Electronic Materials: Past, Present, and Future

Prof. Leonard C. Feldman

Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ, USA
and
Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, USA

Abstract
Silicon has been a mainstay of the information revolution for over 50 years. It has been a great success, and continues to evolve.  Many contenders have vied for this top spot in the semiconductor materials world and new challengers appear as we see the end of the road (map). This talk, aimed at graduate students, will describe the history of silicon, its future, the contenders and some instances of niche applications fulfilled by not-so-common semiconductors.
Fellow Researchers: R. A. Bartynski, L.C.Feldman, E. Garfunkel, T. Gustafsson, H.D. Lee, D. Mastrogiovanni, V. Podzorov,  L. S. Wielunski, J. R. Williams (Auburn), G. Liu, J. Williams, S. Dhar (Auburn)
L C Feldman                        September, 2012

Biography
Leonard C. Feldman is Vice President for Physical Science and Engineering Partnerships and Director of the Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology at Rutgers University. He also holds academic positions as Professor of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering at Rutgers, and is Emeritus at Vanderbilt University. Feldman received his PhD in Physics in 1967 from Rutgers University. He then served as a Member of Staff at Bell Labs from 1967-1996, his last position as  Head of the Silicon Materials Research Department which carried on early research in the applications of oxy-nitrides, interfaces and Ge/Si structures. In 1996 Feldman joined Vanderbilt University, established the Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering, and conducted new research on silicon carbide power devices, non-linear optical effects in semiconductors, phase transitions in nanoscale vanadium dioxide and radiation damage in emerging electronic materials. 

Feldman’s technical expertise resides in the field of semiconductor thin films, their structure, growth and modification, mostly through the use radiation/ion beam technologies. Recently he led a team that has developed the now commercially viable process for SiC MOSFET fabrication through selective modification of the interface chemistry. Future research, already funded, includes development of  nano-scale ion beam technology for lithography and analysis, new methods of graphene doping and the fabrication of new devices employing phase-transition materials.

Feldman has published over 400 research papers, been awarded 20 patents and is author of four books on thin film science. His current research focuses on power electronics and interface science.

Professor Feldman is a Fellow of: the American Physical Society, the American Vacuum Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Sr. Member of IEEE. In 1999 he was awarded the 1999 David Adler Prize of the APS for research in materials physics.