Martin M Frank

Dr. Martin M. Frank is a Senior Research Scientist and Manager, Exploratory Materials and Device Characterization, at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY. He studies materials, devices, and architectures for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware as well as materials and devices for non-volatile memory and CMOS logic. Examples include oxides for resistive switching, ferroelectrics, high-permittivity (high-k) gate dielectrics and metal electrodes, and high-carrier-mobility semiconductors.

In 1996, Dr. Frank earned a Diplom degree in physics from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany. He then joined Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Berlin, Germany, studying the surface science of catalysis. In 2000, Dr. Frank received a Ph.D. degree in physics from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. During a postdoctoral appointment at Rutgers University, he commenced his work on high-k dielectrics and investigated self-assembled monolayers for molecular electronics. In 2003, Dr. Frank joined IBM to study high-k dielectrics and metal gate electrodes, and during an assignment to IMEC in Leuven, Belgium, he worked in the field of photoresist chemistry.

Dr. Frank has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and has served as an editor of the book Thin Films on Silicon: Electronic and Photonic Applications. He has given more than 80 invited and contributed presentations and holds more than 100 U.S. patents. He chairs the 2024 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) subcommittee for Neuromorphic and Novel Computing, serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth (IKZ) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) Joint University Microelectronics Program 2.0 (JUMP 2.0) program, and serves as a Nominator for the Japan Prize. He previously served on the Advisory Board of the German Academic International Network (GAIN), on the Editorial Board of the Journal Materials, and on the IEEE Semiconductor Interface Specialists Conference (SISC) Executive Committee. He has also chaired symposia at Materials Research Society (MRS) and European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) Spring Meetings.

In 2000, Dr. Frank was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society; in 2022, he received an SRC Mahboob Khan Outstanding Liaison Award. He has also received two IBM Research Division Awards and two Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards for his contributions to high-k/metal gate and III-V technology and to the fundamental understanding of ferroelectric switching on silicon, and has been recognized as an IBM Master Inventor.

Dr. Frank is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society, DPG).

Comprehensive publication list:

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