The 2013 Japan Prize will be awarded to three U.S. researchers for their scientific contributions in the fields of semiconductor manufacturing and ecology.
The joint winners in the field of materials and production are C. Grant Willson, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and Jean M. J. Frechet, vice president of research at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, for developing materials that contributed to an innovative semiconductor manufacturing process, officials said Wednesday.
The prize in the area of biological production and biological environment goes to John Frederick Grassle, professor emeritus of Rutgers University, for his findings on the biodiversity of deep-sea organisms, they said.
Willson and Frechet developed "chemically amplified resists" — materials used to form the minute structures that make up modern semiconductor devices — expanding limits seen in the late 1970s and making semiconductors smaller, they added.
The award ceremony will be held Tokyo on April 24.