Akos Revesz, 80; Pioneering Semiconductor Researcher

Akos G. Revesz, 80, who was internationally known for his work on molecular structures of silicon transistors used in satellite communications and personal computers, died of complications of lymphoma March 22 at his home in Bethesda.

After fleeing his native Hungary, Dr. Revesz worked in Holland before being recruited by the National Academy of Sciences in 1959 to help in the post-Sputnik space race.

He spent the next 10 years at RCA's David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, N.J., where he conducted pioneering work on the thermal oxidation of silicon. He contributed to research about the stability of metal-oxide-silicon structures, which are the building blocks of all microelectronic chips, the backbone of modern computers and other electronic devices.

He received the IEEE's David Sarnoff Outstanding Achievement Award for his efforts in 1965.

From 1969 until 1983, Dr. Revesz worked at Comsat Laboratories in Clarksburg, where he developed an anti-reflection coating on solar cells that resulted in a 50 percent increase in power output, because more solar energy made it into the cell to become electrical current.

Ever the innovator, Dr. Revesz also solved serious reliability problems that beset communications satellites. His solution was applied to 15 satellites launched while he was at Comsat and led to more than 2 million hours of operation without failure. He also examined the basic mechanisms related to strength of material and was credited with determining the failure mode and deriving fixes for the production of more-reliable electronic devices for space.

Dr. Revesz wrote or co-authored 150 research papers and held several patents on the fundamentals of semiconductor technology, especially regarding the silicon/silicon dioxide interface, a crucial component in nearly all modern-day electronic computer chips.

"His scientific point of view covered a very large spectrum," said Roderick Devine, a research professor at the University of New Mexico. "Very often, Akos's thoughts and views were avant-garde, which led sometimes to his 'crossing swords' with other less-visionary researchers who were critical of him -- only later to realize that he was right all along!"

A native of Balassagyarmat, in northern Hungary, Dr. Revesz grew up in a volatile region of Central Europe between the world wars. During his childhood, his home town of Losonc changed from Czechoslovakia to Hungary and back to Czechoslovakia before he left for college.

During World War II, his family home was occupied successively by German troops in 1944 and Russian troops in 1945 -- while his family remained in the house, his wife said. At age 17, he escaped forced conscription into the German army and was accepted into the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

In his final year of studies, with the onset of communism in Hungary after World War II and the ensuing purge of citizens from the industrialist class, he was expelled from the university. However, a prominent professor who recognized his talent persuaded the university to let him complete his studies and receive a diploma.

He received an undergraduate degree in 1950, a master's degree in 1968 and a PhD, all in chemical engineering from the same university.