Gary L. Patton
- Associated organizations
- GLOBALFOUNDRIES
- Fields of study
- Semiconductors
- Awards
- IEEE Frederik Philips Award
Biography
Dr. Gary Patton is the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Worldwide Research and Development at GLOBALFOUNDRIES. He is responsible for GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ semiconductor technology R&D roadmap, operations, and execution.
Prior to joining GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Dr. Patton was with IBM for almost 30 years, where he held management and executive positions in research, technology and product development, manufacturing, and business line management. He was a member of IBM’s prestigious Growth and Transformation Team during the last eight years of his career at IBM, and served a 9-month assignment as the executive assistant to the Senior Vice President of IBM’s Technology Group.
Dr. Patton’s pioneering work at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center on SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT) created the foundation for today’s SiGe HBT BiCMOS technologies which are used in a wide range of wireless RF/A&MS consumer applications (e.g. cell phones, PDAs, wireless LANs, GPS devices). In this breakthrough research, Dr. Patton demonstrated the first working SiGe heterojunction transistor and established a world record for silicon transistor performance, tripling the previous record. He also developed the first manufacturable approach for making a high volume SiGe BiCMOS technology, which fueled the adoption of this technology in the industry. As head of IBM’s wireless business unit, Dr. Patton drove the adoption of IBM’s SiGe BiCMOS technology and other RF/A&MS offerings, which enabled this business to grow from a start-up to become an industry leader in wireless technology. Most mobile devices today contain several chips manufactured with these technologies.
He has co-authored over 70 technical papers, given numerous keynote and panel talks at major industry forums.
Dr. Patton received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from UCLA, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. His Ph.D. work was on the physics of polycrystalline silicon emitters for bipolar transistors.
In 2017, Dr. Patton received the IEEE Frederik Philips Award, for outstanding accomplishments in the management of research and development resulting in effective innovation in the electrical and electronics industry.
