James Ziegler achieved his PhD degree in Physics in 1967 at Yale University. Just right after graduation, he was part of IBM-Research. Initially, he worked on ion channeling studies of crystal impurities, radiation damage in materials as well as ion implantation in developing electronic devices. Later on, he was in IBM’s introduction of IC (integrated circuit) fabrication, particularly the use of ion implantation in creating doped semiconductor junctions. With that, he was assigned to work on the design of the IC device and the conversion of discrete component technology to equivalent circuit reproduction of the IC.

Between 1975 and 2000, James Ziegler operated as manager of IBM’s Radiation Science, where he developed ion implantation technology for enhanced integrated circuit manufacturing. And from 1996 to 2000, he led a research in new concepts of high-frequency communication technologies such as the MEMS concepts integration into incorporated circuit RF designs.

Ziegler has been chosen as a Fellow of the American Physical Society as well as of the International Electrical and Electronic Engineering Society (IEEE). By 1987, he was a recipient of the “von-Humboldt Senior Scientist Prize” as awarded by the German Government.

He also wrote and edited about 20 or so books related to his field. He also holds 16 US Patents, which are mostly in the integrated circuit technology. Apart from being a writer, he is an instructor in several IBM academic institutions such as the IBM Technical Vitality, where he does lectures on cold fusion and global warming, and the IBM Technical Education, where he lectures about VLSI processing.

Furthermore, he acts as chairman of these two technical and international schools: the International School of Ion Implantation and the CEI School on VLSI (in Singapore and Europe).

In 2000, he exited from IBM to be at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, where he now teaches electrical engineers about science.