Christopher Miller, a Ph.D. student at CNSE, recently received a highly competitive international IBM Ph.D. Fellowship. The award covers tuition, fees and a stipend for the academic year, as well as an additional summer project with IBM.
IBM Ph.D. Fellowships are awarded worldwide. The program honors exceptional Ph.D. students in science and engineering, with special emphasis on focus areas of interest to IBM and fundamental to innovation. All IBM Ph.D. Fellows are matched with an IBM mentor according to their technical interests.
Fellowship award recipients are selected based on their overall potential for research excellence, the degree to which their technical interests align with those of IBM, and their academic progress to-date, as evidenced by publications and endorsements from their faculty advisor and department head. Miller is co-advised at CNSE by Professor Alain Kaloyeros and Professor Eric Eisenbraun.
"The IBM Ph.D. Fellowship award is an honor for me, and validation of my potential as a researcher," says Miller. "It is also an honor for the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, for providing the resources and opportunities for me to excel in the nanoelectronics field. This fellowship will provide the financial backing necessary for me to continue my research under the INDEX program through the next academic year, and further strengthens the relationship between IBM, myself, and CNSE."
A native of Grandview, Iowa, Miller is currently completing his second year in the Ph.D. Nanoscale Science and Engineering program at CNSE. During the summer of 2006, he worked for IBM at the college using tools in the state-of-the-art 300 mm fabrication facilities.
Miller's current research under the INDEX program explores novel "bottom-up" fabrication and analysis techniques for molecular electronic components. He notes, "This research represents a paradigm shift in the way electronics are constructed at the nanometer scale. Current industry standards use 'top-down' lithography techniques, and advances in lithography have helped continue the scaling trend called Moore's Law.
"However, several fundamental challenges are foreseen using this technology after the next few generations of devices, as critical dimensions reach the scale of single molecules. Thus, 'bottom-up' self-assembly techniques are being considered to overcome these challenges to further extend device scaling," Miller explains. "Further, molecular electronics is also expected to exploit different properties of materials observed at such small scale, utilizing quantum mechanical transport and spin effects."
Miller graduated from Iowa State University in 2005 with a dual degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering. As an undergraduate, he completed a seven-month engineering internship with IBM at the company's East Fishkill facility.
He first became interested in nanotechnology during his sophomore year as an undergraduate, and began searching for graduate schools with a focused nanotechnology curriculum. There were very few programs in the United States, and all of those were a concentration of a broader major. "When it came time to apply for graduate school, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering was officially formed, and was my top choice as a graduate program," says Miller.
Miller chose CNSE because of its many advantages over competing programs. "The research is very hands-on, and I can personally use many state-of-the-art tools. The curriculum is focused on nanotechnology with applications in mind, and explores how properties change at the nanoscale. The fact that so many companies are on site with the college ensures that research at the college is relevant to technical challenges currently being faced by the industry, and addresses future challenges foreseen by the industry. In addition, increased contact with the various companies enhances my ability as a student to seek internships and full-time jobs after graduation.
"And finally, a tour through the facilities has no comparison. No other school has such an extensive collection of semiconductor manufacturing and analysis tools, some of which aren't even available in industry yet."
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