Welcome to the PetersonLab

Research Interests

• • "Electronics on Anything": 3-D additive hetero-integration of thin film electronics with silicon CMOS and other integrated systems

  • Oxide semiconductor materials and devices, including thin film transistors, Schottky diodes, MESFETs, and so on

  • P- and n-type thin film semiconductor growth using atomic layer deposition, physical vapor deposition (RF sputtering), spin-coating of inks, and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

  • Ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors for power electronics applications, including study of charge transport, ohmic contacts and dielectric interfaces

Education and Training

• • B.S.E.E., University of Rochester, NY

  • M.S.E.E., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

  • Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

  • Post-doc, Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, UK

About Prof. Peterson

Prof. Peterson is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department - Electrical and Computer Engineering Division at the University of Michigan. She has courtesy appointments with the Materials Science and Engineering Department and the Applied Physics Program. She is also the Director of the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Peterson joined the tenure track faculty at University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2013 and earned tenure and promotion in 2019. Before that, she was research faculty (Assistant Research Scientist) working with Prof. Khalil Najafi in the MEMS group at University of Michigan while building up her own research group in oxide semiconductors and devices. Prior to coming to Michigan, Dr. Peterson was a post-doctoral researcher at the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, working in the group of Prof. Henning Sirringhaus at the University of Cambridge, UK, on solution-processed thin film transistors using zinc oxide nanoparticles and amorphous InGaZnO and In{Sr,Ba}ZnO. She earned her PhD at Princeton University under the direction of Prof. James C. (Jim) Sturm, working on SiGe/Si CVD heteroepitaxy and wafer-bonding with compliant substrates to generate uniaxial and biaxial channel strain in fully-depleted SOI MOSFETs, and received her MS in Electrical Engineering at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities under the direction of Prof. Rhonda Franklin, working on porous silicon for RF MEMS applications.

Peterson was awarded a Henry Russel junior faculty award by U-M in 2018, an NSF CAREER award in 2017, a DARPA Director's Fellowship in 2016 (less than four Fellowships are awarded each year), a DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2014 and an Elizabeth C. Crosby Research Fund Award in 2013. She has been a co-author on multiple best poster awards and best conference paper awards. As a graduate student, she was awarded an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, an Automatic RF Techniques Group Microwave Measurement Student Fellowship, an American Association of University Women Engineering Fellowship, and a Princeton Presidential Fellowship. She is also a Barry M. Goldwater Scholar, a member of Tau Beta Pi and Phi Beta Kappa, and a Senior Member of IEEE. In Fall 2019, Prof. Peterson was on sabbatical leave as a Visiting Scientist at the Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik in Berlin.

Previously, she taught students at Princeton University, where she received an Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni Teaching Award, and at the University of Cambridge at Newnham College, where she was an Associate Lecturer in Engineering (Electrical Engineering Parts IA and IB). At the University of Michigan, she has developed two new graduate courses (EECS 598 Special Topics) on Power Semiconductor Devices and Beyond CMOS: Emerging Nanotechnologies and has taught two 300-level courses: Introduction to Semiconductor Devices (EECS 320) and Analog Circuits (EECS 311).

Peterson was the Chair of the Optoelectronics, Displays and Imaging Committee for the 2020 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM), following service as a Committee Member in 2018 and 2019. She was General Chair of the 2022 Device Research Conference, following her service as 2021 Technical Program Chair, 2020 Technical Program Vice Chair, and Member of the Technical Program Committee (2016-2018). She was Treasurer of the Electronic Materials Conference for 2019-2021, where she has been on the Organizing Committee since 2017. She was also Chair of the IEEE Southeastern Michigan Trident Chapter IV (Joint Chapter of EDS/APP/MTT/Photonics) (2018-2022). She was a Guest Editor for APL Materials Special Topic Issue on Wide Bandgap Oxides. At UMich, she serves as the Director of the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility (Sept. 2020 - present). She previously served on the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility Council (2015-2019), the ECE Undergraduate Academics Committee (2018-2019), the ECE Faculty Search Committee (2014-2017), the ECE Undergraduate Curriculum Innovation Committee (2017-2018), the ECE Graduate Admissions Committee (2013-2014) and the ECE Undergraduate Recruiting and Activities Committee (2010-2016), and chaired the ECE 320 Committee (Fall 2018).

Positions Available at PetersonLab

The PetersonLab is part of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. PetersonLab's work focuses on new electronics materials and fabrication processes for applications in sensors, electronics, optoelectronics and energy technologies. Prof. Peterson welcomes applications from focused and creative incoming PhD students and potential post-doctoral fellows. Prospective PhD students should apply to the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) PhD program via http://www.rackham.umich.edu/admissions/applying and contact Prof. Peterson via email (blpeters AT umich DOT edu). Potential post-doc fellows with a documented history of excellence in research and publication should contact Prof. Peterson to inquire about openings.

There are also opportunities for African scholars to visit University of Michigan for several months, through the University of Michigan's African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) program. More information is available here: https://ii.umich.edu/asc/umaps.html. Interested faculty from Africa should please contact Prof. Peterson directly to discuss potential collaborations through this program.