Latest News!
✅ Funding Update - Dec 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu is proud to be part of the Substrate & Materials Advanced Research & Technology (SMART) Packaging Consortium, a collaborative effort led by Georgia Tech and Absolics under the CHIPS National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). The consortium, with $100 million in funding, is focused on advancing revolutionary glass core substrate panel manufacturing. As part of this initiative, Prof. Mutlu will contribute his expertise in low-dimensional materials for thermal management and enhanced functionality in integrated photonics, supporting innovation in semiconductor packaging.
Nov 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu attended Microelectronics Commons Annual Meeting and National Semiconductor Technology Center Symposium in Washington, D.C., where he re-connected with many inspiring leaders in semiconductor field, especially Prof. Tsu-Jae King Liu, with whom he interacted during his postdoctoral studies at UC Berkeley, and Prof. Mark S. Lundstrom from Purdue, whose transistor lectures have greatly taught many of us.
October 2024: Howard Yawit and Muhammed Yusufoglu presented their research on Topological Acoustic Wave RF Devices and Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbon Transistors, respectively, at MSE Graduate Student Seminar at University of Arizona.
October 2024: Last week, we visited Intel's Gordon Moore Park campus in Hillsboro for the second Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) LMD Annual Review. It was great to share our latest results, receive valuable feedback, and see the incredible work happening within the SRC community. A big thanks to the Intel's Novel Devices and Memory Research team for hosting us and meeting with our team to discuss the future of semiconductors and explore new opportunities together.
September 2024: Proud of Shelby Janssen, an undergraduate student in Materials Science and Engineering, for presenting her work on understanding the long-term stability of graphene nanoribbon transistors at the SRC TECHCON conference.
🏅Award Update - August 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has been selected as a Craig M. Berge Faculty Fellow by College of Engineering.
August 2024: Muhammed Yusufoglu presented our recent work on the stability and reliability of graphene nanoribbon transistors at Molecular Foundry Annual User Meeting, as a part of the "Next-Generation Quantum Materials for Quantum Computing, Sensing, and Microelectronic Devices" session at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA.
August 2024: Howard Yawit presented our recent work on the design, fabrication, and characterization of topological acoustic wave devices at Molecular Foundry Annual User Meeting, as a part of the "Next-Generation Quantum Materials for Quantum Computing, Sensing, and Microelectronic Devices" session at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA.
August 2024: The Mutlu group members, including Muhammed Yusufoglu, Howard Yawit, and Dr. Kentaro Yumigeta, visited Prof. Michael Crommie's group at UC Berkeley during their trip to LBNL for the Molecular Foundry User Meeting. Prof. Crommie, a renowned physicist and educator, has been a valued collaborator for years. We thank him and his group for hosting us.
✅ Funding Update - July 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu secured an $400K TRIF: Research, Innovation, Impact award for Future Advanced Semiconductor Technology Lab (FASTLAB) in Physics Department at University of Arizona. Opening in Spring 2025, the lab will offer hands-on learning for undergraduate students in fabrication techniques for logic, memory, and communications devices.
July 2024: The Mutlu team members, including Muhammed Yusufoglu and Dr. Kentaro Yumigeta, attended 2024 SEMICON West, the premier microelectronics event, in San Francisco, CA. The travel was sponsored by Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing.
June 2024: We had a very successful NSF site visit, where it was fantastic to catch up with all our center members from across the country. We discussed our progress and exciting future plans. Proud to be a part of NSF's STC New Frontiers of Sound Science and Technology Center.
June 2024: The Mutlu team had a significant presence at TechConnect World 2024. Muhammed Yusufoglu, Dr. Kentaro Yumigeta, Howard Yawit, and Richard Holloway attended the event. The travel was sponsored by Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing.
June 2024: Christina Din was recently highlighted in a Harvard Business Review article about how University of Arizona and other state universities are working to bridge the semiconductor workforce gap.
🏅Award Update - May 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu received the Excellence Award at the student interface. We thank all MSE students who voted for this award, as well as MSE department and College of Engineering for their thoughtful recognition.
May 2024: Thomas Sweepe has joined TSMC's brand-new fab in Phoenix as a summer intern. He is the first student from our group, and possibly from University of Arizona, to join TSMC. Congratulations, Thomas!
🏅Award Update - May 2024: Congratulations to Shelby Janssen and Franco Daluisio for being selected by INTEL as Intel URP Scholar under the prestigious SRC Undergraduate Research Program (URP).
May 2024 - Shelby Janssen will present our work on the “Long-Term Stability of Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbon Transistors” at Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Techcon Conference (TECHCON 2024). Congratulations, Shelby!
🏅 Award Update - May 2024: Congratulations to Muhammed Yusufoglu, my very first PhD student! He has been recognized as a recipient of the Brian Joseph Coppa Graduate Student Endowment Award for his outstanding work and contributions to the field of semiconductors and microelectronics. We thank College of Engineering and our Materials Science & Engineering Department for this well-deserved and timely recognition. Keep shining, Muhammed!
🎓Graduation Update - May 2024: Christian Copic recently graduated with a Master's degree from the ECE department. He joined our team in January 2023 and made remarkable contributions through two significant projects, focusing on the semiconductor properties of chalcopyrite and the electronic properties of graphene nanoribbon transistors. Christian's work has been invaluable, and we were truly fortunate to have him with us. He will soon be joining Microsoft as a Silicon Engineer, and we have no doubt that he will excel in this new endeavor. Best of luck on your new adventure, Christian!
🎓Graduation Update - May 2024: Christina Dinh, my very first student at University of Arizona, recently defended her thesis on “Contact Engineering and Reliability of Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbon Transistors.” Christina’s performance was outstanding—she swiftly grasped the field, executed experiments and measurements, and took ownership of the project and research labs. Not only did she contribute to other projects and assist fellow group members, but her positive attitude also left a lasting impact. While I’m sad to see her graduate and leave our group, I’m immensely proud of her achievements. I have no doubt that she will continue to shine in her future endeavors. Best of luck in your next job in NXP Semiconductors, Christina—I know everything will be great!
🏅 Award Update - April 2024: Congratulations to Christina Dinh for receiving Outstanding Graduate Student Award from College of Engineering. Well-deserved recognition!
🏅 Award Update - April 2024: Julian Battaglia secured 1st place in the 22nd annual Arizona Materials Bowl Capstone Project and Poster Competition with our work on graphene nanoribbon transistors. He proudly brought to Tucson the "Most Wanted" Territorial Materials Trophy. Congratulations to Julian and the entire team on this well-deserved success!
April 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has been appointed as a joint Assistant Professor in Physics department!
April 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has been appointed as a joint Assistant Professor in ECE department!
March 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu gives an invited talk at the colloquium in MSE department at University of Texas at Dallas.
🏅 Award Update - Feb 2024: Christina Dinh and Muhammed Yusufoglu won second and third place, respectively, for their outstanding poster presentations on graphene nanoribbon transistors at the FUSENANO 2024 Workshop. These awards were determined through voting by over 150 participants from both the semiconductor industry and academia.
Feb 2024: UArizona News published a nice article about FUSENANO 2024 Workshop organized by Prof. Zafer Mutlu. Click here for the article.
Feb 2024: We reached another significant milestone in our research journey by successfully demonstrating the fabrication of our first Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) delay line, consisting of two interdigital transducers (IDTs) patterned on a piezoelectric substrate at Optical Sciences Micro/Nano Fabrication Cleanroom at University of Arizona. Kudos to Howard Yawit, for this excellent work!
🏅 Award Update - Jan 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has been selected as a 2024 Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing Fellow (CSM Fellow '24). Prof. Mutlu will contribute to the center's efforts in semiconductor research, education, and workforce development at University of Arizona.
✅ Funding Update - Jan 2024: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has secured a $25K grant from Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing for the project titled "Digital Resources for Expanding Access to Modernized Semiconductor Laboratory (DREAMS Lab)." With this grant, Prof. Mutlu will develop digital online content for the Semiconductor Processing Laboratory course, MSE 447L/547L, which he is teaching this semester.
Dec 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu attended IEEE IEDM 2023, special TSMC mini workshop, and UC Berkeley Alumni night in San Francisco, where catching up with friends, colleagues, and outstanding professors like Chenming Hu was truly delightful. Prof. Hu is widely recognized for his significant contributions to FinFET transistor. Very proud to have been colleagues with him in EECS department at UC Berkeley during my postdoctoral studies.
🏅 Award Update - Dec 2023: Our article, "Contact Engineering for Graphene Nanoribbon Devices," was prominently featured on the Applied Physics Reviews journal's website.
🏅 Award Update - Dec 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has been selected as a awardee of George H. Davis Travel Fellowship. Established in 2009 by University of Arizona Foundation, the fellowship covers expenses related to participating in top-tier national or international conferences.
Nov 2023: Christina Dinh was featured in a news article about a $35.5M grant awarded to University of Arizona's College of Engineering, with a significant portion allocated for upgrading the Micro/Nano Fabrication Center.
Nov 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu gave an invited talk and chaired a session at 2023 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in Boston, MA. Details here.
October 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu gave an invited talk on Graphene Nanoribbon Transistors to the Advanced Device Research group at Intel Corporation, Components Research.
October 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu, along with four students from the group, participated in the first Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) LMD Annual Review in Albany, New York. It was a pleasure to present our results, receive positive feedback, and witness the excellent work and presentations from the SRC community. The lab tour at Albany NanoTech Complex was particularly enlightening, with a close look at ASML's renowned EUV tool.
October 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu gave an invited talk at the colloquium of ECE Department at University of Arizona.
✅ Funding Update - September 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu has secured a $475K grant as part of the new $30M NSF Science and Technology Center for New Frontiers of Sound Science and Technology, focusing on developing and characterizing novel topological acoustic (TA) wave devices through cutting-edge high-throughput nano- and micro-fabrication techniques aimed at advancing radio frequency (RF) technologies.
September 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu gave an invited talk at the colloquium of Physics Department at University of Arizona.
September 2023: Christina Dinh presented our work on the contact engineering of graphene nanoribbon transistors at TECHCON Conference in Austin, TX.
✅ Funding Update - August 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu, the co-principal investigator, has secured a $390K grant from Freeport-McMoRan for the project titled "Connecting the Leachability of Chalcopyrite to its Mineral Characteristics."
✅ Funding Update - May 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu, the principal investigator, has secured a $330K grant from NSF's Future of Semiconductors (FuSe) Program for the project titled "FuSe-TG: Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbon-based Transistors: Materials, Devices, Circuits, and Systems." This marks Prof. Mutlu's first NSF grant at University of Arizona.
May 2023: Today marks a significant milestone for our research. We have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of our first nanoFET devices with channel lengths down to 30 nm at Optical Sciences Micro/Nano Fabrication Cleanroom and Arizona Nano Fabrication Center at University of Arizona. Kudos to Christina Dinh and Thomas Sweepe for their excellent work!
✅ Funding Update - February 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu, the principal investigator, has secured a $20K grant from University of Arizona Foundation Board of Trustees through their Small Grants Committee's University Strategic Priority Awards for the project titled "Research Initiative for Semiconductors at the University of Arizona (RISE Arizona).
✅ Funding Update - January 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu, the principal investigator, has secured a $390K grant from Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) for the project titled "Smarter Nanoelectronics with Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbons." This marks Prof. Mutlu's first grant at University of Arizona.
January, 2023: Christina Dinh from MSE at University of Arizona joined our lab. She marks my first student at here. A warm welcome to our team, Christina!
January 2023: Prof. Zafer Mutlu spoke as an invited panelist at an Academic Panel on Microelectronics Training Needs during 2023 MEWD Workshop at ASU.
December 2022: Prof. Zafer Mutlu attended 2022 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM). It was a pleasure to reconnect with my postdoc mentor, Prof. Jeffrey Bokor at UC Berkeley. His guidance and mentorship have played a significant role in my achievements. Thank you, Prof. Bokor, for generously sharing your wisdom with me.
August 2022: Dr. Zafer Mutlu has joined MSE faculty at University of Arizona as an Assistant Professor. Let the journey begin! Find College of Engineering's announcement here.
