Electrical and Computer Engineering

Novel devices and integration approaches powered by emerging materials

November 15, 2018

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. ET

125 Scaife Hall

Speaker

Sam Vaziri, Ph.D. 
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Electrical Engineering
Stanford University

Abstract

We are entering a new era of nanoelectronics and information technology, as conventional scaling-based approaches to Moore’s Law are slowing down. In response to high demand for energy-efficient abundant data processing, new frontiers could be enabled by new materials. However, there is a knowledge gap between new materials and system-level advances, which must be bridged through research, from lab to fab. A new field was enabled with the emergence of graphene and other two-dimensional (2-D) materials, which offer unique properties at truly atomic-scale dimensions. Importantly, these can be assembled into novel heterostructures to tailor their electrical, optical, and thermal properties.

This talk will provide insights for alternative applications of 2-D materials and heterostructures in disruptive electronics and thermal management. These include novel device concepts such as vertical transport and tapered-channel graphene transistors. Furthermore, integration modules such as layer-by-layer transfer, doping, and contact resistance improvement schemes will be discussed. Lastly, I will show recent results on engineering 2-D heterostructures to achieve extreme thermal performance metrics. Taken together, these advances are promising for new functionalities, and for back-end of the line (BEOL) or 3-D heterogeneous integration of computing, memory, and thermal management.

Speaker bio

Sam Vaziri is a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of Electrical Engineering (EE) at Stanford University. At Stanford, he is investigating electrical and thermal transport in 2-D materials and van der Waals heterostructures for novel electron device applications. He received a Ph.D. in Nanoelectronics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, in 2016, and dual MSc degrees: one in Nanotechnology from KTH, Stockholm, and one in Solid State Physics from K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran. His previous research activities encompass metal-insulator-metal tunnel diodes, and 2-D materials-based electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as vertical graphene-base transistors, as well as the integration of 2-D materials into CMOS processes. Vaziri is a member of IEEE and Electron Devices Society Young Professionals Committee. He is the recipient of several professional research awards and fellowships including The Wallenberg Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2016), IEEE Electron Devices Society Ph.D. Student Fellowship (2014), and ESSDERC Best Young Scientist Paper Award (2015).

 

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