Phaedon Avouris, IBM’s prescient pragmatist

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Oct. 14, 2004 – He didn’t invent the scanning tunneling microscope, one of the most indispensable tools for advancing nanoscale science. Nor did he discover the carbon nanotube, the molecule touted as the 21st century’s replacement for silicon.

But Phaedon Avouris, manager of IBM’s nanoscale science team, is a leader in seeing the connection between the breakthroughs and applying them to realistic research. He is among the select few scientists advising major corporations on whether molecular devices can be commercialized to outperform and outlast today’s computers and portable electronics.

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Other players, such as Infineon Technologies and Intel, have cited Avouris and IBM as inspirations for their efforts.

When Small Times magazine profiled Avouris in the May/June 2002 issue, he and his team were trying to follow major breakthroughs from the year before — and temper the ensuing enthusiasm. In 2001, his team at IBM’s research center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., made transistor arrays using carbon nanotubes, and later demonstrated the first nanotube-based logic circuit.

The events were seen as major steps toward making molecular computers, and awards and attention soon followed. The journal Science declared the transistors the “Breakthrough of the Year,” and Popular Science magazine named it one of the top 10 stories of 2001.

Avouris became a somewhat reluctant celebrity in the newly hot field of nanoelectronics, receiving regular interview requests from major publications as well as invitations to conferences around the globe. In between, his team managed to refine and test its nano-based devices.

Last year’s accomplishments included a nanotube transistor that surpasses silicon-based transistors, and a catalyst-free technique for producing carbon nanotubes. Catalysts leave impurities that then must be removed for some applications.

While his team is far from fielding an entire computing system, Avouris said it has succeeded in proving that it’s worth moving forward. “We’ve reached a point where we’re quite happy with the end product. It can compete in every respect with silicon,” Avouris said.

“That device can certainly outperform silicon, but the industry is not at the device level. … The next new big hurdle to be overcome is integration.”

Still, Avouris feels at least some degree of accomplishment. In May, IBM named him a fellow, the company’s most prestigious technical honor. He said it affords more freedom to follow his interests, which include exploring nanotubes’ ability to absorb and emit light. He described it as an additional reason to focus on nanotubes.

“IBM in a way made a statement by making me a fellow, despite the fact I’m not working on anything that will bring money in the near future,” he said. “They recognize the value of long-term research.”

Avouris, 59, also recently engaged in something both personally and professionally satisfying: In July, he taught a weeklong nanotech course to college students in Greece. It was his first career connection to his homeland since leaving more than 30 years ago to pursue a doctorate in physical chemistry at Michigan State University.

While in Greece, he accepted an invitation to serve as an associate scientist at the Foundation for Research and Technology on the island of Crete, an unpaid post that gives him the opportunity to visit and lead scientific projects.

His travel and workload show no signs of slowing, but Avouris enjoys the chance to educate people on the potential of nanoscale science. The man colleagues describe as “appropriately skeptical” seems to be striking the right balance between hope and hype.

“(There is) always pressure from the press, funding agencies and your colleagues to promise and to be optimistic, but it has cooled down a little bit,” he said. “The high optimism is not as prevalent. People realize they have to wait and there are a lot of hurdles to overcome.

“People are optimistic, but it’s reasonable to be in the long term.”

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