Federico Faggin
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Federico Faggin (born 1 December 1941) is a physicist and electrical engineer considered to be one of the inventors of the microprocessor.
Born in Isola Vicentina, Vicenza, Italy he received a Laurea Degree in physics, summa cum laude, at the University of Padua, then went to work at Olivetti. In 1968 he moved to Palo Alto, where he worked for the Fairchild Semiconductor company, where he invented the MOS Silicon Gate technology, the basis of all modern CMOS computer chips.
In 1970 he went to Intel where, with Marcian Hoff, Stanley Mazor and Intel customer Masatoshi Shima, he developed the Intel 4004, the world's first microprocessor. He also co-developed the Intel 8008, the world's first 8-bit microprocessor.
In 1974 Faggin left Intel to cofound ZiLOG, the producer of the Z80 microprocessor. He was Zilog's President and CEO until the end of 1980. In 1982, he co-founded Cygnet Technologies, Inc., the maker of the Cygnet CoSystem personal telecommunications device, and was its President and CEO until 1986. In 1986 he cofounded Synaptics, a touchpad OEM.
In 1988 he received the International Marconi Fellowship Award for his contributions to the birth of the microprocessor, and in the same year he was awarded the Golden Medal for Science and Technology from the Italian Prime Minister. In 1994 he received the IEEE W. Wallace McDowell Award. In 1997 he received the Kyoto Prize along with Mazor, Shima, and Hoff. In 2006 at the European Inventor of the Year Conference and Gala, he received the European Inventor of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
On 11 July 2002 Faggin rejoined the ZiLOG board of directors.
Federico Faggin is currently the CEO of Foveon, a Santa Clara, CA based company responsible for the Foveon X3 sensor, an image sensor used in digital photography.
