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Distinguished Lecturers 2025
The IEEE NTC is pleased to announce the appointments of the Distinguished Lecturers for 2025.
Talks by NTC Distinguished Lecturers can be requested by: IEEE student branches; NTC or member Society Chapters; NTC and member Society Conferences; conferences of other IEEE Societies not members of the NTC for major plenary/keynote (based on availability of funding). Please contact the presenter directly to arrange for a presentation.
| DL Names | Topic(s) |
| José Miguel García-Martín |
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| Deep Jariwala |
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| Davide Mencarelli |
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| Federico Rosei |
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| Wenzhuo Wu |
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| Cunjiang Yu |
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| Jean-Pierre Leburton |
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| Xinran Wang |
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| Pedram Khalili Amiri |
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| Mohsen Rahmani |
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| Sanjukta Bhanja |
|
| * Re-appointment for second year. |
José Miguel García-Martín
Affiliation: Instituto de Micro y Nanotecnología, CSIC
Email address: José Miguel García-Martín
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title: Nanostructured columnar thin films by magnetron sputtering: From fundamentals to devices
In the first part of this talk, it will be shown that glancing angle deposition with magnetron sputtering is a user-friendly route to fabricate nanocolumnar thin films (NCTFs) of metals and metal-oxides in large areas of several square centimeters and above (scaling-up is feasible) in a single-step process. This is in clear contrast to nanolithography techniques. The development of the nanocolumnar morphology is the result of atomic shadowing, atomic diffusion, and surface relaxation. In the second part of the talk, several applications where NCTFs are of relevance will be described, discussing how and why these nanostructured materials can be used in functional devices. For energy and environment: as magnetic nanopillars with tailored properties, as nanostructured surfaces with photo-induced self-cleaning properties, as nanostructured layers to improve perovskite solar cells, and as black metal coatings in the visible range. For biomedicine: as antibacterial coatings in orthopedic implants, as bioelectrodes for electrical stimulation, as templates for chemical sensing by surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and as working electrodes in the electrochemical detection of molecules. Finally, for the aerospace industry: as nanostructured coatings that mitigate the undesirable multipactor effect (which can prevent the correct performance of radio-frequency devices or even damage them).
BIO
Dr. José Miguel García-Martín is a research scientist in the Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, and he works at the Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology (Madrid). He is also a co-founder of Nanostine, a spin-off company that fabricates nanoparticles and nanostructured coatings by sputtering. He obtained his PhD in Physics at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1999. He then spent about three years at the Solid-State Physics Lab at Paris-Saclay University (France) on an individual Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship. He joined CSIC in 2003. In 2017 he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University (Boston). Currently, he studies metal and metal-oxide nanostructures with applications in information and communications technology, energy, and biomedicine. He has coordinated several international projects with partners in the U.S.A., France, Greece, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. He led the Nanoimplant project, which in 2014 won the IDEA2Madrid Award, a partnership between the Madrid Government and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2023 he received the Award of The Royal Spanish Society of Physics (RSEF) and the BBVA Foundation for the best dissemination article. He has co-authored 110 articles, 7 book chapters and 3 patents, and has given about 50 Invited talks. He is the Past Chair of the Spain chapter of IEEE Magnetics Society, he is a member of the Administrative Committee of that Society and is its representative on the IEEE Nanotechnology Council. He is also a member of the Council of Advisors of the Nanotechnology Engineer Program at Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico).Nanostructured columnar thin films by magnetron sputtering: From fundamentals to devices.
Deep Jariwala
Affiliation: Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, USA
E-Mail Address: Deep Jariwala
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
III-Nitride Ferroelectrics for Low-Power and Extreme Environment Electronics
Nanoscale Excitonic Semiconductors for Strong Light-Matter Interactions
Two-Dimensional Semiconductors for Low-Power Logic and Memory Devices
Silicon has been the dominant material for electronic computing for decades and very likely will stay dominant for the foreseeable future. However, it is well-known that Moore’s law that propelled Silicon into this dominant position is long dead. Therefore, a fervent search for (i) new semiconductors that could directly replace silicon or (ii) new architectures with novel materials/devices added onto silicon or (iii) new physics/state-variables or a combination of above has been the subject of much of the electronic materials and devices research of the past 2 decades. The above problem is further complicated by the changing paradigm of computing from arithmetic centric to data centric in the age of billions of internet-connected devices and artificial intelligence as well as the ubiquity of computing in ever more challenging environments. Therefore, there is a pressing need for complementing and supplementing Silicon to operate with greater efficiency, speed and handle greater amounts of data. This is further necessary since a completely novel and paradigm changing computing platform (e.g. all optical computing or quantum computing) remains out of reach for now.
The above is however not possible without fundamental innovation in new electronic materials and devices. Therefore, in this talk, I will try to make the case of how novel layered two-dimensional (2D) chalcogenide materials and three-dimensional (3D) nitride materials might present interesting avenues to overcome some of the limitations being faced by Silicon hardware. I will also highlight ongoing work and opportunities to extend the application of III nitride ferroelectric materials into extreme environments electronics.
Then, on the optical and photonic materials side I will first make the case for van der Waals bonded semiconductors which exhibit strong excitonic resonances and large optical dielectric constants as compared to bulk 3D semiconductors. First, I will focus on the subject of strong light-matter coupling in excitonic 2D semiconductors, namely chalcogenides of Mo and W. Visible spectrum band-gaps with strong excitonic absorption makes transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) of molybdenum and tungsten as attractive candidates for investigating strong light-matter interaction formation of hybrid states. I will then extend the analogy to hybrid 2D materials and 1D carbon nanotubes.
BIO:
Deep Jariwala is an Associate Professor and the Peter & Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar in the Electrical and Systems Engineering as well as Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Deep completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. Deep was a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech before joining Penn to start his own research group. His research interests broadly lie at the intersection of new materials, surface science and solid-state devices for computing, opto-electronics and energy harvesting applications in addition to the development of correlated and functional imaging techniques. Deep’s research has been widely recognized with several awards from professional societies, funding bodies, industries as well as private foundations, the most notable ones being the Optica Adolph Lomb Medal, the Bell Labs Prize, the AVS Peter Mark Memorial Award, IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Young Investigator Award, IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in Semiconductors and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. He has published over 150 journal papers with more than 21000 citations and holds several patents. He serves as the Associate Editor for ACS Nano Letters and has been appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Nanotechnology Council for 2025.
Davide Mencarelli
Affiliation: Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy
Email address: Davide Mencarelli
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
Advanced modeling and design of RF devices and systems based on low-dimensional Materials
The presentation deals with a computational platform (CP) aimed at bridging from atomistic-level simulations to meso-scale simulations. The core idea is to exploit the unprecedented physical properties of novel 2D-materials (e.g. HfZrOf/NiOf/MoO3) suitable for high-frequency electronics (HFE). Considering a 2D-material, given its lattice structure (atoms, polymorphs, geometrical orientation, dopant), fundamental studies based on atomistic and Density Functional Theory (DFT) (ab-initio) are the starting point to derive fundamental properties as dispersion curves, effective masses, field-matter interaction, etc. Ab-initio models are then transferred/integrated into/with the larger scale models by constitutive equations/relations, namely permittivity, permeability, conductivity. The latter are phenomenological parameters to be used at the continuum (device) level, where full-wave simulations of complex circuits are performed. Full-wave simulations make use of: (i) frequency-domain techniques, like finite elements/finite differences methods (FEM, FDFD), (ii) time domain techniques, like finite differences in the time domain (FDTD), and (iii) Transmission Line Matrix (TLM) methods. In fact, the computational platform is equipped design tools for RF devices encompassing 2D materials applied to 5G/6G ICT and IoT. As an example, multiphysic applications are created by COMSOL Multiphysics Application Builder for self-consistent drift-diffusion bipolar transport and coherent ballistic transport in 2D materials. The latter are possibly applied to geometric diodes, sensors, and detectors. The above applications are compiled into standalone executable files to run on laptop
BIO:
Davide Mencarelli is currently Associate Professor at University Politecnica of Marche (UNIVPM). From 2014 to 2023, he was a Member of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Frascati National Laboratories), Rome, Italy. He is currently member of the IEEE “RF Nanotechnology” technical committee (TC-08). Since 2015, is in the IEEE microwave theory and technique society (MTT-S) Speaker Bureau (SB) framework.
His research activity spans over a wide area, including: coherent charge transport in low dimensional systems, photonic crystals, nano–field effect transistors (nano-FET), planar slot array antennas and microwave components, Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), Optomechanics and Phononic devices, multiphysic modelling. He was Associate Editor (AE) of “Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology”, Intech open acces publisher, and is currently AE of the (Springer) “Journal of Computational Electronics” and of the (IEEE) “Transactions on Nanotechnology”.
Federico Rosei
Affiliation: University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
Email address: Federico Rosei
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
Nanoscale Building Blocks for Emerging Technologies
The quest for sustainable development dictates an urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewables. This presentation focuses on next generation (solar) energy technologies from a materials perspective. We study structure property/relationships in advanced materials, emphasizing multifunctional systems that exhibit several functionalities. Such systems are then used as building blocks for the fabrication of various emerging technologies. In particular, nanostructured materials synthesized via the bottom–up approach present an opportunity for future generation low cost and low energy intensive manufacturing of devices. We focus in particular on recent developments in solar technologies, including third generation photovoltaics, solar hydrogen production, luminescent solar concentrators and other optoelectronic devices, highlighting the role and importance of critical raw materials. [1-20].
BIO:
Federico Rosei (MSc (1996) and PhD (2001) from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”) is Full Professor at the Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Varennes (QC) Canada, where he served as Director (07/2011–03/2019), currently on leave. He held the Canada Research Chair (Junior) in Nanostructured Organic and Inorganic Materials (2003–2013) and the Canada Research Chair (Senior) in Nanostructured Materials (2016–2023). Since January 2014 he holds the UNESCO Chair in Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage. Since March 2023 he holds the Chair of Industrial Chemistry at the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Trieste.
Dr. Rosei’s research interests focus on structure/property relationships in nanomaterials and their use as building blocks in emerging technologies. His research has been supported by multiple funding sources from the Province of Quebec, the Federal Government of Canada as well as international agencies, for a total in excess of M$ 18. He has worked in partnership with over twenty Canadian R&D companies. He is co-inventor of three patents and has published over 500 articles in prestigious international journals (including Science, Nature Phot., Nature Mater., Nature Chem., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Adv. Func. Mater., Adv. En. Mat., ACS Nano, Biomaterials, etc.), which have been cited over 27,200 times (H index = 87). He has been invited to speak at over 380 international conferences (50 Keynotes, 35 Plenaries) and has given over 280 seminars and colloquia, over 60 professional development lectures and 50 public lectures in 51 countries on all inhabited continents.
He is Fellow of numerous prestigious national and international societies and academies, including: the Royal Society of Canada, the European Academy of Science, the Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (Foreign), the African Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Art and Science, the World Academy of Ceramics, the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, AAAS, the American Ceramic Society, Optica, SPIE, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, ASM International, the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), the Institute of Physics, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Materials, Metallurgy and Mining, the Engineering Institute of Canada, the Australian Institute of Physics, the Chinese Chemical Society (Honorary), the Mexican Academy of Engineering (Corresponding), the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (Foreign), Senior Member of IEEE, Global Young Academy (Alumnus) and Member of the Sigma Xi Society.
He has received several awards and honours, including the FQRNT Strategic Professorship (2002–2007), the Tan Chin Tuan visiting Fellowship (NTU 2008), the Senior Gledden Visiting Fellowship (UWA 2009), UWA Professor at Large (2010–2012), a Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2001), a F.W. Bessel Award (Humboldt foundation 2011), the Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry (Royal Society of Canada 2011), the Herzberg Medal (Canadian Association of Physics 2013), the Brian Ives Lectureship (ASM international 2013), the Award for Excellence in Materials Chemistry (CSC 2014), the NSERC EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2014), the José Vasconcelos Award for Education (World Cultural Council 2014), IEEE Distinguished Lectureships (NTC 2015–2016, Photonics Society 2020–2022, Electron Devices Society 2022–2024), the Lash Miller Award (ECS 2015), the Chang Jiang Scholar Award (China), the Khwarizmi International Award (Iran), the Recognition for Excellence in Mentorship (American Vacuum Society 2015), the Selby Fellowship (Australian Academy of Sciences 2016), the J.C. Polanyi Award (Canadian Society for Chemistry 2016), the Outstanding Engineer Award (IEEE Canada 2017), the President’s Visiting Fellowship for Distinguished Scientists (Chinese Academy of Sciences 2017 and 2024), the Sigma Xi Distinguished Lectureship (2018–2020), the Sichuan 1000 talent (short term) award, the Lee Hsun Lecture Award (2018), the Changbai Mountain Friendship Award (2018), the IEEE Montreal Gold Medal (2018), the APS John Wheatley Award (2019), the Blaise Pascal Medal (European Academy of Science 2019), the Guangxi Golden Silkball Friendship Award (2020), the TMS Brimacombe Medal (2021), the Wolfson Fellowship (Royal Society), the Prix Urgel Archambault (ACFAS 2021), the Prix du Quebec “Marie Victorin” (2021), the J.C. Smith Medal (Engineering Institute of Canada 2022), the Premio Nazionale “Gentile da Fabriano” (Associazione Premio Gentile, Italy 2022), the Envoy of People’s Friendship Award (Jiangsu Province, 2022), the Brockhouse Medal (Canadian Association of Physics 2022), the Canadian Light Source – TK Sham Award in Materials Chemistry (CSC 2023), the Spirit of Salam Award (ICTP 2023), a Guggenheim Fellowship in Engineering (2023), Knight of the National Order of Quebec (2023) and the AVS Nanotechnology Recognition Award (2024).
Wenzhuo Wu
Affiliation: Purdue University, USA
Email address: Wenzhuo Wu
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
Tellurene Electronics and Beyond
Emerging technologies in distributed computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) necessitate the implementation of high-speed, energy-efficient nanoelectronics. Various technological paths are being actively pursued to synthesize and integrate high-performance channel materials for these applications. Specifically, 2D semiconductors have been intensely explored as promising channel materials for related ultra-scaled technologies. However, there has been a lack of synthetic strategies for the scalable, substrate-agnostic production of large-area, high-quality 2D semiconductors with a low thermal budget for back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible applications. In this talk, I will discuss our recent progress in the scalable nanomanufacturing of tellurene, an emerging 2D p-type material my group pioneered for high-performance device applications. Our results show that the air-stable tellurene exhibits a plethora of intriguing properties that appeal to applications in electronics, optoelectronics, quantum devices, and wearable sensors. These advances demonstrate the potential of 2D tellurene in future electronics and beyond.
BIO:
Dr. Wenzhuo Wu is a Professor in the School of Industrial Engineering and a University Faculty Scholar at Purdue University. He received his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Wu’s research interests include designing, manufacturing, and integrating nanomaterials for applications in wearable sensors, clean energy, and nanoelectronics. He was a recipient of many awards, e.g., Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers Barbara M. Fossum Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, Advanced Materials Interfaces Hall of Fame , ARO Young Investigator Award, NSF Early CAREER Award, Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Functional Materials Division (FMD) Young Leaders Professional Development Award, Purdue College of Engineering Faculty Excellence Award for Early Career Research, Advanced Materials Technologies Hall of Fame, an invited participant at the 2022 China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, an invited participant in the first U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, an invited participant in the Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine symposium, Sensors Young Investigator Award, an elected Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), and an elected Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
Cunjiang Yu
Affiliation: Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA
Email address: cmy5358@psu.edu
IEEE NTC Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
Rubbery electronics: materials, devices and integrated systems
Abstract:
This presentation will introduce a groundbreaking solution to the challenge of seamlessly integrating electronics with the human body. Traditional electronics, rigid and planar, face inherent mismatches with the soft, deformable nature of the human body. Our approach, termed “rubbery electronics,” relies on the use of elastic, rubbery materials for semiconductors, conductors, and dielectrics. These materials exhibit tissue-like softness and mechanical stretchability, enabling seamless integration with soft, deformable tissues and organs. The talk will delve into the development of rubbery semiconductors, transistors, integrated electronics, sensors, and bioelectronics. Furthermore, it will showcase functional systems enabled by rubbery electronics and explore their applications in healthcare, robotics, and human-machine interfaces. This platform technology opens doors to diverse opportunities, promising significant advancements in various fields.
Bio:
Dr. Cunjiang Yu is the Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Biomedical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. His recent research concerns the fundamentals and applications of soft and bio electronics. He has published ~100 journal articles and gave more than 130 invited talks and lectures at international conferences and institutions. His work has been recognized by numerous awards, including the CAB Mid-Career Award, ASME Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award, the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Medal Award, ASME Chao and Trigger Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, NSF CAREER Award, ONR Young Investigator Award, NIH Trailblazer Award, Inaugural MIT Technology Review Top Innovator of China, AVS Young Investigator Award, etc. He is a Fellow of ASME.
Research group webpage: https://yuresearch.github.io/
Jean-Pierre Leburton
Nick Holonyak Jr. Micro-and Nanotechnology Lab
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
208 Wright Street, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Phone:217-333-6813
e-mail: jleburto@illinois.edu
URL: https://ece.illinois.edu/about/directory/faculty/jleburto
Distinguished Lecturer Talk Titles
- 2D Nano-electronic for DNA biosensing.
- Solid State Nanopores: From Genetics to Big Data Processing.
Abstract:
The last two decades have experienced rapid technological developments in the search of cheap and high accuracy devices for fast bio-molecular identification. In the realm of DNA and protein sequencing, there has been an increasing interest in the use of nanopores in solid-state materials because of their distinct advantage over biological pores in terms of flexibility in pore design and mechanical strength. Two-dimensional (2D) solid state materials such as graphene and Molybdenum di-sulphide (MoS2) in particular have attracted attention because of their atomically thin layered structure and electrically active characteristics, predisposing them to offer single base resolution and simultaneously multiple modalities of detecting biomolecular translocation. 2D nanopore devices promise seamless integration with semiconductor electronics and are poised to revolutionize a variety of technologies such as genomics, point-of-care diagnostics and digital data storage to name a few. In this talk, we review and provide insights into this sensing principle by modeling the electron flow through 2D material nanopore FETs, and propose a scalable device design of nanopore FETs to detect and identify translocations of single-biomolecules in a massively parallel scheme.
Bio:
Jean-Pierre Leburton is currently the Gregory Stillman Emeritus Professor of electrical and computer engineering with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He joined the University of Illinois in 1981 from Germany, where he worked as a Research Scientist with the Siemens A.G. Research Laboratory, Munich. In 1992, he held the Hitachi Ltd., Chair on quantum materials at the University of Tokyo. He was a Visiting Professor with the Federal Polytechnic Institute, Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2000. He is involved with research in nanostructures modeling and in quantum device simulation. He is the author and the coauthor of more than 400 technical articles in international journals and books ,as well as of several patents in device electronics. His present research interests encompass non-linear transport in quantum wires and carbon nanotubes, spintronics and molecular, and bio-nanoelectronics.
Prof. Leburton is a Fellow of the IEEE (Life Fellow), APS, OSA, AAAS, ECS, and IOP. He is also a member of the New York Academy of Science. In 2011, he was elected as an Associate Member to the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium. He served as the Chairperson, an advisory, and program committees for numerous international conferences. In 1993, he was awarded the title of “Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques” by the French Government. In 2004, he was a recipient of the ISCS Quantum Device Award and the Gold Medal for scientific achievement by the Alumnus Association of the University of Liége, Belgium. In 2019, he was a recipient of the CCMR Serendipity Award, Seoul, South Korea. In 2020, he received the IEEE-NTC Nanotechnology Pioneer Award for his pioneering contribution to the simulation of semiconductor nanostructures and low dimensional nanoscale devices.
Xinran Wang
Affiliation: Nanjing University, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, School of Integrated Circuits; Suzhou Laboratory, China.
Email: xrwang@nju.edu.cn
Talk title: 2D Semiconductors for Future Computing
Abstract:
2D transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors are promising candidates in future electronics due to unmatched device performance at atomic limit and low-temperature heterogeneous integration. In this talk, I will present our recent advances in this area. The main topics include 1) wafer-scale single-crystal TMD (MoS2, MoSe2, etc.) growth by engineering the atomic steps of sapphire substrate; 2) high-performance MoS2 transistor technology including semi-metallic Ohmic contact, ultrathin dielectric integration and air-gap device structure for gigahertz frequency integrated circuits; 3) a duplex in-memory computing architecture based on ferroelectric field-effect transistor and MoS2 channel to realize efficient in situ machine learning. These advances demonstrate the potential of 2D semiconductors in future computing beyond silicon.
Bio:
Professor Wang received his B.S. degree in physics from Nanjing University in 2004 and Ph.D. degree in physics from Stanford University in 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and then at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He then joined the faculty of Nanjing University where he is currently a full professor and head of School of Integrated Circuits. He also serves as the director of Frontier Materials Division of Suzhou Laboratory. His research interest includes 2D semiconductor materials growth, device technology, and integrate circuits. He has already published more than 170 papers in peer reviewed journals and conferences (including 2 in Nature and 2 in Science), and these papers have accumulated more than 26,000 citations. He has been recognized by a number of awards and honors, such as Xplorer Prize, Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, Huang Kun Prize in Solid-state Physics and Semiconductor Physics, second prize of National Natural Science Award, and Chinese Youth Metal.
URL: https://ese.nju.edu.cn/wang_lab/main.htm
Pedram Khalili
Affiliation: Northwestern University, Illinois, USA
E-Mail Address: pedram@northwestern.edu Web Address: http://perlab.org/
Lecture Title #1:
Nanoscale magnetism: From new materials to unconventional computing architectures
Abstract #1:
The emergence of magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) based on nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) provides an unprecedented opportunity to develop unconventional computing architectures, with potential impact far beyond replacing existing semiconductor-based memory solutions. This talk will consist of two parts: First, we review the current state of development of ferromagnet-based MRAM, which uses current-induced spin-transfer torque (STT) to switch the magnetic state of nanoscale MTJs. We then discuss how emerging device concepts based on new physics and new materials may enable significant advances beyond today’s STT-MRAM. As an example of new physics, we discuss electric-field-controlled MTJs that utilize the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect for switching, and present recent results on the first VCMA-MTJ devices with sub-1V write voltage. Second, we will discuss how appropriately designed MTJs can be used to fulfill unconventional roles within a computing system, notably as electrically controlled stochastic bitstream generators. We then discuss the application of such devices to artificial neural networks, solvers for difficult computational problems such as combinatorial optimization and integer factorization, as well as physically unclonable functions.
Lecture Title #2:
Nano-electronic device implications of antiferromagnetic spintronics
Abstract #2:
This talk reviews recent progress in the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics. We discuss advances in the electrical control of antiferromagnetic order by current-induced spin-orbit torques, particularly in antiferromagnetic thin films interfaced with heavy metals. We also review possible scenarios for using voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy as a more efficient mechanism to control antiferromagnetic order in thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Next, the problem of electrical detection (i.e., readout) of antiferromagnetic order is discussed, where we highlight recent experimental advances in realizing anomalous Hall and tunneling magnetoresistance effects in thin films and tunnel junctions, respectively, which are based on noncollinear antiferromagnets. Finally, we present a perspective on potential applications of antiferromagnets for nanoscale magnetic memory devices, terahertz sources, and detectors.
Bio:
Pedram Khalili Amiri is Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northwestern University, where he is also faculty member and Director of Graduate Studies in Applied Physics. He received the B.Sc. degree from Sharif University of Technology in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree (cum laude) from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands, in 2008, both in electrical engineering. Pedram received the Northwestern University ECE department’s Best Teacher Award in 2020. He is an Associate Editor of Frontiers in Physics, and serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Physics: Photonics. He has served on the technical program committees and organizing committees of several conferences, including the Joint MMM/Intermag Conference, the IEEE Conference on Rebooting Computing (ICRC), the SPIE Spintronics Conference, and is a member of the Flash Memory Summit conference advisory board. He is past Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the IEEE Magnetics Society, and serves on the IEEE Task Force for Rebooting Computing (TFRC) Executive Committee. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Mohsen Rahmani
Advanced Optics and Photonics Laboratory, Nottingham Trent University
E-mail: mohsen.rahmani@ntu.ac.uk
Distinguished Lecturer Talk Title:
Metasurfaces: the building blocks of tomorrow’s optical technologies
Abstract:
Metasurfaces are an array of periodic subwavelength nanostructures that resonantly couple to the incident light. Such nanostructured surfaces can reproduce the functions of bulk optics and, on occasion, offer new functionalities that are not possible with conventional diffractive optics. Metallic metasurfaces, employing resonant oscillation of surface plasmons, can confine light in the nanoscale gaps, so-called hot spots, with extreme sensitivity to the refractive index of the environment. However, the price of such characteristics is the high ohmic losses of metallic nanoparticles. On the other hand, high-index dielectric and semiconductor metasurfaces are lossless. They can stimulate Mie resonances in a multipolar fashion, applicable to both linear and nonlinear regimes, although they produce much weaker hot spots. In this talk, I will review my journey in employing metallic, dielectric, and semiconductor metasurfaces to control the light intensity, frequency, and propagation direction. I will discuss how metasurfaces can lead to several exciting applications, including flat optics, nonlinear imaging, and ultra-sensitive biochemical sensing. I will also explain how metasurfaces can be further engineered to manipulate light characteristics on demand, enabling solid-state optical switching of metasurface pixels. Such reconfigurability and other degrees of freedom are not usually achievable with geometrical bulk optics. That is why many consider the metasurfaces to be the building blocks of tomorrow’s optical technologies.
Bio:
Mohsen Rahmani is a professor of optics and photonics and the leader of the advanced optics and optics laboratory at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), in the UK. He obtained his PhD from the National University of Singapore in 2013, followed by a postdoc fellowship at Imperial College London and the Australian Research Council Early Career Fellowship at the Australian National University. In 2020, he joined NTU via the prestigious Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship. Shortly after moving to the UK, he was also awarded the UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship. His research activities span over light-matter interactions with nanometre-scale particles for applications in flat optics, near-infrared imaging, bio-sensing, and reconfigurable optics. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards and prizes, including the Australian Eureka Prize (Australian Oscar of Science), the Early Career Medal from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and the Australian Optical Society Geoff Opat Award. Professor Rahmani has delivered 40+ invited talks, seminars and keynotes at international conferences and has published more than 80 peer-reviewed journal papers (H-index=41). He is the chair of the IEEE Nanotechnology Chapter across the UK and Ireland section, a member of the editorial board of Opto-electronic Advances, and a senior member of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America).
Gengchiau (Albert) Liang
Industry Academia Innovation School, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Email: gcliang@nycu.edu.tw
Homepage: https://nusececnng.wixsite.com/home
Titles:
- Physics of Nanoelectronics and Spintronics and Device Applications
- Electron and spin transport in novel materials
- Device physics of Probabilistic-Bits and their applications to stochastic/Probabilistic computing
Abstract:
Leading electronics engineers defied Moore’s Law’s demise for decades. Shrinking transistors once reduced costs, increased functionality, and lowered energy consumption, while microelectronics hit a “power wall.” Especially, the recent development of electronic device applications is continuously becoming more strongly connected with the advances of unconventional computations, such as neuromorphic computing and stochastic computing. These are especially crucial for power management to reliably process increasing amounts of data for longer periods. Therefore, the development of low power-consumption devices, even for non-volatile electronics, is essential for future device applications.
In these talks, hence, I shall first give an introduction to the up-to-date development of ultra-low-power consumption and high-performance devices by applying novel functional operation principles based on advanced materials such as 2D layered material FETs and Ferroelectric materials and spintronic materials, cf., ferrimagnetic materials. Then, I will discuss device physics and the performance of these devices as well as the challenges from the practical considerations. Thirdly, this talk will touch on their potential applications in future information and computational systems. Lastly, I will address stochastic computing utilizing p-bits composed of MTJ or FE-FETs, highlighting both the promising applications and the accompanying challenges in implementing these innovative technologies.
Bio:
Dr. Gengchiau Liang holds a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Purdue University, preceded by B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from Taiwan’s National Tsinghua University. His academic journey began in 2006 as an assistant professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore, where he later ascended to the position of associate professor in 2012. Since 2023, Dr. Liang has assumed a full professorship with an IAIS & TSMC fellowship at the Institute of Pioneer Semiconductor Innovation, within the Industry-Academia Innovation School of the National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University. Dr. Liang’s research is anchored in the theoretical exploration and modelling of advanced materials, with a primary focus on their application in nanoscale electronic and spintronic devices. He delves into specialized areas such as 2D materials, topological insulators, and materials exhibiting strong spin-orbit torque (SOT). Through his meticulous investigations into the unique properties of these materials, Dr. Liang aspires to pioneer innovative device designs that enhance the performance and functionality of nanoscale field-effect transistors (FETs), and novel functional devices. His ultimate objective is to propel the development of more efficient, low-power consumption devices with enhanced capabilities for energy-efficient computing for unconventional computation.
Sanjukta Bhanja
Affiliation: Professor, Electrical Engineering, and Executive Associate Dean, College of Engineering, University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL-33620
E-Mail Address: bhanja@usf.edu
Title: Spintronics Beyond Memory Operations
Abstract:
This talk explores the multifaceted capabilities of spintronic memory systems, encompassing in-memory processing, security applications, and solving complex optimization problems. These advancements can potentially reshape the computing landscape by providing more efficient, secure, and accessible computational solutions. It will be structured into two key segments: The first part of the talk focuses on the concept of processing within the memory itself, utilizing racetrack technology. This involves harnessing the signatures from multiple memory cells to perform computational tasks directly within the memory array. This innovative approach streamlines the data processing pipeline and explores the computational capacity inherent in the memory hardware. The second aspect addresses the intriguing concept of using dipolar coupling between memory elements for information processing and transfer. By exploiting the interactions between memory elements, novel opportunities for performing computations and data transfer emerge. This can lead to more efficient and versatile computing systems. The presentation’s second part delves into applying spintronic memory as physically unclonable functions (PUFs). These PUFs can generate unique and unforgeable security primitives, bolstering hardware security. This can enhance the security of various systems and applications, making them more resistant to unauthorized access or tampering.
Title: Unconventional Computing using Spintronics
Abstract:
Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimizing (QUBO) is a combinatorial optimization problem that has become essential to machine learning, economics, and healthcare applications. Therefore, QUBO solvers have seen a significant boost in their demand. These problems are computationally expensive, complex to parallelize, and require MIMD approaches. Ising machines such as D-wave have proposed a quantum solution for solving these NP-hard optimization problems. Several data-dominant application spaces, namely protein folding problems in Computational Biology, genome sequencing for COVID-19 and other pandemic diseases, and traffic patterns in social media, have benefitted from this problem mapping and one-shot solution. Although they can solve QUBO problems, the exceptionally high operating cost due to the cryo-cooling for quantum Ising machines might not justify the accuracy they achieve. In this talk, we will explore a magnetic QUBO-solver, which could solve the problems more quickly and cost-effectively at room temperature. Because the Hamiltonian of a system of coupled nanomagnets is quadratic, a wide class of quadratic energy minimization can be solved much more quickly by the relaxation of a grid of nanomagnets than by a conventional Boolean processor. Our research shows that magnet-based solutions are independent of problem size as the ground state of the magnets yield the optimization solution in parallel. This co-processor consists of a programmable grid of magnetic cells that can generate any magnetic layout in a 2D plane and will be integrated with peripheral control similar to STT-MRAM memory. This talk will focus on state-variable design, problem mapping and reconfigurability.
Bio:
Sanjukta Bhanja received a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, and a Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Florida, Tampa. She is currently a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of South Florida. Currently, Bhanja serves as Executive Associate Dean for the College of Engineering since FY’2021.
Sanjukta Bhanja’s research spans VLSI, nano-electronics, and applied physics, with external sponsorship from the National Science Foundation and NASA. She has graduated 12 Ph.D. graduates who’ve excelled in high-tech industries and advises four doctoral students. Her creative works are published in top-tier peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including high-impact journals such as Nature Nanotechnology. She has been an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems and ACM Journal on Emerging Technologies in Computing Systems. Besides serving on various IEEE and ACM conferences’ Technical Program Committees (TPC), she has assumed leadership roles in Conference organization and steering committees. She organized a National Science Foundation-sponsored conference on ”Field-coupled Nano-computing” that created a roadmap and evaluated research progress in Field-coupled computing. Her accolades include the NSF CAREER Award, “Outstanding Faculty Research Achievement Award” from USF, Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching recognition, the F.E.F William Jones Outstanding Mentor Award, and certification as an Executive Leadership Fellow in the ELATES at Drexel® program for 2020-2021.
Web URL: http://www.eng.usf.edu/bhanja/