Experts around the U.S. celebrate the 75th anniversary of the transistor at UB

By Peter Murphy

The UB-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering’s (IEEE) second annual Nano-Symposium celebrated the 75^th anniversary of the transistor with a series of speakers reviewing transistor technology, some of its major breakthroughs and different perspectives on the transistor in various applications. In addition to all of the invited guests, faculty members in the University at Buffalo’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences gave talks as well. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences dean Kemper Lewis gave the event’s opening remarks, and Jonathan Bird, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering provided an overview of the department and its research. Huamin Li, chair of the event and assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering discussed two-dimensional (2D) energy-efficient steep-slope transistors.

“We were proud to host the second Nano-Symposium, the first in three years, and celebrate the transistor and showcase our own department,” says Li. “This event was a great opportunity to learn about the different perspectives of this critical technology and look forward to what strides are possible.”

In addition to a day full of discussion, attendees also toured the Davis Hall Electrical Engineering Cleanroom and met with student and faculty researchers.

The invited speakers and their corresponding topics are listed below:

• Professor John Dallesasse, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – From Bardeen, Brattain, and the Point Contact Transistor to Light Emitting Transistor Structures: A View of the Past and a Vision of the Future
• Professor Aaron Franklin, Duke University – Nanomaterials versus the Silicon “Goliath” for Future Transistors – How’s the Battle Going and Do We Stand a Chance?
• Professor Mark Hersam, Northwestern University – Gate-Tunable Gaussian Heterojunctions and Memtransistors for Neuromorphic Computing
• Professor Huili Grace Xing, Cornell University – Insulator or Semiconductor? Lessons Learned from Wide Bandgap Semiconductors
• Professor Alan Seabaugh, University of Notre Dame – Tunnel Transistors
• Professor Peide Peter Ye, Purdue University – Atomic-Layer-Deposited Atomically Thin In2O3 Transistors for BEOL Logic and Memory Applications

The event was sponsored by the Department of Electrical Engineering, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, IEEE Buffalo Section, IEEE Region 1, IEEE Young Professionals, IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) and Buffalo EDS Chapter, IEEE Nanotechnology Council (NTC) and Buffalo NTC Chapter.