Team

Expertise: III-V material and device technology

Background: Muralidharan Rangarajan served as the CEO of the Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre from 2006 to 2009 and the Director of the Solid State Physics Laboratory at DRDO from 2008 to 2015. He joined CeNSE, IISc as a Visiting Professor in July 2015. While at the Solid State Physics Laboratory, Muralidharan guided the development of high-frequency GaAs-based material and device technology. He also developed the material and device technology for GaN-based High Electron Mobility Transistors for high-power and high-frequency applications.

Expertise: Process technology and integration

Background: Shankar is a Prof. Ramakrishna Rao chair Associate Professor at CeNSE, IISc and also the Chair of the National Nano fabrication Centre (NNfC), IISc. Before joining IISc in 2014, he worked at imec Belgium. Shankar has spent over 15 years working in the silicon and integrated photonics space, developing state-of-the-art CMOS processes and device technology for high-speed optical interconnect and sensing applications. He holds six international patents and has received the DST-SERB Early Carrier Researcher award and the Visvesvaraya Young Faculty Research Fellowship award. His current research areas include silicon photonic integrated circuit-enabled high-speed optical connectivity technology, integrated photonics-based on-chip sensors, neuromorphic photonics, and quantum photonic integrated circuits.

Expertise: Nanoscale and power semiconductor device design; process integration, modeling, characterization, and reliability; and device-circuit co-design and on-chip reliability

Background: Mayank is an Associate Professor at the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (DESE), IISc and co-founder of AGNIT Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd. He is among the first recipients of the Indian Section of American TR35 Award, and one of the first Indians to have received the IEEE EDS Early Career Award. Mayank broadly focuses on the applications of emerging materials, like GaN and atomically thin two-dimensional materials like graphene and TMDCs, in electronic and electro-optic devices, working closer to their fundamental limits (like the ability to handle extreme powers, work at ultra-high frequencies, and compute information in unconventional ways).

Mayank has made pathbreaking advancements during his tenure at major organizations, such as Infineon Technologies, IBM Microelectronics, and Intel Corp., before he joined IISc and holds 45 patents, including several LDMOS patents and most FinFET power MOSFET patents.

Expertise: Wide band gap and ultrawide band gap devices for RF and power electronics, especially GaN HEMTs and Ga2O3 diodes

Background: Digbijoy, or Diggi, is an Associate Professor at CeNSE, IISc. He is an electronics engineer by training, and his broad areas of interest include semiconductor devices for high-speed/high-power applications. At IISc, his group is working on microwave GaN HEMTs on silicon and SiC substrates as well as novel buffer schemes and device designs for improved RF output power in the C and X bands. His group also investigates the science and technology aspects of high-voltage, high-current GaN HEMTs, including novel gate stacks, passivation schemes, and multi-finger device designs for power switching. In addition, his group is exploring emerging gallium oxide-based high-voltage diodes. At GEECI, Diggi is involved in the development of microwave GaN HEMTs, particularly in the L and S bands.

Expertise: Semiconductors (industry), mathematical modeling, entrepreneurship, education, policy

Background: Madhusudan Atre, or Madhu, is a PhD in theoretical physics. Madhu works with and connects various academic, industry, and government organizations as well as entrepreneurs and startups. He acts as a mentor and advisor to several startups and is a co-founder of a semiconductor startup. Madhu is a member of various committees associated with Indian academic institutions and the government of India. As a semiconductor professional, Madhu helped found the India center of Lucent Microelectronics and served as the VP & MD of the India operations of Lucent Microelectronics, Agere Systems, LSI, Applied Materials, and AMD. His current technical interests lie in the application of Causal AI in precision medicine and personalized healthcare. Madhu also holds a Doctorate in business administration.

Expertise: Power semiconductors (industry), Patent analysis, Market Research

Background: Sridhar holds a PhD in Materials Science from Arizona State University and has conducted several years of applied research on GaN-based devices. Sridhar also comes with a wealth of semiconductor research and technological management experience at esteemed institutions including Gartner and GE Research. At GE Research, he led techno-commercial initiatives on various semiconductor technologies, particularly silicon carbide power electronics. During his stint at Gartner, Sridhar was responsible for analyzing the power semiconductor industry and advising CXOs on technology commercialization. He currently leads GEECI’s foundry and incubator business operations as the Chief Executive Officer.