Contact information
Research Team Lead (Device Tech.), AFRL/RYDDOffice Address: 2241 Avionics Circle, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7334Email: ahmad.islam.2@us.af.mil, ahmad.islam.2@afrl.af.mil Personal email: aeislam@gmail.com, aeislam@ieee.orgWebsite: https://sites.google.com/site/aeislam/homeFor research opportunities in our device group at AFRL, please check NRC, DAGSI, USRA
My Profiles at Google Scholar, Publons, ORCID, ResearcherID, ORCID, IEEE
About Me
I am a Research Team Lead at the Electronic Devices Branch (RYDD) of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Sensors Directorate. We are located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Our multi-disciplinary team works on the development of electronic device technologies for high power, high frequency, and high temperature applications. We use wide-bandgap (WBG) GaN and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) beta-Ga2O3 as semiconducting materials and focus on device performance improvement by utilizing materials innovation, microfabrication, defect engineering, and novel device design.
Before joining the device group at AFRL/RYDD, I worked as a Research Engineer/Technical Advisor of KBR, Inc. (2019-2020) with AFRL/RYDT and as Research Scientist of UES, Inc. (2012-2014, 2016-2019) and National Research Council (NRC) Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2016) with the Flexible Electronics Group of Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (AFRL/RXAS). During this period, I worked on growth, flexible electronics and biosensor applications using one-dimensional and two-dimensional nanomaterials.
I obtained extensive academic training before starting my professional career. From 2010-2012, I worked as Postdoctoral Research Associate in Prof. John Rogers' group (who is now at Northwestern University) in the Department of Materials Science Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With Prof. Rogers, I worked on performance, variability, reliability and electroluminescence phenomena in carbon-nanotube based electronic/optoelectronic devices, and on the circuit design for epidermal electronics. Before starting my postdoctoral training, I completed (Direct) Ph.D. degree at Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University in May 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Muhammad Ashraful Alam. In my PhD research, I worked on theory and characterization of defect formation in nanoscale transistors. My background on electrical engineering was solidified in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), from where I obtained my Bachelor degree in February 2004, securing the highest CGPA among the graduating students. During 2004-2005, I also worked as lecturer in the same department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
I was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh and migrated to the United States in 2005 for higher studies and currently live in Dayton, OH.
Work Experience
Senior Electronics Engineer, AFRL/RYDD 01/2022-Present
Research Team Lead (Device Tech.), AFRL/RYDD 07/2022-Present
Electronics Engineer, AFRL/RYDD 08/2020-12/2021
Adjunct Professor, Dept. of ECE, University of Dayton. 08/2017-08/2022
Research Engineer, KBR, Inc., (Location: AFRL/RYDT) 10/2019-07/2020
Research Scientist IV, UES, Inc., (Location: AFRL/RXAS) 07/2016-09/2019
NRC Postdoctoral Fellow, The National Academies, (Location: AFRL/RXAS) 07/2014-07/2016
Research Scientist II, UES, Inc., (Location: AFRL/RXAS) 10/2012-07/2014
Postdoc. Research Associate (PI: Prof. John A. Rogers), University of Illinois 06/2010-10/2012
Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellow, Dept. of ECE, Purdue University 08/2009-05/2010
Graduate Research Assistant, Dept. of ECE, Purdue University 08/2005-08/2009
Lecturer, Dept. of EEE, Bangladesh Univ. of Engg. & Tech. 04/2004-07/2005
Major Research Outcomes
My Profiles at Google Scholar, Publons, ORCID, ResearcherID, ORCID, IEEE
High temperature electronics (CS-ManTech 2023, APL 2022, CSW 2022)
Dielectric/beta-Ga2O3 integration (DRC 2023, DRC 2022, TED 2022, DRC 2021)
beta-Ga2O3 transistors (DRC 2023, EDL 2022)
E-beam chemistry for defect engineering of graphene (Carbon 2020)
In Operando bio-sensing (Cover story in ACS Appl. Materials and Interfaces 2019) and its detailed characterization (ACS Applied Nano Materials 2020)
Atomic level cleaning of PMMA residue after graphene transfer (APL 2017)
Pore-free oxidation of graphene (RSC Advances 2016)
Physiochemical properties of catalyst supports used for carbon nanotube growth (Nanoscale 2016).
Review on the electronic-grade semiconducting purity of single-walled carbon nanotubes (Adv. Mat. 2015).
Chiral-selective defect density in single-walled carbon nanotubes (Carbon 2015).
Selective removal of metallic single-walled carbon nanotube (Nature Comm. '14)
Reliability of Extended and Beyond CMOS Devices (IEEE TDMR '14)
Engineering Catalysis for Improved CNT growth (Nano Lett '14)
Variability and Reliability of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (Electronics '13)
Electroluminescence in Carbon-nanotube based 2-terminal LEDs (ACS Nano '12)
Hysteresis in Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (Adv. Func. Mat. '12)
Performance Variation in Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (J. App. Phys. '12)
Essential aspects of Negative Bias Temperature Instability (Invited paper in J. Electrochem. Soc. '11)
Oxide/Interface traps improve mobility in nanoscale transistors (Int. Reliab. Phys. Symp. '10, App. Phys. Lett. '08)
Role of interface and oxide defects in Negative Bias Temperature Instability (Int. Elec. Dev. Meeting '10, IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev. '07)
Effect of strain (Int. Elec. Dev. Meeting '09) and high-K dielectric (Int. Elec. Dev. Meeting '06, IEEE Trans. Elec. Dev. '08) on interface defect generation.
News and Activities
October 2023: Presented a seminar at the Berkeley Emerging Technologies Research (BETR) Center
September 2023: Presented as a Plenary Speaker at the Pacific North-West AVS Symposium at Boise State University
September 2023: Became an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Materials for Electron Devices (T-MAT).
July 2023: Presented at NTxSI at Wright Brothers Institute Conference on high temperature microelectronics. Youtube link
April 2023: Became an Editor for IEEE Electron Device Letters (EDL).
July 2022: Became a Research Team Lead to develop Device Technology at AFRL/RYDD
January 2022: Promoted to Senior Electronics Engineer at AFRL/RYDD
August 2020: Joined Air Force Research Laboratory, Sensors Directorate (AFRL/RYDD)
Fall 2019: Taught a course on "Contemporary Electronic Devices" at the Department of ECE of the University of Dayton
September 2017: Appointed as Adjunct Faculty at the Department of ECE of the University of Dayton
September 2016: Became IEEE Senior Member
January 2016: Became member of Materials Directorate (RX) star team led by Dr. Benji Maruyama. This is awarded by AFOSR
September 2015: Presented on electronic applications of carbon nanotubes at Crystal & Graphene Science Symposium–2015.
August 2015: Chaired and presented at 2015 SPIE Nanoscience + Nanoengineering.
April 2015: Presented solid-state technology and device seminar at the University of California-Berkeley and presented in the Materials Research Symposium Spring Meeting.
February 2015: Presented graduate physics seminar at the Wright State University.
August 2014: Served as committee member for "CRY: Characterization, Reliability, and Yield" in 2014 IEEE Int. Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM).
July 2014: Accepted National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship for research on "High-density, chirality-sorted SWCNT".
December 2013: Served as technical committee member for the 'gate dielectrics' session in 2014 IEEE Int. Reliab. Phys. Symposium (IRPS).
September 2013: Presented graduate student seminar at the University of Dayton.
August 2013: Served as committee member for CRY in 2013 IEDM.
April 2013: Presented tutorial on the reliability of beyond/extended CMOS devices in 2013 IEEE IRPS.
June 2012: Appointed chair of Beyond CMOS session for 2013 IEEE IRPS.
“Nanotube Variations Affect Transistor Performance”, Nanotechweb, March 2012.
September 2011: Served as technical committee member for the 'transistor' session in 2012 IEEE IRPS.
May 2011: Invited presentation on Negative Bias Temperature Instability in 219th Electrochem. Soc. Meeting.
September 2010: Served as technical committee member for the 'transistor' session in 2011 IEEE IRPS.
May 2010: Defended Ph.D. thesis. The thesis work lead to the development of Sentauras TCAD model for NBTI.
Moments
From my Graduation Ceremony at Purdue in May 2010
Farewell from Prof. Rogers' group (2012)
Receiving IEEE EDS PhD Fellowship from the EDS President during IEDM ’08