The VLSI memory era truly began when the first production of semiconduc- tor memory was announced by IBM and Intel in 1970. The announcement had a profound impact on my research at Hitachi Ltd., and I was forced to change fields: from magnetic thin film to semiconductor memory. This change was so exceptionally sudden and difficult, I feIt like a victim of fate. Looking back, however, I realize how fortunate I was. I have witnessed an unprecedented increase in memory capacity (DRAM, for example, has had a 6-order increase in the last three decades - from the 1-Kb level in 1970 to the 1-Gb...

The VLSI memory era truly began when the first production of semiconduc- tor memory was announced by IBM and Intel in 1970. The announcement had a profound impact on my research at Hitachi Ltd., and I was forced to change fields: from magnetic thin film to semiconductor memory. This change was so exceptionally sudden and difficult, I feIt like a victim of fate. Looking back, however, I realize how fortunate I was. I have witnessed an unprecedented increase in memory capacity (DRAM, for example, has had a 6-order increase in the last three decades - from the 1-Kb level in 1970 to the 1-Gb...