Aein Babadi

What kind of scientist are you at Intermolecular^®, and what do you do? Here at Intermolecular^®, I test and validate advanced materials for electronic devices, I work towards introducing new materials to the semiconductor industry or improving what current materials offer for memories and logic applications.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? Being curious! Trying to solve a problem and redefining and better understanding a scientific question along the way is very rewarding. I believe this inspired me throughout my journey.

How does your work contribute to material innovation for the future of technology? I investigate new material solutions for the next generation of electronics, to provide understanding of materials properties, and their impact and constraints on the performance of electronic devices.

Tell us about a current project you are working on and how this is an example of materials innovation? Recently, I have been working towards identifying new gate electrode materials with suitable work functions for logic and memory applications. Work function is a surface property of materials, which plays a key role in charge transfer between two adjacent materials and tunes the so-called threshold voltage of transistors. In modern logic circuits, designers use threshold voltage engineering to set the best operating conditions for trading-off power consumption and speed. The candidate materials are evaluated by their electrical performance. Once validated, the optimized material compositions provide guidance for synthesizing new material precursors.