Dr. Zhi Chen's Group
 Home|  Research|  Publication|  Vita|  Opening|  Lab|  Group Member |   Teaching

Vita

Dr. Zhi David Chen

Office address: 

Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, 453 F. Paul Anderson Tower, Lexington, KY 40506 
Phone: (859)218-6550; Fax: (859)257-3092; E-mail: zhichen@engr.uky.edu 

Title:

Kentucky Utilities (KU) Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 
 

Education: 

Ph.D.  in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL.  August 1999

M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology (China). May 1987

B.S.  in Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology (China). July 1984
 

Research interests: 

Nano-scale fabrication, nano-scale materials and devices, SiO2/Si interface, IR spectroscopy, gate dielectrics for MOS devices, and sensors.  
 

Professional Experience: 

07/2009-present    Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

07/2007-present    Kentucky Utilities Professorship of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
    
07/2004-06/2009    Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

08/2001-present    Associate Director of Center for Micro-Magnetic and Electronic Devices, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

07/1999-06/2004     Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (1994-1999): 

Investigated physical and electrical properties of the SiO2/Si interface with incorporation of deuterium to replace hydrogen and hot-carrier-induced degradation of Si MOS devices for VLSI applications; Carried out hot-carrier degradation experiments and charge-pumping tests at room temperature and low temperatures; Studied device physics and modeling. 

Fabricated and characterized GaAs metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MISFETs); Deposited gate dielectric materials such as Si3N4 and SiO2 by remote ECR plasma-enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) and investigated band structures of GaAs heterostructures. 

Research Associate/Lecturer, University of Electronic Science and Technology (China) (1987 -1992): 

Investigated thin film sensing materials and sensors, including fabrication and characterization of moisture sensors; and taught undergraduate courses.
 

Industrial Experience: 

Investigated the interface trap generation in CMOS devices using charge-pumping test and hot carrier aging as member of technical stuff of Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Orlando, Florida (1998). 
 

Awards: 

National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2001

National Award for Invention, Ministry of Science and Technology, P. R. China, 1995 

The Second Prize Paper Award, Industrial Automation and Control Committee, the 27th Annual Conference, IEEE Industry Application Society, USA, 1992

Who's Who in America,  2001 - 2010

Senior Member, IEEE

Kentucky Utilities Professorship, University of Kentucky, 2007

Wethington Award, University of Kentucky, June 2005

1998-1999 Beckman Graduate Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
 

Professional Achievements: 

Discovered a new effect, phonon-energy-coupling enhancement (PECE), which dramatically reduces leakage current of silicon oxide and HfSiON. This may improve the power consumption of integrated circuits.

Developed the world's first reliable and drift-free humidity/moisture sensor for trace moisture measurement (<1 ppm). 

Discovered new mechanism for hot-carrier-induced degradation of CMOS transistors and contributed to application of deuterium annealing to the CMOS integrated circuit manufacturing. 
 

Professional Services: 


Editorial positions:

05/2003-present   Member, Editorial Board of Sensor Letters, American Scientific Publishers, Stevenson Ranch, CA

05/2009-05/2010   Symposium organizer, Dielectrics for nanosystems IV (E2), 217th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Vancouver, Canada, April 25-30, 2010

08/2009-07/2010   Technical Program Committee Member, the 2010 IEEE UGIM (University Government Industry Micro/nano) Symposium, June 28-July 1, 2010, West Lafayette, IN.

08/2007-07/2008   Technical Program Committee Member, the 2008 IEEE UGIM (University Government Industry Micro/nano) Symposium, Louisville, KY


Technical Reviewer:

Proposal Review:
Panelist, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Virginia.
US Civilian Research and Development Foundation, Arlington, Virginia
US Department of Energy SBIR program

Paper Review:
Journal of Applied Physics
Applied Physics Letters
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices 
IEEE Sensor Journal
Journal of  Electrochemical Society

<>Conference Session Organization:

07/01/09-04/30/10      Symposium Organizer for Dielectrics for Nanosystems IV: Materials Science, Processing, Reliability, and Manufacturing, the 217th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Vancouver, Canada, April 25-30, 2010
  <>
07/10-07/13, 2009      Session Co-Chair, The 2nd International Multi-Conference on Engineering and Technological Innovation: IMETI 2009, Orlando, Florida, USA
<> 

07/14-07/16, 2008      Session Chair, the 17th Biennial IEEE University Government Industry Micro/nano Symposium, Louisville, KY, USA
<> 

05/27-05/30, 2001      Session Chair, The ECS International Semiconductor Technology Conference, the Electrochemical Society, USA, Shanghai, China
<> 

05/15-06/15, 2001      Short course: ¡°MOSFET Technology¡±, at Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, Kentucky, USA

University Service:

Associate Director, Center for Micro-Magnetic and Electronic Devices, July 2001- present

Review for Undergraduate Scholarship in Electrical Engineering, University of Kentucky, 2000 and 2001

Education  Outreach

Seminars for high school students, "Computer Chips: A World of Microelectronics," in Rogers Scholars Program, Center for Rural Development, Somerset, KY, July 2000-2001. 

Education outreach for 3rd-5th grade students in Deep Spring Elementary School and J. R. Ewan Elementary School at Lexington, KY, April 2001.

Lab sessions for high school students, Assembling Humidity Controllers, in Rogers Scholars Program, Center for Rural Development, Somerset, KY, July 2001-2004.
 
 
 
 

INVITED PRESENTATION at INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

  1. "Fundamental Mechanisms for Reduction of Leakage Current of Silicon Oxide and Oxynitride through RTP-Induced Phonon-Energy Coupling," 14th Annual IEEE International Conference on Advanced Thermal Processing of Semiconductors - RTP2006, Kyoto, Japan, October 10-13, 2006.
  2. Zhi Chen, ¡°A New Physics Effect, Phonon-Energy-Coupling Enhancement, and Its Applications for Leakage Current Reduction of Gate Dielectrics,¡± at the International Symposium on Dielectrics for Nanosystems III, the 213th Meeting of Electrochemical Society, Phoenix, AZ, May 18-23, 2008.
INVITED TALKS/SEMINARS
  1. ¡°Enhancement of Phonon-Energy Coupling: Dramatic Reduction of Gate Leakage Current of MOS Devices,¡± Shanghai Jaotung University, Shanghai, China, June 13, 2007.
  2. ¡°Enhancement of Phonon-Energy Coupling: Dramatic Reduction of Gate Leakage Current of MOS Devices,¡± Texas Instrument and University of Texas at Dallas, May 21, 2006.
  3. ¡°Enhancement of Phonon-Energy Coupling: Dramatic Reduction of Gate Leakage Current of MOS Devices,¡± Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, May 2006.
  4. ¡°Enhancement of Phonon-Energy Coupling: Dramatic Reduction of Gate Leakage Current of MOS Devices,¡± Purdue University, April 2006.
  5. ¡°Electronic Device Research: From Submicron to Nano-Scale,¡± Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland, August, 2002.
  6. ¡°The Surface and Interface of Semiconductors and Carbon Nanotube Based Nanotechnology,¡± University of Electronic Science & Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, May, 2002.
  7. ¡°Porous nanostructures and carbon nanotubes for chemical and biomedical applications,¡± University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, August, 2001.
  8. ¡°GaAs-based metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structures and deuterium-processed Si MOS transistors¡±, Lucent Technology Bell Labs, Breinigsville, PA, Nov. 2000.
  9. ¡°Physical and electrical properties of  MOS transistors processed in deuterium and hydrogen,¡± University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, Feb. 1999. 
  10. ¡°Electrical properties of Si MOS devices processed in deuterium and hydrogen,¡± IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, Essex Junction, VT, May, 1999.
  11. ¡°Deuterium processing for MOS transistors: Reliability improvement and degradation mechanism,¡± University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, Oct. 1999.

 
 

List of Publications: (See the Pubilcation Bar)