NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NAMES DR. JURI MATISOO TO HEAD MAJOR NEW RESEARCH LABORATORY

SANTA CLARA, CA.--December 11, 1995--National Semiconductor has named Dr. Juri Matisoo to lead the development of its new National Semiconductor Research Laboratory (NSRL), the company's long-range research and development program at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

As Vice President of Research, and director of the lab, Dr. Matisoo will lead the development of future product applications of semiconductor technologies for the computing, communications, and transportation industries. The facility will result in the creation of about 200 new high-level research jobs at National's Santa Clara facility.

Dr. Matisoo has a broad background in research management. Most recently, he served for seven years as IBM Research Vice President and Director of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose .In that capacity, his teams made major advances in every aspect of direct-access storage, including magnetic head, thin-film disks, advanced digital channels, and manufacturing techniques. His teams also developed algorithms and code essential to IBM's flagship relational database, DB2.

Earlier, Dr. Matisoo served as Director of Silicon Technology at IBM's Thomas Watson Research Center, where the teams he directed achieved breakthroughs with high performance devices, process technologies, microprocessor designs, and built a state-of- the-art pilot line for conducting process testing.

Dr. Matisoo holds Bachelor's and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Under Dr. Matisoo, the National Semiconductor Research Laboratory facility is already beginning to fulfill its role as a broad-based, forward-looking research facility.

"At the moment, there are about only about a dozen professional research labs in the country, and most of them are focused solely on technology. Our plan is different. We're focusing not only on the technologies, but the future products, tools and design methodologies we will need to obtain those products," Dr. Matisoo said.

Although the lab has barely begun its work, technologists are already developing 0.25 micron mixed-signal complementary metal-oxide silicon (CMOS) processes for microchips. The new designs represent a leap of two generations in National's ability to design and manufacture ever smaller and more complex integrated circuits. These next generation chips will be manufactured at National's plants in South Portland, Maine, Arlington, Texas, and Santa Clara, which are currently undergoing more than $1.2 billion in expansion and new construction.

Today, National makes 0.80 micron circuits at its plant in Arlington Texas. (For comparison, a human hair is about 75 to 100 microns wide). The lab's smaller quarter- micron integrated circuit geometries will eventually translate into faster, lighter, more portable computing and communications tools.

"This kind of forward-thinking research can make a major contribution to improving our lives," Dr. Matisoo said. "What National is doing with this lab takes extraordinary vision and big-picture thinking."

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