Gregory Eugene Stillman, PhD Born: 15 Feb 1936 Place: Scotia, NE Died: 30 Jan 1999 Place: Urbana, IL Married: Rachel Jean Bryan, PhD Born: 28 Feb 1937 Place: Bayard, NE Lived: 2004 Place: Cambridge, MA Date Married: 4 Feb 1956

2000 Electronic Materials Conference: In Memory of Professor Gregory Eugene Stillman

June 21-23, 2000 · 42ND ELECTRONIC MATERIALS CONFERENCE · Denver, Colorado


Gregory Eugene Stillman
1936–1999
Professor Gregory Eugene Stillman, a prominent faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign for many years, died on July 30, 1999. Greg, as we all called him, was an internationally renowned educator and researcher. He was a leading and recognized expert in III-V compound semiconductor materials and devices.

He was born in Scotia, Nebraska in 1936 and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1958. From 1958 to 1963, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer and a pilot. He entered the graduate program in Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois in 1963, and subsequently earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in 1965 and 1967, respectively under the guidance of Professor N. Holonyak, Jr. He joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1967 and stayed there until 1975 when he was invited to join the University of Illinois electrical engineering faculty. His numerous accomplishments over the years contributed immensely to building the reputation of the University as a leader in compound semiconductor research. His technical contributions covered various aspects of the growth and characterization of compound semiconductor materials and devices. Seminal contributions include the first study and identification of DX centers in compound semiconductors and the synthesis of ultra-high purity GaAs. He contributed to the development of advanced characterization techniques for carrier mobility, photoconductivity, far infrared emission, and photothermal method of studying impurities. Many of these evaluation techniques are now widely used for compound semiconductors. He also contributed to the physics of avalanche photodiodes through fundamental measurements. He was the first to identify and exploit carbon as a dopant in GaAs and AlGaAs. These and other contributions have had significant impact on the development of compound semiconductor microelectronic and photonic devices that are now very crucial to wireless and broadband communications. He published over 300 papers, including a book, Physical Properties of Semiconductors (Prentice Hall, 1989), which he co-wrote with C. Wolfe and N. Holonyak, Jr. He supervised and guided the doctoral work of forty students.

Greg was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1977 and received the IEEE Morton Award in 1990 (with C. Wolfe). He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985 and was awarded the GaAs Symposium Heinrich Welker Medal in 1990. At the University of Illinois, he was, at various times, the recipient of the College of Engineering D.C. Drucker Eminent Faculty Award, and the ECE Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award. He was a permanent member of the U of I Center for Advanced Study which is the highest honor for faculty. He was the Founding Director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics from 1985 to 1987.

Greg contributed to many professional societies including TMS, IEEE, and APS through his selfless service. He was an elected IEEE Electron Device Society (EDS) AdCom member from 1980 to 1985, its Vice President from 1982 to 1983, and the President from 1984 to 1985. He was the Chairman of IEEE Device Research Conference in 1988. In addition, he was a long serving member of TMS Electronic Materials Committee from 1979 to 1999. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Electronic Materials ( JEM) from 1988 to 1999 and contributed to making this journal a joint publication of both TMS and IEEE.

Professor Gregory Stillman will be remembered as a gentleman, a scholar, an unassuming researcher, and a very caring mentor.

Ilesanmi Adesida
University of Illinois at Urbana

ECE loses a distinguished faculty member

by Nick Holonyak Jr.
ECE Professor Greg Stillman (center) enjoys a laugh during a 60th birthday celebration held in his honor in February 1996. Members of Stillman's Semiconductor Research Group hosted the celebration, at which the ECE department announced the establishment of the Stillman Semiconductor Research Award.
ECE Professor Gregory E. Stillman, one of the department's most prominent faculty members, died July 30. He was 63. An internationally respected researcher, gifted educator, and caring mentor, Stillman was an expert on semiconductor materials and devices, lasers, and light emitting and detecting devices.

A distinguished graduate of the University of Nebraska, Stillman served as an officer and pilot in the Strategic Air Command of the U.S. Air Force from 1958 to 1963. A skilled pilot, he flew high-performance aircraft like the KC-135 on missions to refuel B-52 bombers.

After leaving the Air Force, Stillman entered the U of I's electrical engineering graduate program, earning his MS in 1965 and his PhD in 1967. His advisor was Professor Nick Holonyak Jr. In 1967, he joined the Applied Physics Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

In 1975, Stillman was invited to join the U of I electrical engineering faculty, where he would remain the rest of his career. In 1986, he was appointed the first director of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics on campus.

Stillman led the effort that brought $14 million in state funding to our campus for the construction of the Microelectronics Lab. Completed in 1989, this facility is perhaps the finest university lab for III-V compound semiconductor research in the United States.

Stillman was known for the elegance of his experimental work and data, and the cleverness of his ideas. He established evaluation techniques for compound semiconductor materials that are now used universally. His data on the prototype III-V GaAs semiconductor established a standard for evaluating carrier transport in all III-V semiconductors.

He was a quiet and unassuming but powerful teacher and mentor who guided the PhD work of more than 40 students, who themselves are now well-known in the optoelectronics and wireless communications fields.

In 1985, Stillman was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest distinction the nation accords an engineer. An IEEE Fellow, Stillman was a recipient of the IEEE Jack Morton Award and the GaAs Symposium Award with the Heinrich Welker Gold Medal. He was also a permanent member of the U of I Center for Advanced Study-the highest honor for campus faculty.

The ECE department held a memorial service for Stillman on Monday, September 13, at the Beckman Institute. Family, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends gathered to pay tribute to such a fine gentleman.

Graduate Awards
Gregory Stillman Semiconductor Research Award
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Established 1996

Gregory Stillman received a B.S. from the University of Nebraska in 1958, an M.S. in 1965, and Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Greg was a pilot in the USAF Strategic Air Command from 1958 to 1963, when he began graduate school at the University of Illinois. After completing his Ph.D. in 1967 he served as a staff member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratories. In 1975, Greg Stillman joined the University of Illinois as a Professor of Electrical Engineering.

Greg was a member of the National Academy of Engineering; a recipient of the IEEE Jack A. Morton Award, the Heinrich Welker Medal, and GaAs Symposium Award; a fellow of the IEEE; and a principal founder of the Microelectronics Laboratory on the U of I campus. He served as the first director of the Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics. Greg was noted for his contributions to the IIIV semiconductor field--including his pioneering work in ultra-pure GaAs characterization and avalanche photodetector development.
DESCRIPTION:
The Gregory Stillman Semiconductor Research Award was established by his colleagues and former students in1996 to honor his sixtieth birthday. Professor Stillman was a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty from 1975 until his death in 1999. The award of $3500 is to be made annually to one or two doctoral students who have demonstrated excellence in semiconductor research.[more information]

Reverend James Arthur Stillman
Born: 20 Sep 1943
Place: Ord, NE
Lived: 2004
Place: Scotia, NE
Married: Ann Bentley Colcock
Born: 15 May 1940
Place: Boston, MA
Lived: 2004
Place: Scotia, NE
Date Married: 21 Sep 1968

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