Sokrates Pantelides is one of a select group of members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers who have been elevated to IEEE Fellow in recognition of their accomplishments in the field of electrical engineering.
Pantelides, who is University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering, was cited “for contributions to point-defect dynamics in semiconductor devices.”
Point defects are created in silicon crystals when impurity atoms take the place of silicon atoms, when silicon atoms are missing, and when extra atoms are trapped within the silicon lattice. Semiconductor chips are made by injecting special impurities, called dopants, into different areas to alter the crystal’s electrical properties. This creates large numbers of point defects, so modeling how the defects move during the fabrication process is essential because undesirable point defects can cause chip failure. Point defects are also created during normal operations, particularly in high radiation levels like those found in space. Because the dynamics of these defects control the reliability and lifetime of the devices, modeling them is also essential.
Pantelides’ early career at IBM was devoted to this topic and he has continued to pursue it at Vanderbilt in collaboration with the engineers at Vanderbilt’s Institute for Space and Defense Electronics.
With his election Pantelides, who is also the William A. and Nancy F. McMinn Professor of Physics, brings the total number of IEEE Fellows on campus up to an even dozen.