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RESEARCH & DISCOVERIES

Current Areas of Study

PHASE CHANGE
MATERIALS

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Phase change materials (PCMs), including VO2, NbO2, and GST (GeSbTe), exhibit insulator-metal transition (IMT) phenomena, accompanied by dramatic dielectric and optical property changes. For some PCMs, their IMT is caused by the crystal structure change, while for others, strong electron-electron interaction plays a vital role. Studying their material physics and exploring their exotic properties for novel electronic and photonic devices are our interests. 

  • Thin films synthesis via sputtering deposition and material characterization

  • Phase change study and electrical/optical properties

  • Tunable photonic/THz devices for modulation and beam phase control

  •  Dynamic learning and memory functions for neuromorphic devices, including artificial neurons and synaptic devices.

NEUROMORPHIC COMPUTATION

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Neuromorphic computation, with a network of dense artificial neurons connected by more dense artificial synapses, is to emulate the biological brain for efficient data processing with massive parallelism and low-power dissipation. The brain uses analog changes in neural connection strength (i.e., synaptic weight) to carry out cognition, learning, inference, and decision-making with vast high energy efficiency. Synapse plasticity, the inelastic changes of synaptic weights, constitutes the basis of short- or long-term memory, while these changes are induced by neural spiking activities in a learning/adapting process. The hardware implementation of neuromorphic computation requires novel devices serving the roles of artificial synapses and/or neurons. Our research concerns:

  • Volatile phase transition-based artificial neurons

  • Nonvolatile phase change-based synaptic devices

  • Li-ion electrochemical FET-based synaptic devices

  • VO2 nano-oscillators as neuromorphic devices

Ultrafast Supercap

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Ultrafast Supercap is to bridge the performance gap, in terms of response frequency and capacitance density, between conventional supercapacitors and aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs), aiming for: 

  • Supporting peak-power loading, from bursting communication to high pulse power generation

  • Miniaturized ripple filtering capacitors (HF-ECs)

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Battery Technology

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Our main efforts consist of:

  • Catalysts, particularly single-atom catalysts for the sulfur cathode  in Li-S batteries

  • Carbon nanostructured materials, particularly carbon aerogel for the sulfur cathode

  • Biomaterials-based separators

PCM
Neuromorphic
ECD
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