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Thin Film Transistor (TFT) technology
Anne Chiang is responsible for numerous accomplishments in electronic
display devices and other computing technologies. Her research and development
work on flat panel displays, semiconductor devices and optical/magnetic recording
has been applied industry-wide. Chiang is perhaps best-known, however, for
her work on low-temperature, glass-compatible, high-speed polysilicon coatings
for large area electronics, otherwise known as thin-film transistor technology,
or TFT.
Chiang was born and raised in Taiwan. As a child, she possessed
a keen curiosity and intelligence that led to her graduation with top honors
from the Taipei First Girls' School and acceptance into National
Taiwan University with an exemption from taking entrance examinations.
She earned a BS from National Taiwan University in 1964, specializing in electrochemistry.
From there, Chiang emigrated to the United States where she eventually earned
a PhD in physical chemistry from the University
of Southern California.
Following her graduation from USC in 1968, Chiang joined Memorex
as a project manager where she invented an organic photoconductor-based microfilm
for computer data recording. She also produced magnetic tape and disk coating
formulations there with improved dispersion of magnetic particles. In 1971,
Chiang accepted a position with the Xerox
Parc Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and it wasn't long before she had
gained a reputation in her industry for her work on the electrophoretic displays.
There she invented several novel display devices, including a stylus-writable
electrophoretic display, a phototransistor, and a new material for a low-cost
electrophoretic display. Chiang began working on TFT technology in the 1980s.
Leading a team of researchers at Xerox PARC, Chiang worked from 1987-1994
on materials, processes, and application aspects of low-temperature, polysilicon
TFT technology, generating numerous patents and publications in the field.
Eventually she and her team developed a process enabling the
fabrication of flat panel displays with pixel contents well beyond millions
of pixels. Chiang's approach, called "System on the Panel," uses the display
substrate not only for the display itself but also for integrating all the
electronic components of a computing system, such as memory, microprocessor
and input devices. Today's light-weight, radiation-free, space-and energy-efficient
portable flat panel display personal computers are a direct result of her
work, which is also helping to enable the development of today's high performance,
pocket-size, portable communication systems.
Chiang's technology could also help to revolutionize the field
of medical diagnostic radiography. Currently, radiologists use film to view
x-ray images, but resolution is limited. In the near future, digital radiography
using flat-panel displays could help to improve resolution and thus, contribute
to early detection. Currently, Chiang is a product engineering manager working
for dpiX, a Xerox company in Palo Alto, California
formed out of the former Electronics and Imaging Laboratory of Xerox PARC.
She continues to work in R&D on TFT-based flat panel displays and medical
imaging devices.
[January 2001]
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