SUPREME Newsletter: 2023 In Review

From the Directors' Desks


A warm welcome from SUPREME, the Center for Superior Energy-efficient Materials and Devices, a Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Joint University Microelectronics Program (JUMP 2.0). We are 25 PIs and over 150 students from 13 universities across the nation, led from Cornell University. The goal of SUPREME is to explore new materials and advanced processes for high-performance, energy-efficient devices for digital and analog applications. We focus on several research thrusts: digital and analog, memory and applications, interconnects and metrology, materials discovery and advanced processing. All thrusts together form a highly integrated research endeavor with benchmarking efforts embedded into nearly every task. 


Since its inception SUPREME is continuously growing to currently 150+ students and postdocs who work in close collaboration with 100+ liaisons from all participating SRC companies. At the completion of Year One, we would like to thank our partners and encourage everyone to keep in touch. In January 2024, we will resume our SUPREME Liaison Meetings held on Wednesdays alternatingly at 4pm or 8pm ET (starting January 24, 4 pm ET).



Best Wishes in the New Year,


Grace Xing and Tomàs Palacios

Research Highlights

Persistent Ferroelectricity in Layered Materials (led by James Rondinelli)

Low-Thermal-Budget Synthesis of MoS2 on 8” wafers for BEOL and FEOL Transistors (led by Jing Kong and Tomas Palacios)

Algorithm/Hardware Co-design for Few-Shot Learning at the Edge (led by Michael Niemier)

Thermal Atomic Layer Etching of MoS2 Reveals Lateral Etching with Triangular Etch Pits One Monolayer Deep (led by Steve George)

Wafer-scale fabrication of 2D nanostructures via thermomechanical nanomolding (led by Judy Cha)

Lattice matched AlScN HEMTs exceeds 150/300 GHz (led by Debdeep Jena and H. Grace Xing)

Embedding security into ferroelectric FET array via in situ memory operation (led by Kai Ni)

Spotlight on Center Events

SUPREME Annual Review

August 1-3, 2023, Ithaca, NY


“The SUPREME Center of the JUMP 2.0 Program held its first Annual Review this week. Thank you to all the students, researchers, faculty members, and industry liaisons for a great event and inspiring start to this 5-year mission to tackle the challenges in developing the high-performance energy-efficient devices that are critically needed for the future needs of the world. The center is off to a strong start thanks to the leadership of Center DirectorHuili (Grace) Xing and Tomas Palacios. The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Sponsors and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsoring the research are excited for the future research results yet to come and the many talented students that are the workhorses behind the research in the center and that will help power the workforce of tomorrow” ~ Roman Caudillo


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In Recognition of Center Students

Congratulations to our excellent students who have received many awards and honors in Year One. To read more please visit our website.

During the Annual Review, students gave one minute lightning talks summarizing the research presented in their posters. Lightning Talks Sessions were arranged by thrust and Liaisons voted to award the Best Lightning Talk in each round. Center Directors Grace Xing and Tomàs Palacious also selected the Best Undergraduate Lightning Talk. Congratulations to Katie Neilson, Margaret Quinn, Arjan Singh, Jeremy Thelven, Emma Sponga, and Jack Coyle.

Boise State undergraduate featured in SRC Student Spotlight


Icelene Leong, a non-traditional undergraduate student majoring in Materials Science and Engineering, was featured in an SRC Student Spotlight. Icelene’s college path has had its challenges, but she has not lost focus on achieving her goals and setting an example for others to follow.


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Broadening Participation

Throughout the decade, as SRC defines, selects, and manages its research and education programs, we will look to grow our student base, establish a balanced mix of bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D.-level initiatives, and create a more diverse and inclusive community.


Undergraduate awards at SUPREME:

  1. Undergraduate Research Award: $3000 each (direct cost). The purpose of this award is to support undergraduate researchers in the SUPREME PI’s group by covering their hourly salary, or the experimental expense including nanofabrication fee and material characterization cost, etc. One goal of this grant is to expose more undergraduate students to real lab research including cleanroom works.
  2. Undergraduate Travel Award for SUPREME annual review: $1000 each (direct cost). This award is to bring undergraduate researchers in the SUPREME PI’s group to the SUPREME center annual reviews and allow them to present their research results with posters.


For more information, please visit our website.


Center PI News

Chris Van de Walle Receives Materials Theory Award

For advances in development of rigorous ab initio methodologies for understanding point defects and...

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Jena elevated to IEEE Fellow, Fellows Class of 2024

Jena was elevated for his “contributions to distributed polarization doping in the III-V semiconductor family"...

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James Rondinelli Elected a 2023 APS Fellow

Rondinelli...was cited for innovative contributions in the theoretical understanding of structure-property relationships in novel materials...

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Eric Pop receives 2023 Viskanta Fellowship

During his week-long stay at Purdue University, Eric met with faculty in EE, ME, MSE, Physics, and other related departments...

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Judy Cha named director of Cornell NanoScale Facility

Cha is an expert in topological and two-dimensional nanomaterials with quantum properties...

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Bilge Yildiz selected as Fellow of The Electrochemical Society

Each year 15 renowned scientists and engineers are selected by their peers for advanced individual technological contributions...

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Gregory Parsons Receives Intel 2022 Outstanding Researcher Award

The annual award program recognizes exceptional contributions made through Intel university-sponsored research...

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Feliciano Giustino Receives a Moncrief Grand Challenge Award

Feliciano Giustino, professor in the department of Physics, will use his award to develop and deploy quantum simulation methods for the design of radically new materials...

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James Hwang

2023 IEEE EDS Lester F. Eastman Award Winner


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Darrell Schlom elected Tisch University Professor

Schlom has dedicated much of his career to discovering new materials that possess properties of great value to the electronics industry...


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Palacios named the Clarence J. LeBel Professor

This chair appointment recognizes his groundbreaking research, excellent teaching and mentoring, and exceptional contributions to the department and to MIT...

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Bilge Yildiz elected to the Austrian Academy of Sciences

Yildiz is now one of 143 Corresponding Members Abroad in the Division of Mathematics and the Natural Sciences of the OeAW...

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Daniel Gall Named Robert W. Hunt Endowed Chaired Professor

Gall, a professor in the department of materials and science engineering and a world-renowned expert in advanced materials for computer chip interconnects...

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Eric Pop appointed the inaugural Pease-Ye Professor

The Pease-Ye Professorship was established with an endowed gift from Dr. Jun Ye and Caren Wang...

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Programs from SUPREME Center Institutions

Northeast Microelectronics Summer Internship Program


NMIP is a broker aiming to connect undergraduate students with summer internships at microelectronics companies in the Northeast. Since its 2020 inception at MIT the program (https://microelectronics-internships.org/) has grown to over 300 applicants from 63 states. To satisfy the need, NMIP is seeking to add new partners and if your company is interested to work with some of our candidates this year or in the following Summers, please contact the program coordinator Preetha Kingsview at preethak@mit.edu.

Upcoming Events

Weekly liaison meetings alternating between 4 pm ET and 8 pm ET to continue January 24th at 4 pm ET


Today at 1 pm ET SUPREME Resume Workshop: "You got your degree! Now What?-Resume and Interview Advice for a Strong Start in Industry Research" presented by Dr. Robin Ying


February 6, 2024 8-9 pm ET, SUPREME Center e-Workshop: "Outlook and Challenges for Ferroelectric Memories" (https://www.src.org/calendar/e007854/)