Sriram Krishnamoorthy

Contact

sriramkrishnamoorthy (at) ucsb.edu

3518 Engineering II

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5050

Materials Research Areas 

Electronic and Photonic Materials

Research Description 

Prof. Krishnamoorthy's group works at the intersection of materials, electrical engineering and physics to study and engineer next-generation (ultra)wide band gap semiconductors such as Gallium Oxide. We are interested in epitaxial growth, electronic transport, design/modeling, micro/nano fabrication, and characterization of electronic/optoelectronic devices for a wide range of applications such as power electronics, high frequency electronics and ultra-violet optoelectronics.

Appointments

July 2023– current Associate Professor, Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA                     

July 2021– June 2023 Mehrabian Career Development Chair Assistant Professor, Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara

July 2017– June 2021 Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Sept 2014– June 2017 Post-doctoral Researcher (Advisor: Prof. Siddharth Rajan)

   Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Oct 2009 – Aug 2014               Graduate Research Assistant/ OSU Presidential Fellowship (Advisor: Prof. Siddharth Rajan)

   Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Professional Preparation

2009-2014: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH Ph.D. Electrical Engineering –2014 (Advisor: Prof. Siddharth Rajan)

Thesis: Gallium Nitride-Based Heterostructure Interband Tunnel Junctions 

2004-2009: Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, India

B.E. (Hons.) Electrical and Electronics Engineering, M.Sc. (Hons.)Physics

Honors/Awards

2024: Institute of Physics (IOP) publishing top cited paper award (North America- Materials)- DOI 10.35848/1882-0786/ac6729

2024: Institute of Physics (IOP) publishing top cited paper award (North America- Materials)- DOI 10.35848/1882-0786/ac07ef

2024: Institute of Physics (IOP) publishing top cited paper award (North America- Materials)- DOI 10.35848/1882-0786/abd675

2023: BITS (Birla Institute of Technology & Science) Inaugural Young Alumnus Achievement (YAA) Award

2022: Most Valuable Contribution Award- WOCSEMMAD 2022

2021-2023: Mehrabian Career Development Chair (UCSB)- Inaugural Chair

2020: The 2020 Junior Faculty Rising Star Award (ECE Department, U Utah)

2020: BITSAA (Birla Institute of Technology & Science Alumni Association) 30 under 30 Award

2018: Japanese Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) Best Paper Award

2017: Outstanding Paper Award- North American MBE Conference (NAMBE 2017) – co-author

2017: Best Paper Award- 11th International Symposium on Semiconductor LEDs (ISSLED 2017)- co-author

2013: Ohio State University Presidential Fellowship Award

2010: Best Student Paper Award @ SPIE Conference, San Diego- co-author

2009: Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) Student Research Award

2008: Best Outgoing Student of Physics, BITS Physics Society

2008: JNCASR Summer Research Fellowship

Invited Talks

1. "Beta- Gallium (Aluminum) Oxide Epitaxial Thin Films, Heterostructures and in-Situ Dielectrics for High Performance Electronics ", PRiME 2024 (Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid State Science): H04 Symposium: GaN and SiC Power Technologies October 6-11, 2024 – Honolulu, HI.

2. "Beta-Gallium Oxide-Based Devices Towards Grid-Scale Electronics ", PRiME 2024 (Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid State Science): G03 - SiGe, Ge, and Related Compounds: Materials, Processing, and Devices, October 6-11, 2024 – Honolulu, HI .

3. "High-k Dielectrics-Based Electric Field Engineering in β-Ga2O3 Power Diodes", 245th The Electrochemical Society (ECS) Meeting, San Francisco, CA, May 26 - 30, 2024.

4. "MOVPE of Homoepitaxial Gallium Oxide Thin Films for Lateral and Vertical Power Devices", 21st International Conference on Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (ICMOVPE XXI), planned for May 12-17, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada .

5. "Homoepitaxial Metalorganic Vapor Phase Epitaxy Growth of (010) β-Ga2O3 Films For Lateral and Vertical Power Devices", Electronic Materials and Applications (EMA) 2024: Basic Science and Electronics Division Meeting, , Denver, CO, USA, February 2024.

6. " Emerging Gallium Oxide Epitaxial Power Semiconductor Materials and Devices" , Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall 2023 Meeting-Ultra-Wide Bandgap Materials, Devices and Applications Symposium , Nov 2023. 

7. "Gallium Oxide: Emerging Semiconductor Material for Power Electronics", IEEE Central Coast event seminar, 15 Feb 2023.

8. "Ultrawide Bandgap β-Ga 2 O 3 Transistors for Efficient Multi-Kilovolt Power Switching",  6th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Electronics (ICEE), Bangalore, India, Dec 2022.

9.      “MOCVD-grown Gallium (Aluminum) Oxide thin films, heterostructures and in-situ dielectrics”, 4th International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO-4) IWGO 2022, Oct. 23 – 27, 2022, Nagano, Japan.

10.    "High Performance Homoepitaxial Gallium Oxide Power Devices on Bulk and Composite Substrates", 80th Device Research Conference (DRC), DRC 2022, June 27 2022.

11.   “MOVPE-grown (010)-oriented Beta Gallium Oxide Epitaxial Materials and Power Devices”, GraFOx Seminar (Leibniz Science Campus Growth and Fundamentals of Oxides (GraFOx) for electronic applications), June 16 2022 (Virtual).

12.   “Semiconductor Materials & Devices for Efficient Power Electronics”, UCSB Materials Research Lab Summer Intern Seminar Series, July 5th 2022.

13.    "Exploring the Potential and Limits of Gallium Oxide Electronics: In-Situ Dielectrics, Heterointegration and High-k Field Plates", 241st Electrochemical Society (ECS) Meeting, June 1, 2022 (Virtual).

14.       "Lateral Gallium Oxide Field Effect Transistors with High Figure of Merit”, 2022 6th IEEE Electron Devices Technology & Manufacturing Conference (EDTM), EDTM 2022 (Virtual).

15.     Keynote Presentation: "Gallium Oxide Epitaxial Materials and High-Performance Power Devices", 2nd International Conference on Micro/Nanoelectronics Devices, Circuits, and Systems (MNDCS 2022), 29-31 Jan 2022- (Virtual Mode) -Organized by National Institute of Technology, Silchar, Assam, India in association with IEEE EDS NIT Silchar Student Branch Chapter and Institute Innovation Cell (IIC), NIT Silchar.

16.     "Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices Towards Efficient Power Electronics”, Materials Research Laboratory University of California Santa Barbara Materials Research Outreach Program (MROP) 2022 (Virtual), Jan 26, 2022.

17.   "Metalorganic Vapor-Phase Epitaxy of Gallium (Aluminum) Oxide Thin Films and Heterostructures for High Frequency and Power Electronics”, American Vacuum Society AVS 67 Virtual Symposium, Thin Film Division: Symposium on Wide and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Thin Films: Advances in Deposition and Novel Materials, October 2021.

18. “Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices Towards Next-generation Ultrawide Bandgap Technologies”, A One Day Virtual Symposium on Recent Technological Advancement in Wide/Ultra-wide Bandgap Semiconductor Materials, Devices and Applications, April 10th, 2021, Organized by Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, India. (Virtual)

19.   "High Density Electron Gas in Ultrawide Bandgap Oxide Heterostructures Towards High Power and High Frequency Electronics", XXth International Workshop on The Physics of Semiconductor Devices (IWPSD 2019), December 17-20, 2019, Kolkata, India, Jointly Organized by S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata and Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in collaboration with Society for Semiconductor Devices.

20.  “Gallium Oxide Power Electronic Materials and Devices”, University of Minnesota- Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering (IPRIME) 2019 Annual Meeting- Ultra-wide Gap Materials for High-power Electronics Session (EMD Electronic Materials and Devices Focus)- May 29, 2019.

21.  "Epitaxial Gallium Oxide- Based Electronics", Naval Research Lab, Washington DC, March 6th, 2019.

22.   "A Tutorial on MBE Growth of Ga2O3", Air Force Research Lab, Dayton – August 2018.

23.  "β-(AlGa)2O3 / Ga2O3Heterostructures and Devices”, Institute of Materials Research 2017, OSU- 12th May 2017.

24.     "Tunnel Junctions for Next-Generation SSL", DOE Joint Solid-State Lighting Roundtables on Science Challenges, Washington D.C, September 14, 2016.

25.   “Tunnel Junctions for Efficient III-Nitride Optoelectronics”, Intel, Hillsboro, OR- Summer 2014.

26.   “III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions: Device Engineering and Applications”, Solid State Physics Lab, Delhi, India- 2013.

Invited Tutorials/Workshops/Short Courses

1. " Gallium Oxide Epitaxy and Devices For Enhanced Electro-thermal performance", Session Name: Advances in Thermal Co-Design and Solutions for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors, Electronic Materials Conference, 26th June 2024.

2. "Processing of Gallium Oxide power semiconductor materials and devices", International Conference on Electron, Ion, Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication (EIPBN)2024 , May 28, 2024 .

3. "Growth and Device Processing of Epitaxial Gallium Oxide Films for Electro-Thermal Performance",  as part of the "Ultra-Wide Bandgap Device Electro-Thermal Co-Design" Workshop, 2023 International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems (InterPACK 2023) , San Diego, California, October 26, 2023.

4. "Emerging Gallium Oxide power semiconductor materials and devices", 9th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA), Redondo Beach, CA, Nov 7, 2022 - 1 hr 20 mins tutorial

5. "Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices for Next Generation UWBG Semiconductor Technologies", 5th International Workshop on UV Materials and Devices(IWUMD 2022) , May 23~26, 2022 , Hybrid event at Jeju, Korea. (Virtual) - 40 minutes tutorial.

6.  "AVS Webinar: Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices for Next Generation Ultra-wide Bandgap Electronics", September 2, 2021, American Vacuum Society- 4 hours tutorial.

7. Tutorial on "Emerging Ultra-Wide Bandgap (UWBG) Power Electronic Devices", 6th IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications (WiPDA 2018), Georgia Tech, Atlanta –  Oct 31 2018. - 1 hour tutorial

Seminars

1. "  Advances in Gallium Oxide Epitaxy and Power Devices", Electron Device Society (EDS) Seminar,  Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (December 4, 2023).

2. "Growth of Epitaxial Gallium Oxide Films for High Performance Power Devices", University of Texas, El Paso, NSF-UTEP-UCSB-PREM Seminar (March  3, 2023).

3. "Epitaxial Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices Towards Next-Generation Ultra-Wide Band Gap Technologies”, Nick Holonyak, Jr Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Seminar (March 6, 2020).

4.  “Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Devices for Electronics and Photonics”, University of Utah ECE Department (October 23, 2017)

5.  “Wide Band Gap Materials, Devices and Applications”, University of Utah Physics Department (August 29 2017).

6.  “Wide Band Gap Energy Materials for Next-Gen Semiconductor Devices”, Pennsylvania State University Engineering Science and Mechanics Department, April 6th 2017.

7.  “Wide Band Gap Energy Materials for Next-Gen Semiconductor Devices”, University of Utah ECE Department, March 20th 2017.

8.  “Wide Band Gap Energy Materials for Next-Gen Semiconductor Devices”, Oregon State University, ECE Seminar, March 24th 2017.

9.  "Wide Band Gap Tunnel Junctions for Next-Gen Visible and UV Optoelectronics” U Notre Dame EE Department (Solid State Seminar Series), March 8th 2017.

10. “Wide Band Gap Energy Materials for Next-Generation Semiconductor Devices”, University of South Carolina ECE Seminar, March 2nd 2017.

11.  “III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions for Energy-Efficient Optoelectronics”, Boston University ECE Seminar, Jan 13th 2016.

12.   “III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions for Energy-efficient Optoelectronics”, University of Utah ECE Seminar, April 30th 2015.

13.  “III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions: Device Engineering and Applications”, Indian Institute of Science CeNSE, India December 2013.

14. “III-Nitride Tunnel Junctions: Device Engineering and Applications”, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Electrical Engineering Department, India, 27th November 2013. 

Professional Activities

Advisory Board

Device (CellPress Journal)

Editorial Service

• Editor: IEEE Journal of Electron Device Society (Appointed June 2022 for a 3-year term) 

• Editor: Nature Scientific Reports

• Guest co-editor: AVS Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Special Topic Collection on Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices 2025

• Guest Associate Editor: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics-  Special Section entitled "Ultrawide/Wide Bandgap Device, Packaging, Control, EMI, and Applications for Power Electronics" - 2023-2024 

• Guest co-editor: AVS Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Special Topic Collection on Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices 2024 

• Guest co-editor: AVS Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Special Topic Collection on 55 Years of Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) 2023.

• Guest co-editor: AVS Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Special Topic Collection on Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices 2023.

• Guest co-editor, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics Special Issue on Gallium Oxide Devices and Materials (2020).

Workshops/Panels

• 2023 Army Research Lab (ARL) Extreme Electronics Technology Forecasting Workshop

• 2023 Co-led session on “Current status of Silicon Carbide and Gallium Oxide devices”, Mini-Conference Sponsored by The Coherent/II-VI Foundation on “Next Generation Materials for Ultra Performance Microwave and Power Switching Applications”

• 2022 ARPA-E Workshop on Ultra-Fast-Triggered Semiconductors for Enhanced System Resiliency 

• 2016 DOE Joint Solid-State Lighting Roundtables on Science Challenges

Conference Chair/ Symposium Organizer

• 2025 Co-Organizer, 2025 MRS Spring Meeting, Symposium EL11-Wide and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Materials, Devices and Applications

• 2025 General co-chair, 8th US Gallium Oxide Workshop (GOX 2025)

• 2024 Co-Organizer, 2024 MRS Spring Meeting, Symposium EL04-Wide and Ultra-Wide Bandgap Materials, Devices and Applications

• 2023 Co-organizer of Symposium: Silicon carbide & gallium oxide materials & devices @ 23rd American Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ACCGE-23)/ and 21st US Workshop on Organometallic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (OMVPE-21) to be held in Tucson, Arizona, USA, August 13-18.

• 2023 Electronic Materials and Applications EMA 2023- Lead Symposium Organizer Symposium S6 – Emerging Semiconductor Materials and Interfaces

• 2022 Electronic Materials and Applications EMA 2022 (Virtual/Hybrid)- Symposium Co-organizer Symposium S6 – Emerging Semiconductor Materials and Interfaces

• 2021 Electronic Materials and Applications EMA 2021 (Virtual)- Symposium Co-organizer Symposium S6 – Emerging Semiconductor Materials and Interfaces

• 2018- 2023 Electronic Materials Conference (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023)- Invited Organizer for, a) Epitaxial Materials and Devices, b) Gallium Oxide and Other Ultra- Wide Bandgap Oxides

Technical Program and Conference Committees

• 2025 39th North American Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE 2025) 

• 2025 83rd Device Research Conference (2025)

• 2025 66th Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) 

• 2025 Workshop on Compound Semiconductor Materials and Devices (WOCSEMMAD)

• 2024 7th US Gallium Oxide Workshop (GOX 2024)

• 2024 65th Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) 

• 2024 82nd Device Research Conference 2024

• 2023 69th AVS International Symposium and Exhibition

• 2023 37th North American Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE 2023) 

• 2023 6th US Gallium Oxide Workshop (GOX 2023)

• 2023 64th Electronic Materials Conference (EMC)

• 2022 The 4th International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO-4) 

• 2022 5th US Gallium Oxide Workshop (GOX 2022)

• 2022 63rd Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) 

• 2022, 2023 EMC subcommittee on student awards

• 2021 62nd Electronic Materials Conference (EMC)

• 2019 The 3rd International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO-3)

• 2018 International conference on Emerging Electronics (4th ICEE) IEEE EDS- Sub-committee member (Wide Band Gap Semiconductors)

Conference Session Chair

Session chair at several conferences (select): MRS Spring 2024, DRC 2024, GOX 2023, LEC 2023, ACCGE-23/OMVPE-21, EMC 2023, WOCSEMMAD 2022, EMA 2022, EMC 2022, EMC 2020, WOCSEMMAD 2020, IWGO 2019, EMC 2019, GOX 2018, EMC 2018, IWN 2016

Peer Review for Journals

AIP Applied Physics Letters

AIP Applied Physics Letters Materials 

AIP Journal of Applied Physics

IEEE Electron Device Letters

IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices

IEEE Journal of Electron Device Society 

IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 

Japanese Journal of Applied Physics (JJAP)

Applied Physics Express (APEX)

AIP Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A (JVSTA)

AIP Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B (JVSTB)

Proposal Review

• National Science Foundation (MRI, EPMD, DMR Panels, DMR Ad-hoc review, GRFP fellowship) 

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Ad-hoc review, SFFP panel)

• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Panels 

• University of Oslo- Research Proposal Review

• Foundation for Polish Science- Research Proposal Review

• Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur- Research Initiation Program

Service (Internal)

• UCSB Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) of the College of Engineering (2023-) 

• UCSB Materials Admissions Committee (2021- )

• UCSB Materials Department Seminar Committee (2021-2023)

• UCSB Materials Department Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee (2021- 2023) 

• UCSB Central Fellowship committee (2022)

Service roles at U Utah

• IEEE Student Branch @ U of Utah & HKN, Faculty Mentor/ Counselor1/2019 – 6/2021 

• ECE Safety Officer/ Lab safety subcommittee chair, 7/2019- 6/2021

• Member, College of Engineering Safety committee, 7/2019- 6/2021

• ECE Strategic and Research Development Committee (Advanced Materials/Photonics) 8/2020- 6/2021 

• ECE BS EE Undergraduate committee - course overhaul/course evaluations 8/2020- 6/2021

• ECE Seminar and Distinguished Lecture Committee: 8/2020- 6/2021 

• Solid-State/Circuits/MEMS curricular sub-committee. 08/2017 – 6/2021. 

• Graduate Committee, 01/2019- 09/2019

• EE Undergraduate Graduation Committee, 08/2018- 09/2019