ATLANTA — Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) assistant professor Asif Khan has been chosen for a DARPA Young Faculty Award. Khan has been on the faculty since 2017.
The award was awarded to Khan for his research on ferroelectric field-effect transistors for embedded non-volatile memory applications. Due to their compatibility with high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and energy efficiency, ferroelectric field-effect transistors are among the most promising device technologies for AI/ML hardware.
Khan’s project will focus on solving the critical voltage problem of Ferroelectric field-effect transistors by identifying and implementing new strategies for interface defect reduction in and the downscaling of the ferroelectric gate-dielectric stack.
Khan’s early career work led to the first experimental proof-of-concept demonstration of a physical phenomenon called the negative capacitance in ferroelectric materials, reducing the power dissipation in electronic devices below the fundamental thermodynamic limit.
Negative capacitance is currently a vibrant research area in condensed matter physics, material science, and electrical engineering. All major semiconductor companies pursue this for advanced transistor technologies.
Khan’s research group currently focuses on ferroelectric devices in all aspects ranging from electron microscopy, material physics, and growth to device fabrication, all the way to ferroelectric circuits and systems for artificial intelligence, machine learning, or data-centric applications.
Khan has received multiple awards. These include the NSF CAREER Award in 2021, the 2020 Intel Rising Star Award, Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship in 2012, the TSMC Outstanding Student Research Award in 2011, and the University Gold Medal from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, also in 2011.