On Prof. Wallace...
Robert M. Wallace, Ph.D.
Professor and Erik Jonsson Distinguished Chair
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Courtesy Appointments in:
Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Physics
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, Texas 75083
Phone: Office (972)883-6638 Fax (972) 883-6629
Education
University of Pittsburgh
Ph.D. 1988, Physics
M.S. 1984, Physics
B.S. 1982, Physics, Applied Mathematics
Awards and Distinctions
(2023-24) Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award - Ireland
(2017-23) Ranked among the top 100,000 scientists worldwide across disciplines according to the composite citation index, and among the top 1000 authors out of >295000 in the Applied Physics subfield. https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/6
(2018-21) Identified by Clarivate Analytics as a “Highly Cited Researcher” for multiple highly cited papers ranking in the top 1% indicating substantial influence across several fields during the last decade. Of the global population of researchers, Highly Cited Researchers are 1 in 1000. See: https://hcr.clarivate.com/
(2014) Erik Jonsson School Distinguished Senior Research Contributions Award
(2011) Appointed Erik Jonsson Distinguished Chair
(2011) IBM Faculty Award
(2010) Appointed Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Professor
(2009) Election to Fellow of the IEEE “for contributions to high-k gate dielectric materials for integrated circuits”
(2007) Election to Fellow of the AVS “for significant contributions to high-k dielectric materials research enabling the scaling of integrated circuit technology”
Robert M. Wallace holds the Erik Jonsson Distinguished Chair in the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas and is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He received the B.S. in Physics and Applied Mathematics (1982), the M.S. (1984) and the Ph.D. (1988) in Physics at the University of Pittsburgh. He then was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at the Pittsburgh Surface Science Center.
In 1990, he joined Texas Instruments Central Research Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff (MTS) in the Materials Characterization Branch of the Materials Science Laboratory, and was elected as a Senior MTS in 1996. Dr. Wallace was then appointed in 1997 to manage the Advanced Technology branch in TI’s R&D which focused on advanced device concepts and the associated material integration issues.
In 2003, he joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Dallas, was a founding member of the Materials Science and Engineering program, served as an interim head for the program, and facilitated the transformation of the program into a department to the current level of 15 faculty and more than 75 graduate students and postdocs. In addition to his research program in nanoelectronic materials, Wallace was also the director of the new 5000 sq. ft. Cleanroom Research Laboratory for 6 years, supervising a staff of 9 and an annual budget >$2M. Dr. Wallace also has appointments in the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Physics at UT-Dallas.
He has authored or co-authored over 410 publications in peer reviewed journals and proceedings, more than 280 contributed and 90 invited talks at international meetings and symposia, as well as 46 US and 27 international patents/applications. A review published in the Journal of Applied Physics (now Applied Physics Reviews) on high-k gate dielectrics which he coauthored was recognized by the Semiconductor Research Corporation as one of the most influential research publications in the field with more than 5100 (5500) citations to date according to the Publons (Scopus) database, and has been selected among the 45 top cited publications by the American Institute of Physics over the last 85 years. It is currently among the most highly cited publications in the Journal of Applied Physics - Applied Physics Reviews, and appears in the journal's 85th anniversary portfolio collection.
Dr. Wallace is also a co-inventor of the Hf-based high-k gate dielectric materials now used by the semiconductor industry for advanced high performance logic in microprocessors. He was named Fellow of the AVS in 2007 and an IEEE Fellow in 2009 for his contributions to the field of high-k dielectrics in integrated circuits. In 2010, he was appointed the Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Professor and in 2011 he was appointed the Erik Jonsson Distinguished Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT-Dallas, and received the school’s Distinguished Senior Research Contributions Award in 2014. In 2018, 2019, and 2020 he was recognized by Clarivate Analytics as a “Highly Cited Researcher” for multiple highly cited papers ranking in the top 1% indicating substantial influence across several fields during the last decade. Of the global population of researchers, Highly Cited Researchers number 1 in 1000. In 2023, he was appointed as a US Fulbright Scholar to Ireland.
He is a member of the American Vacuum Society, the Materials Research Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the Electrochemical Society, the American Nuclear Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also served as an Editor of the Elsevier journal Applied Surface Science and on the Editorial Board of the Springer Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. His interests include nanoscale materials interfaces and integration issues for advanced devices including gate dielectrics, gate electrodes as well as nanoelectronics. Dr. Wallace also consults for semiconductor and nanotechnology companies as well as on intellectual property matters.