May 2011 - Career Point

writer, broadcaster and member of theHouse of Lords. She is also Directorof the Institute for the Future of theMind. She has been awarded 30Honorary Degrees from British andForeign universities and heads amulti-disciplinary research groupexploring novel brain mechanismslinked to neurodegenerative diseasessuch as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.In addition she has developed aninterest in the impact of 21st Centurytechnologies on how young peoplethink and feel, as discussed in herbook ID.IIT student wins award forrevolutionary researchMumbai: Prashanthi Kovur, a PhDstudent from the Centre for Excellencein Nanoelectronics, EE Department,IIT Bombay has been awarded theoutstanding student researcher in thefield of Physics, Chemistry ofMaterial for nano-scale devices by theworld largest semiconductor companyTSMC.Taiwan Semiconductor ManufacturingCompany (TSMC) is one of theworld's largest semi conductorfoundry, which provides leadingtechnologies for the semiconductormanufacturing industry. The purposeof the TSMC Outstanding StudentResearch Award is to recogniseexceptional semiconductor relatedresearch carried out by graduatestudents. The competition for thisaward attracted hundreds ofapplications from students fromvarious universities all over the world.Prashanthi's research is based on thedevelopment of a novel multiferroicsystem for MEMS applications.Magnetism and ferroelectricity areessential to many forms of currenttechnology, and the quest formultiferroic materials, where thesetwo phenomena are intimatelycoupled, is of great technological andfundamental importance.It has been shown for the first timethat room temperature multiferrocitywith significant coupling could beachieved in Dy modified BiFeO3system. The current work focuses onthe fabrication of RF MEMS switchusing this novel multiferroic basedactuator.This work was done under the guidanceof Prof Vaijayanti R Palkar from EEDepartment, IIT Bombay. Prof Palkarwho was invited as an honourable guestfor the award ceremony delivered alecture on 'Semiconductors in India andFunctional Nano-oxides'.IIT Bombay, Applied Materialslaunch State-of-the-Art LaboratoryIIT Bombay, Applied MaterialsCollaboration and the inauguration ofthe "Chemistry Laboratory for Energyand Nanoelectronics" (CLEAN)Applied Materials, Inc. the world'sleading supplier of manufacturingsolutions for the semiconductor, displayand solar industries, and IIT Bombay,India's highest-rated niversity and aleader in education and research, todayannounced the state-of-the-art "AppliedMaterials Chemistry Laboratory forEnergy and Nanoelectronics" (CLEAN)at the IIT Bombay (IITB) campus. Thisnew laboratory expands the scope ofcollaboration between IIT Bombay andApplied Materials to include thedevelopment of new materials that canpotentially be used in a variety ofelectronic and renewable energyfocusedapplications, including thefabrication of next-generation solarcells.The lab was launched at a ceremonyattended by Mike Splinter, chairman ofthe board, president and CEO ofApplied Materials, OmkaramNalamasu, chief technology officer ofApplied Materials, and Prof. DevangKhakhar, director, IIT Bombay."This is a great example of the kind ofuniversity and corporate collaborationthat is helping to advance technologyby enabling world-class research,innovation and workforcedevelopment," said Mike Splinter. "Ourgoal is to serve as a catalyst fordeveloping the critical technologyneeded to solve the many challenges ofnext-generation electronic and solardevice manufacturing.""Applied Materials has grown tobecome IIT Bombay's mostimportant industry collaborator interms of the scale of researchcollaboration," said ProfessorDevang Khakhar. "We welcome theestablishment of the AppliedMaterials CLEAN laboratorythrough Applied's generous support.This will begin a new phase of thecollaboration in areas related torenewable energy, which are a focusof IIT Bombay's research."The event also celebrates asuccessful five-year relationshipbetween IIT Bombay and AppliedMaterials for nanoelectronics andsolar photovoltaic technologyresearch. During the course of thisspecial alliance, Applied Materialshas endowed IIT Bombay with over$12 million for the followingprojects:• The establishment of theAppliedMaterialsNanomanufacturing Laboratory,India's first 200mmsemiconductor fabricationfacility and one of the fewuniversity-based 200mmfacilities worldwide.• Collaborative research onnanoelectronics and solar PVtechnology.• Applied's donation of threestate-of-the-art physical vapourdeposition and chemical vapourdeposition process chambers tothe National Centre forPhotovoltaic Research andEducation (NCPRE) fordepositing thin films for solarcell applications.• A solar PV and LED lightingsystem that lights up the mainavenue at IITB's campus• The establishment of TheApplied Materials ChemistryLaboratory for Energy andNanoelectronicsXtraEdge for IIT-JEE 5 MAY 2011