A professor in the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering recently received a two-year grant from National Semiconductor Corporation, the world leader in the production of energy-efficient analog and mixed-signal semiconductor devices.
The Santa Clara, Calif. headquartered company awarded Stanko R. Brankovic, an assistant professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering, the gift grant of $130,000 in October.
During the next two years, Brankovic will use the money to further research into the electrodeposition of magnetically soft, high magnetic moment alloys. The process is used in the manufacturing of magnetic recording heads, micro-electromehcanical and nano-electromechanical systems. These are among the main products produced for the magnetic recording industry. Through his research, this same process could also be an alternative technique to producing semiconductor devices at a low-cost, utilizing technology already adapted to industrial production.
“Current developments in this area is driven by the need for high magnetic moment alloys and a reliable deposition process, which can deliver nanosize magnetic structures having at least one dimension below 100 nanometers,” Brankovic said. “At this scale, the performance of the magnetic recording devices and their reliability becomes critically dependent of the physical and magnetic properties of the electrodeposited alloys, their stability during different fabrication step and their compatibility with other materials used for device fabrication.”
He will explore, through his research, effects such as stress build up in magnetic deposits and control of that by incorporation of small organic molecules in magnetic alloys.
“I’m leveraging from my research previously done in this area and working on it’s application in industry,” Brankovic said. “Understanding of the stress evolution of thin films during the growth is still not a very well understood phenomenon. Additives are used to control this, but nobody understands the real fundamental mechanisms of how this happens. This research supported by National Semiconductor will answer some questions about this phenomenon.”
The two-year collaboration is just the start of a relationship with one of the leading high-tech companies that could fuel a long-term.