Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), a university-research consortium for semiconductors and related technologies, will honor professors from Stanford University and University of Texas at Austin with awards for chip-related research and education at SRC’s annual TECHCON conference Sept. 9-10.
Dr. James Harris, professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, will be the recipient of this year’s SRC Aristotle Award for outstanding teaching and a deep commitment to the educational experience of his students. With SRC support, Harris’ team at Stanford’s Solid State and Photonics Laboratory has pioneered research in multiple semiconductor disciplines from nanofabrication to optoelectronics and spintronics.
Additionally, Dr. David Pan, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of the SRC Technical Excellence Award for his SRC-funded work advancing nanometer integrated circuit (IC) design for semiconductor manufacturability across multiple layers from mask synthesis to physical design.
Selected by SRC’s 12 member companies and the SRC staff, the award-winning faculty and research teams will be recognized for their exemplary impact on semiconductor productivity through cultivation of technology and talent. The awards will be formally presented during SRC’s annual TECHCON conference hosted in Austin, Texas. The conference features next-generation research progress among hundreds of university students, faculty and industry experts.
“Today’s technology-based economy critically depends on a robust university research enterprise — producing fundamental scientific advances and, just as importantly, well-educated scientists and engineers,” said SRC President Larry Sumney. “The valuable researchers we are recognizing this year have helped the industry achieve both of those aims.”
Stanford and UT Austin Research Fuels Semiconductor Advancements
The scope and impact of Dr. Harris’ research includes new electronic and optoelectronic device structures created by heterojunctions, quantum wells, superlattices and engineered materials. Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) is utilized to prepare artificially structured metastable materials with atomic layer control and dimensions smaller than the wavelength of electrons. In this regime, quantum size effects can be utilized to create entirely new device structures based upon tunneling and/or transitions between quantum states.
“I had the good fortune to first study under and be mentored by many of the early leaders in semiconductor technology (Pearson, Moll, Shockley, Linvill, Gibbons, Kroemer), and second, to be at the earliest stages of nanotechnology and development of MBE and have been able to pass on to succeeding generations of students my mentors’ enthusiasm, knowledge and creativity for the continued development of this amazing technology over the past 40 years,” said Dr. Harris.
Dr. Pan’s research includes cross-layer nanometer IC design for manufacturability and reliability, new frontiers of physical design and CAD for emerging technologies including 3D-IC, bio and nanophotonics. One key feature of his research is to seek synergistic design-technology co-optimization across multiple abstraction layers with strong algorithmic components for holistic optimizations.
“I am truly honored and humbled to receive this award. As a former SRC-supported student, a former SRC member company (IBM) researcher and liaison and now an SRC principal investigator, I have always had wonderful experiences with SRC,” said Dr. Pan. “Through regular interactions with SRC liaisons, my students and I are very proud to be part of the SRC community to carry out forward-looking, yet impactful university research and push forward the design technologies in extreme scaling and beyond.”
The Aristotle Award is given to SRC-funded university faculty that have profoundly and continuously impacted their students’ professional performances in a way that provides long-term benefit to the SRC member companies. The Technical Excellence Award recognizes researchers who have made key contributions to technologies that significantly enhance the productivity of the semiconductor industry
More than 9,000 students have been prepared by SRC programs, professors and mentors for entry into the semiconductor business.