Hans Stork, IEEE Fellow, is the chief technology officer of Texas Instruments Inc., in Dallas TX, USA. He is working with a technology whose potential is always on his mind: semiconductors.

Stork is responsible for Texas Instruments' long-term R&D strategy and for building the company's reputation as a top developer of silicon technology. His goal is to see TI develop products by fitting the skills of its employees with the company's resources. Before joining TI, Stork worked in the research labs of high-tech heavyweights IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co.

He spent 12 years with IBM working on silicon programs and high-end computing projects before joining HP. There he spent five years on ultra-large-scale integrated circuit programs and then went on to manage large-scale computer projects.Stork earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1978 from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. In 1982, he received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in California, USA.

Later that year, he joined IBM's T.J.Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., USA, where he investigated advanced bipolar technology and circuits and, later, silicon germanium (SiGe) technology.

In 1987, he took a position with IBM's Exploratory Device and Technology area, a group he went on to lead from 1992 to 1994. Stork was also the manager of the Bipolar Devices group, leading a task force on high-end computing. Then in 1994, he joined the Hewlett-Packard Ultra-Large-Scale Integration Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., USA, where he was director from 1995 to 1999. Stork later managed the lab's Computer Systems and Technology Laboratory, focusing on large-scale distributed systems and novel architectures and technologies.

Stork became an IEEE fellow in 1994 for his contributions to SiGe devices and technology. He was also very active in the IEEE as a member of its Electron Devices Society, for which he has chaired many committees. Stork has also written several articles for various IEEE journals.

BY Peg Gallos, The Institute, June 2004