconductor devices and interconnects for nanoelectronics as
well as high-efficiency and low-cost solar cells.

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

W I N T E R 2 0 2 1

IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-States Circuits Magazine - Winter 2021