The 2023 Masao Horiba Awards will be accepted applications on March 15th. Now in its 19th iteration, HORIBA, Ltd. (hereinafter, “HORIBA”) started this annual research promotion award in 2003. This year’s theme is “Analytical and measurement technologies that contribute to the realization of next-generation semiconductor devices”.
Under a changing theme every year, the awards entice a large number of researchers to submit applications, from which three will eventually be selected as winners. Through this award, we hope to support future leaders conducting innovative and unique research and to further advance the development of analytical and measurement technologies. We look forward to receiving applications from proactive researchers and engineers who pursue their work while following our company motto of “Joy and Fun.”
TARGET TECHNICAL FIELDS
The award is focused on the following analytical and measurement technologies that contribute to the development of next generation semiconductor devices.
Field 1:
analytical and measurement technologies that contribute to the development of new structures and materials and prototyping of devices which are required for the realization of next-generation power devices and optoelectronic devices, and to the establishment of production processes and device mounting processes.
Field 2:
analytical and measurement technologies that will contribute to the early realization of next-generation processors that integrate photonics and electronics on a chip, and quantum computing.
* Devices using innovative silicon semiconductors and/or compound semiconductors which are expected to develop in the future, are included in the technical field.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
Eligible Applicants : Those belonging to universities or public research institutions in and out of Japan and is an emerging researcher, whose work is yet to be recognized as a major accomplishment in the field.
Eligible Research : Analytical and measurement technologies that contribute to the realization of next-generation semiconductor devices
Application Deadline : May 12, 2023
Review Method : The screening committee will decide 2023 award winners based on actual results and prospects regarding submitted documents.
Results Announcement : End of July (tentative)
Award : Winners will be awarded a certificate and prize. A single winner receives 2 million yen (1 million yen/year for two years). Conditions of eligibility must be met continuously.
Award Ceremony and Commemorative Seminar : To be held on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 at Kyoto University. (Winners will conduct discussions and visual presentations that appeal to the general public.)
How to apply : For documents to submit and other application details, please visit www.mh-award.org/en/. Application procedure has been changed to on-line format from last year. (There is no need to send documents by mail).
Contact ：Masao Horiba Awards Office, HORIBA, Ltd. 2, Miyanohigashi, Kisshoin, Minami-ku, Kyoto, 601-8510 TEL: +81-(0)75-325-5110 / E-mail: info@mh-award.org
Award Screening Committee
<Chairperson>
SOMEYA Takao
Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
Graduate School of Engineering
The University of Tokyo
<Judges>
CHEN Yung-Fu
Professor
Department of Electrophysics
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan
KOBAYASHI Masahiro
Managing Executive Officer
Deputy General Manager, R&D Unit
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
FUJIMURA Norifumi
Professor
Department of Electronics and Physics
Graduate School of Engineering
Osaka Metropolitan University
MASAHARA Meishoku
Director
Device Technology Research Institute
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
ADAR Fran
Principal Raman Applications Scientist
HORIBA Instruments Incorporated
TANAKA Satoru
Manager
Advanced Analytical Technology Division
Analytical & Testing Technology Department
HORIBA Techno Service Co., Ltd
<Award Director>
HORIBA Atsushi
Chairman & Group CEO
HORIBA, Ltd.
<Chief of the Organizing Committee for Masao Horiba Awards 2023>
ADACHI Masayuki
President & COO
HORIBA, Ltd.
ABOUT THE THEME:
The recent wave of digitalization is transforming not only IT companies, but also all industries and socioeconomic systems, including manufacturing, mobility, services, agriculture, and healthcare.
Due to the expansion of digitalization, the amount of data processing continues to increase steadily, and it is becoming increasingly urgent that semiconductor devices used in Information and Communication Technologies related equipment be upgraded to higher performance. In response to these requirements, there are high expectations for further miniaturization, upscaling of new advanced materials to large substrates and manufacturing new complex 3D structures, leading to the development of innovative devices that didn’t exist before. On the other hand, compound semiconductors possess superior characteristics to that of silicon semiconductors in terms of their much faster electron transfer speed, their capabilities of high-speed signal processing and low-voltage operation, and their abilities to respond to light and generate microwaves. As a result, compound semiconductors have grown to be widely used in our daily lives as key materials in semiconductor devices that support digitization. Power semiconductors are used to control a wide variety of electrical devices in our daily lives, including automobiles, industrial equipment, electric power grids, railroads, and home appliances. To realize carbon neutrality, more technological innovations for saving energy are expected. On the other hand, the establishment of innovative electrical transmission technology is also important to achieve higher device speeds and power savings. From this perspective, the establishment of optoelectronics technology that integrates light and electronics for information and communication processing is urgently needed, and the development of optoelectronic devices and optoelectronic fusion processors for the Beyond 5G/6G all-optical era is paramount. In addition, further understanding of phenomena such as superconductivity, ion trapping, and light is needed to realize quantum computers, which will require new analytical and measurement techniques for characterization of devices and products.
Semiconductor devices are built using a wide variety of technologies, from raw materials to wafer fabrication, manufacturing processes, and integration schemes. Analytical and measurement technologies are indispensable in all processes, from the fundamental research level to prototyping and production optimization. Especially in the practical application of innovative devices such as power devices, optical devices, and quantum devices, it is important to find scientific explanation of previously unencountered phenomena and identify control points in prototyping and manufacturing, for which analytical and measurement technologies are becoming increasingly important.
The 2023 Masao Horiba Award is open to advanced analytical and measurement technologies necessary to solve these problems and consequently provide next-generation devices to the world. We welcome applications from researchers and engineers who are working on the development of such analytical and measurement technologies and whose results will lead to advancement in use cases and applications for next-generation devices, such as system autonomy, innovations in transportation, and wearable devices for health and medicine.
ABOUT MASAO HORIBA AWARDS
Background:
HORIBA Group’s history begins with our trail-blazing founder, Masao Horiba, whose initial venture was the first domestic development of the glass electrode pH meter when he was still a university student. Ever since then, we have expanded our business globally to become a manufacturer of a comprehensive line of analytical instruments while also expanding analysis into liquid, gasses, and solids. Collaboration with universities and research institutions has been one of the ways we have supported this development since our company’s founding. The steady efforts of the researchers and engineers who work on our fundamental research have continued to be a driving force in our growth. Having entered into the 21st century, we founded the Masao Horiba Awards in 2003, named after our founder to support the academic research and development which will be the source of new enterprises and commercial endeavors in the fields of analytical and measurement instrument technology, whose social significance only continues to grow.
Purpose:
This award supports emerging researchers and engineers both in Japan and overseas who are engaged in research and development expected to create an innovative analytical and measurement technology that will further enhance scientific value in that technological field. Choosing a different field each year allows us to focus on research and development with results and future development potential on a global scale. We are seeking proactive participants who understand the “Joy and Fun” of research and development in the target area, from fundamental to application, and who will also be key players in the future development of analytical and measurement technology.
Our late founder, Masao Horiba:
Masao Horiba pioneered his own venture, Horiba Radio Laboratory, in October 1945 while still a student at the Faculty of Science at Kyoto Imperial University (now Kyoto University). He majored in nuclear physics, and just like his father and professor, Shinkichi Horiba, he had intended to remain at university and become a researcher after graduation. At this time, however, the end of World War II saw the US military destroying cyclotrons and taking other steps to prevent and prohibit nuclear research and experiments, so Masao was unable to continue his university research. This led to the decision to establish a private laboratory where one might conduct experiments and research freely, which is how our company came to be founded.
In January 1953, the company was reorganized as a share-issuing company, and Masao assumed the role of president. As Horiba Radio Laboratory, the plan had been to develop and commercialize electrolytic capacitors, but this plan was aborted due to inflation caused by the Korean War. Instead, the pH meter developed for capacitor production was sold as a product, and HORIBA, Ltd., known today, was established. The company then continued to develop new pH meters one after another in cooperation with universities. In 1978, at the age of 53, Masao assumed the role of chairman, and our current philosophy of “Joy and Fun” was established as the company motto. After taking office as chairman, Masao also worked to support domestic small-to-medium enterprises and startups in an active way to revitalize Kyoto. He also worked towards the fundamental education reforms needed to usher into the future generations of trailblazers. For his contributions to developments in the field of analytical sciences as an entrepreneur who launched a global measuring instrument business with products that support research and technological breakthroughs globally, Masao was the first non-American to be honored with the Pittcon Heritage Award in March 2006 and was entered into the USA’s Pittcon Hall of Fame (for Analytical Chemistry). At the age of 90, Masao passed away in July 2015.
