R&D Magazine, which reports on the application of new technology, has listed a creation by a University of Texas at Austin professor as one of the best 100 inventions for 2004.
Sanjay Banerjee and visiting professor Rajiv Singh, made the "R&D 100 Awards" list for improving a transistor fabrication technique that allows creation of better, faster and smaller computer chips. Banerjee holds the Cockrell Family Regents Chair and serves as director of the Microelectronics Research Center.
Banerjee's research focuses on transistors, or electronic switches, made with silicon or silicon alloys. His goal is to improve transistors to become smaller, faster and require less power to operate. He also studies fabrication techniques within semiconductor plants.
Banerjee's technique that landed on the top 100 list is called chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), a method addressing the problem of rough and uneven silicon during transistor fabrication. Banerjee and Singh developed a slurry, or mixture of abrasive particles and reactive chemicals, that will polish silicon more uniform and at a faster rate than previous methods, Banerjee said.
Other familiar inventions that received the "R&D 100 Award" in years past include the automatic teller machine, the liquid crystal display, and the Nicoderm antismoking patch. Expert judges and the R&D editorial staff name products to the list that "can change people's lives for the better, improve the standard of living for large numbers of people, save lives, promote good health, clean up the environment," according to the R&D Magazine Web site.
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About the Cockrell School of Engineering:
The Cockrell School ranks among the top ten engineering programs in the United States and aspires to move into the top five. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the Cockrell School's more than 7,000 students work with many of the world's finest engineering educators and researchers. This environment prepares graduates to become engineering leaders and innovators work¬ing for the betterment of society.