Professor Jim Greer, Head of Electronics Theory and Graduate Studies at Tyndall and Dr. Paul Hurley, Senior Staff Researcher and Head of High-k Research at Tyndall, have been recognised by Intel with the Intel Outstanding Researcher Award 2012.
Dr. Hurley and Professor Greer are the only two researchers outside the USA to receive this inaugural award. The award was created to recognize truly outstanding contributions by researchers funded by Intel’s Semiconductor Technology Council and associated Strategic Research Sectors (SRS).
Mr Eamonn Sinnott, General Manager at Intel Ireland and VP TMG with award winners Dr Paul Hurley and Prof Jim Greer alongside Intel’s Dr Kelin Kuhn and Mr Leonard Hobbs.
Professor Greer received the 2012 Intel Outstanding Researcher Award for his research contributions in simulation and metrology. Professor Greer was nominated by Intel researchers Dr. Dmitry Nikonov and Dr. Sadasivan Shankar for his work on atomistic modelling leading to “fundamental understanding of junctionless transistors and carbon nanotubes”.
Commenting on the award, the Intel researchers highlighted that the “project has successfully advanced the state-of-the-art in nanoelectronic simulation, linking fundamental electronic structure theory to electron transport simulations.”
Dr Hurley received the 2012 Intel Outstanding Researcher Award for his research contributions in the measurement and analysis of high dielectric constant thin films on compound semiconductors.
Dr Hurley was nominated by the Intel Fellow Dr. Kelin Kuhn and the award was made through the Ireland SRS. Dr Kuhn congratulated Dr Hurley for “developing best-in-class measurement capability for III-V electronic defect states”, and also added that, “The regular interactions you and your group have had with the Intel researchers have been outstanding”
Commenting upon both awards, Mike Mayberry the Vice President of the Technology Manufacturing Group and Chairman of Intel’s Semiconductor Technology Council noted that the “SRS gave careful consideration to the fundamental insights, industrial relevance, technical difficulty, communication and potential student hiring associated with each of the awardees’ research”.
Welcoming both awards Dr. Alastair Glass, Chairman and acting CEO, Tyndall National Institute said “These awards demonstrate that the research being conducted by Professor Greer and Dr. Hurley is of the highest quality worldwide and is extremely relevant to the challenges faced by today’s semiconductor industry. He went on to say, “in these difficult economic times it is more critical than ever that the Government continue to support high quality research institutes like Tyndall so that Ireland remains an attractive location for high technology Companies like Intel to invest in R&D”
Leonard Hobbs Intel Ireland’s Silicon Research Manager said he was delighted that two of Tyndall’s team had received such a prestigious award and that this was a strong endorsement of the quality of the research in the Cork facility.
Accepting the awards Dr Hurley and Professor Greer both commented that it was an honour to have their research recognized with such a prestigious award. They acknowledged the role of their respective Intel nominators in guiding their research and the central role of their research teams in delivering successful outcomes.
They also thanked the funding agencies, particularly Science Foundation Ireland, who funded basic research that was fundamental to gaining the necessary expertise to work at the very highest level.
Acknowledgements: The research and facilities at Tyndall are part funded by Science Foundation Ireland, and the Higher Education Authority Program for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI ). The simulation work was supported by access to the Irish Centre for High End Computation.
Additional Information:
About Professor Jim Greer
Jim Greer received the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Master of Science from Trinity College Dublin, and the Doctor rerum naturalium from Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. He has worked in the semiconductor industry with Mostek, Texas Instruments, and as a senior visiting researcher at Hitachi Central Research Laboratory. In 1992, he was appointed Quatercentenary Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, an endowed position marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of the university. He joined the National Microelectronics Research Centre, now part of the Tyndall National Institute, in 1997. He is leading a research programme focussing on atomic scale simulations for nanoelectronics including molecular and semiconductor nanowire simulations. He is on the editorial boards of the journals Microelectronic Engineering and Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
About Dr. Paul Hurley
Dr. Hurley received his Ph.D. (1990) and B.Eng. (1985, 1st class honors) in Electronic Engineering at the University of Liverpool. Paul is a currently Senior Research Scientist at the Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork. Paul leads a research team of ten PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, visiting students and Tyndall Research staff who perform basic research on high dielectric constant (high-k) thin films for applications in nanoelectronics, where the current research work is focused on the use of high-k in conjunction with III-V semiconductor materials for future logic devices. Paul is a member of the Technical Committee of the Insulating Films on Semiconductors (INFOS) conference and the International Workshop on Dielectrics in Microelectronics (WoDiM). In addition to research activities, he is a part time lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering at University College Cork. He has published over eighty papers in the field of micro and nanoelectronics, and has given over 20 invited presentations and seminars in the high-k area from 2006 to 2012.
About Intel
Intel is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices.
About Tyndall National Institute
Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork is one of Europe’s leading research centres, specialising in ICT hardware research, with ca 450 staff, students and academic & industrial visiting researchers. Tyndall undertakes internationally-leading research into information and communications technology. Tyndall uses its facilities and expertise to support industry and academia nationally and provides large numbers of highly qualified graduate students, key to the development of Ireland’s national economy. Tyndall has over 200 industry partnerships and customers worldwide. Several start-up companies in Ireland have been based on technology originating at Tyndall. The Institute’s researchers include 125 PhD and 10 Masters students, and 33 nationalities are represented within the institute at all levels, with its research published in 200 peer reviewed publications last year. Income for 2011 was over €30m.
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