Rudra’s Work on Transistors Earns IEEE Honor

A analysis and growth integration engineer at IBM Research in Albany, N.Y., Rudra is now engaged on back-end-of-line (BEOL) integrated circuits to create copper wiring buildings for logic applied sciences.

“With the appearance of novel transistor architectures, we’re paving the way in which for quicker and more-energy-efficient processors for AI and different makes use of,” Rudra says. “By bettering the BEOL interconnects, RC delay and electromigration might be diminished, making certain transistor-level positive factors translate into system-level efficiency.”

For his work, he was acknowledged final yr on the IEEE Computer Society’s Top 30 Early Career Professionals in Computing record and obtained US $2,500.

The Laptop Society recognition “reinforces my perception that I’m transferring in the suitable route,” Rudra says, “and it encourages me to maintain pushing the boundaries of what’s doable in semiconductor expertise and computing.”

Impressed by a physics instructor

Like many engineers, Rudra was fascinated by how issues labored as a teenager. Rising up in India, he would take aside remote-controlled vehicles and use the motors and batteries to construct one thing new.

Nobody in his household labored in science, expertise, engineering, or math, he says, however science has at all times felt “utterly pure.”

His fascination with STEM topics deepened in highschool, and his lecturers fueled his ardour. However it was M.R. Shenoy, a physics professor on the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, who impressed him to pursue analysis within the semiconductor area.

As an undergraduate on the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, in Allahabad, India, Rudra took a web-based semiconductor optoelectronics certification course provided by NPTEL that was taught by Shenoy.

Motivated to achieve expertise within the area, from 2017 to 2019 Rudra accomplished a number of internships engaged on semiconductor fabrication at organizations together with the Indian Institute of technology (BHU), Varanasi; the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; and the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute.

“These internships had been my first actual publicity to experimental analysis and gave me a basis in system physics and materials science,” he says.

He earned a bachelor’s diploma in electronics and communications engineering from MNNIT in 2019.

Working in semiconductor fabrication and FinFET

After graduating he grew to become a analysis assistant on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in Bengaluru.

There he developed a thin film of manganese vanadium oxide utilizing the epitaxy course of. The tactic grows the manganese vanadium oxide on high of the crystal substrate—which supplies engineers extra management over the movie’s thickness, composition, and crystal construction, in line with Photonics Media. Rudra used the movie to develop a photodetector for infrared light.

After a yr he joined semiconductor producer GlobalFoundries, additionally in Bengaluru, as an integration and yield engineer. He continued his work at IISc on the weekends.

“Earlier than becoming a member of, I had modest expectations—largely due to the restricted semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India,” he says. “However I spotted that hardware-focused work was certainly taking place within the trade. That have planted the seed of transitioning from academia to cutting-edge industrial R&D.”

“For any younger skilled in STEM, IEEE isn’t only a useful resource; it’s a launchpad.”

Whereas at GlobalFoundries, he labored on BEOL interconnects to reinforce the yield of the corporate’s FinFET chips, that are utilized in automotive expertise, smartphones, and sensible audio system. In standard planar transistors, the gate sits atop a flat silicon channel, controlling the stream of present between the supply and drain from just one aspect. As transistors shrank in measurement, nevertheless, they grew to become less reliable and leaked current, losing energy. FinFET growth was led by Chenming Hu, who obtained the 2020 IEEE Medal of Honor for the invention. FinFET’s 3D construction gives higher management of the present.

In 2021 Rudra determined to proceed his training and was accepted into the grasp’s diploma program in electrical and computer engineering on the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“I selected this college as a result of there was a selected professor engaged on LED gadgets whose analysis actually resonated with me,” he says. The professor, IEEE Fellow Zetian Mi, was engaged on III-V semiconductor optoelectronic devices. Rudra was a part of Mi’s analysis crew for the primary two semesters of his graduate program, engaged on the fabrication and characterization of III-Nitride-based microLEDs. Rudra additionally accomplished an internship at Meta in Redmond, Wash., the place he developed integration processes for waveguide-based photonic gadgets for AR/VR programs.

“That have helped me perceive how photonics intersects with semiconductor manufacturing,” he says, “significantly in rising purposes like next-gen shows and wearable optics.”

After incomes his diploma in 2023, he joined Samsung Semiconductor in Austin, Texas, as a tool integration engineer. There he returned to engaged on FinFETs, however this time analyzing and optimizing system and front-end-of-line integration for 14-nm node expertise and the way totally different processes have an effect on {the electrical} efficiency and yield of FinFETs.

After a yr, he left to hitch IBM Research.

“Being a part of such a high-impact, globally collaborative initiative has been a implausible expertise and one which continues to push me technically and professionally,” he says.

Since working on the firm, he has filed 22 U.S. patents.

He obtained a slew of honors final yr, together with being named to Semicon West’s 20 Beneath 30 record, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers’s 30 Beneath 30, and Semicon Europa’s 20 Beneath 30. Not too long ago, he made the Albany Business Review 40 Beneath 40 record.

“These recognitions,” he says, “have been deeply motivating—not simply as private milestones however as validation of the collective work I’ve been a part of, and the mentors who’ve helped form my path.”

Making essential connections at IEEE

Rudra joined IEEE in 2020 after his “Visible Light Response in Defect Engineered Wrinkle Network Nanostructured ZnO” analysis paper was accepted by the IEEE Electron Devices Technology and Manufacturing Conference. He continues to resume his membership, he says, due to the networking alternatives it gives, in addition to technical content material that helps him keep updated on semiconductors.

Along with the IEEE Computer Society, he’s an energetic member of the IEEE Electron Devices (EDS), Electronics Packaging, and Photonics societies. Every “is residence to a vibrant community of engineers, scientists, and innovators who’re achieved of their respective fields,” Rudra says.

In 2022 he obtained an Electron Devices Society master’s fellowship, which awarded him $2,000 to make use of towards analysis throughout the society’s fields of curiosity. Receiving the honour, he says, was a strong motivator.

He’s energetic with IEEE Young Professionals and is a member of the Electron Devices Society’s YP committee. Being part of the group, he says, offers him entry to world-class experience and gives assets to assist him make profession choices and remedy technical challenges.

He’s additionally part of the organizing committee for this yr’s IEEE EDS Summer School, a two-day lecture program for college seniors, graduate college students, postdoctoral fellows, and young professionals.

“For any younger skilled in STEM, I consider IEEE isn’t only a useful resource; it’s a launchpad,” Rudra says. “Getting concerned early helps you develop technically, professionally, and personally in a approach few organizations can provide.”