Subject development is the top priority of a university’s development. We have recently conducted a series of exclusive interview with each new dean and chairs for the benefit our readers. Our interviewee this time is the chair of Materials Science and Engineering Department, Professor Cheng Xin. We will share the innovative and working ideas on aspects such as construction of mathematics, scientific research and teaching reform, transformation of industry-university-research and so on.
Since the advent of the first transistor, semiconductor technology has been developing for more than half a century, and now it still maintains its strong momentum in development, and continues to follow Moore’s Law; that is, the chip integration is doubled every 18 months, and with the speed that every three years, the device size reduces 0.7 times, the present 14 nm technology nodes with diameter of 300 mm appear. IC production with large size, line width, high precision, high efficiency and low cost has brought unprecedented challenges to semiconductor equipment.
In the past decades, semiconductor processing has been adopting optical lithography technology for pattern transfer. However, due to the inherent limitations of optical lithography technology, it is difficult for the semiconductor industry to continue to develop rapidly according to Moore’s Law. In the next generation of pattern shift technology, the electron-beam direct writing, extreme-ultraviolet lithography, self-assembly of block polymer and nanoimpint lithography play important roles. Wherein, the nanoimprint technology is an important manufacture technology of nano-sized electronic devices with advantages of high accuracy, low cost and simple process.
In the future, display screen of “organic electronics” and “flexible display panels” may be as thin as paper, and may be so soft that it can be arbitrarily distorted; put smart skin based on “flexible sensor” on robots, and the future robots may have the same appearance as humans, and they may feel cold and warm as humans. When the sensor array fabricated using micro-nanofabrication is applied on humans, they can become more powerful; the blind can see again and the deaf can hear again! Aren’t all those new technologies novel? Please come to Materials Department of SUSTC to learn them from Professor Cheng Xin quickly.
Professor Cheng Xin: In 1997, he was awarded bachelor’s degree in Geochemistry of USTC; in 1999, he was awarded master’s degree in geochemistry of Stanford University; in 2005, he was awarded Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering of University of Michigan, and the professional direction was semiconductor materials and devices. In 2005, he was the postdoctoral fellow of Purdue University; from 2006-2012, he taught at Texas A & M University; in 2011, he was awarded Young Scholar Award of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA YFA); in the same year, he was awarded CAREER Award issued by the US National Science Foundation (NSF CAREER); at present, he is a professor in Materials Science and Engineering Department of SUSTC. Currently, he is engaged in processing and application research of micro-nano structure.
As to scientific research, the special research platform “super-clean room” needed by micro-nanofabrication processing has been initially built.
Q: Could you please introduce the micro-nano processing field you are currently researching to us?
Cheng Xin: The current research we are doing is a branch of materials science, i.e. processing and manufacturing of semiconductor materials compared with the more cutting-edge micro-nano processing. Simply put, it is to make tiny structures as small as possible. One nanometer is one millionth of a millimeter, which is 10,000 times smaller than the body’s cells and narrower than a single DNA molecule. Our research interest ranges from several nanometers to several hundred micrometers. Currently the most advanced integrated circuit manufacturing is processing of the 14 nanometer semiconductor, the goal of our research is that it can be pushed forward further and become smaller. Application scope of micro-nano fabrication is very extensive, including integrated circuit chips, micro electro-mechanical sensors, flat panel display, information storage devices, and so on. Modern micro-nano fabrication technologies are increasingly applied to biomedical engineering research, including single-cell research and manipulation of a single DNA molecule. Micro-nano fabrication is one of the most cutting-edge fields of contemporary engineering technology, and it has a profound impact on every aspect of our life.
Q: As to the research direction, which direction does Materials Science and Engineering Department of SUSTC focus on? Why?
Cheng Xin: The Material Department of SUSTC is oriented towards the development needs of the country, the industrial layout of Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City; with the expertise of the currently introduced professors taken into account, we have selected eight key development directions as the focuses, which are energy materials and devices, organic electronics, biotechnology and medicine materials, information materials, soft materials, aerospace materials, advanced manufacturing technology (including powder metallurgy and material increase manufacturing), processing and application of micro and nano structures. In the subsequent development, we will choose the best of the best, and form landmark research directions of SUSTC. As to overall planning of Material Department, it will serve important research fields that are badly needed by our country, Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City. It will become an internationally renowned base for materials science research within 10–15 years.
Q: What is your overall planning of Materials Science and Engineering Department in SUSTC?
Cheng Xin: As an important engineering department of SUSTC, of course, the overall objective of Material Department is in line with that of SUSTC, that is, providing services to construction of an innovative country and construction of Shenzhen as an innovative city. The curricular setup and talent cultivation, among other aspects, are to serve important research fields that are badly needed by our country, Guangdong Province and Shenzhen City and to provide support for manufacturing integrated circuit, Chinese manufacturing 2025, Industry 4.0, robotics, networking, etc. Any of the above large technology fields is inextricably linked with materials; materials are the material basis of these technologies; our master plan is to provide support in the critical fields needed by the country, and promote development and progress in these areas from the perspective of material.
Q: What are the visions of Materials Science and Engineering Department of SUSTC in the short, medium and long-term?
Cheng Xin: The short term (1–3 years) is the construction phase. We just finished the strategic development seminar of Materials Department, and has planned a lot of tasks in teaching, research and personnel training; we need to accomplish these tasks step by step, and lay a good foundation for the development of Materials Department; the medium term (4–5 years) is the takeoff stage; if the previous design is reasonable, and we can work actively, it is expected to achieve rapid improvement in quality of research, teaching and personnel training in all aspects; achieve first-class knowledge innovation, at the same time, form vibrant atmosphere in entrepreneurship and technological achievements transformation. We will cooperate with other departments of SUSTC, and strive to make materials science enter the country’s top five within five years; as for the long term (10–15 years), we will make it become an internationally renowned research base of materials science, and a listed company is expected to be founded by teachers and students of Materials Department from perspective of entrepreneurship.
Q: Are there any foreign universities that Materials Science and Engineering of SUSTC is trying to emulate?
Cheng Xin: In the design and planning stage, we have been referring to the best domestic material faculties, including Shanghai Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Zhejiang University and Fudan University. However, given the limited scale, we have to make a choice, and focus on the development of the future important frontier areas. As to foreign universities, we mainly refer to MIT, University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, and Stanford University etc. Fields of research and curriculum is set based on a survey of the above domestic and overseas universities.
Q: What are you going to do in the construction of interdisciplinary of Materials Science and Engineering Department in SUSTC?
Cheng Xin: Naturally the materials science is highly cross-disciplinary, interdisciplinary is naturally one of the genetic characteristics of materials science; in institutes of engineering, there are many crossing fields among Electronic Engineering, Mechanical and Energy Department, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Science and Engineering and so on; in colleges of science, a lot of cutting-edge researches are concerned with materials such as those in physics, chemistry and biology or knowledge in these areas are essential for the research and development of materials science. For example, solid state physics knowledge is applied when making electronic materials; organic chemistry is necessary for manufacturing of organic electronics and synthesis of organic semiconductors; biological material cannot be separated from Biology. Even mathematics can play an important role in theoretical calculation and simulation of materials. The inherent characteristics determine that the Material Department can naturally form interdisciplinary research centers with other departments.
Longitudinal setting of plans of SUSTC is department management and transverse setting is dynamic management of research centers. Materials Department will actively cooperate with teachers in other departments from the development perspective, organizes interdisciplinary and specialized research centers for research of the current major research directions which are highly concerned by the society. Such as new energy research center, soft matter research center, etc., all of which are needed to be participated in and promoted by professors with different majors.
As to talent introduction, it is changed from sitting back and waiting to taking action initiatively.
Q: As to talent introduction of Materials Science and Engineering Department, what are your plans and measures?
Cheng Xin: The overall objective is to introduce 40 professors, 3-7 professors for each direction and there are 8 directions in total. Large research directions, including energy and environmental materials, biomedical materials, advanced manufacturing technology, will be emphasized. There are currently 14 professors already in place, and 8 professors will be in place next semester.
As to introduction of talents, we focus on echelon configuration and hire accomplished senior academics and promising young scholars all over the world. We put emphasis on the introduction of potential young scholars, after cultivation of 5–10 years, they will become academic backbones. In the past we recruited by sitting back and waiting. After determining the key development directions, we will recruit outstanding talents based on development plan of the department initiatively with targeted approaches. There are mainly two aspects: the first is vigorous publicity campaign by advertising and issuing invitations in professional magazines, journals and on international conferences; meanwhile directly contract with famous material faculties in Europe and Japan and send recruitment information to these outstanding doctoral graduates and postdoctoral scholars to maximize the intensity and scope of publicity; the second is to take the initiative to invite the talents that are desperately needed with targeted approaches, focus on information of specialists who has the intention to work in SUSTC, and strive to get them to work at Materials Department of SUSTC.
As to undergraduate training, we not only focus on curriculum system construction and quality but also strengthen the international training adopting “introducing in” and “sending out” approaches , and strive to obtain ABET certification within two years.
Q: What are your plans and measures in cultivating students?
Cheng Xin: In terms of student cultivation, there are several plans and measures: firstly, we pay attention to establishment of the whole curriculum system and enhancement of overall quality of courses, and build our curriculum system with reference to domestic and overseas first-class materials science, combined with our own characteristics and development priorities. Professional foundation courses should be as refined as possible, elective courses should be as rich as possible. This can help students lay a solid foundation, and choose their own direction of development according to their interests and expertise, and then achieve personalized education.
Secondly, the quality of teaching is assessed by domestic and foreign counterparts. In late October, we will organize teaching directors from famous domestic and foreign teaching materials faculties to come to SUSTC for assessment of our teaching system and quality. They will help find out problems existing in the specialty setup and curriculum setup, as well as in personnel training programs, and we will take this opportunity to communicate with them, and to learn the best cutting-edge approaches of our country for materials teaching and talent training, thus further improving our teaching level; on the other hand, we have started to prepare for the assessment of our material specialties by the United States ABET (ABET), and strive to acquire ABET certification within two years, and let our material specialties acquire quality certification of international authority. In teaching, we encourage teachers to get involved in teaching work actively, set up teaching awards within the Department, and put the importance of teaching into practice with evaluation, assessment and promotion;
Thirdly, on the whole, in addition to knowledge instilling, we cultivate students’ abilities and character through research-driven learning and by taking more experiment and practice teaching. Curriculum knowledge in university can only give them the first jobs; however, the abilities and personality are important factors for them to maintain lifetime competitiveness.
Fourthly, we put the emphasis on internationalization education. We hope our graduates can have an international perspective and are competitive worldwide. We not only adopt English-only teaching, international first-class teaching materials and curriculum system but also develop the “introducing in” program to be combined with the foreign Study Abroad Program, for the purpose of making Materials Department of SUSTC become a base for overseas study and internship; we also invite famous scholars in the field of materials to open summer courses in SUSTC, so that our students can receive the guidance of top international scholars. As for “Sending out” program, we build our own Study Abroad Program under the support of International Cooperation Department of the school to enhance students’ international experience. Meanwhile, ABET certification will also help us to recruit outstanding overseas students in the future worldwide and we can integrate them into our teaching and talent training. Through these measures we create a very good atmosphere for our students to mingle with peers from around the globe, and in the future, they will be able to come to the fore in international working environment with ease.
As to industry, university and research, the consortium will be established recently, and in the future, we will build a mixed-ownership research center for major subjects in cooperation with government and enterprises.
Q: What are the plans of Materials Science and Engineering Department in encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship of teachers and students?
Cheng Xin: In terms of innovation, we focus on cutting-edge basic research in materials field, encourage teachers and students to get first-class original scientific research achievements and actively encourage teachers to apply for high-quality patents; technology results transfer is critical in entrepreneurship aspect, ,and we must show characteristics of SUSTC in industry, university and research. With reference to some of the practices of foreign universities, we will soon set up consortium focusing on several important directions, and invite a number of high-tech enterprises to join in it; twice seminars every year are held to establish the close connection between professors of Materials Department and high-tech enterprises. Such a consortium will promote further combination of high-tech enterprises with universities; at the same time, it also can provide a good platform for employment and internship of students and scholarship for students. Also we hope to build a mixed-ownership research center for major subjects in cooperation with government and enterprises. We concentrate on researching subdivided subjects, hoping to get substantial technological progress and breakthrough. By consortium and mixed-ownership research center, more horizontal subjects will be brought to SUSTC, and efficient atmosphere for technology achievement transformation will be formed, then it can really provide services for upgrading industrial transformation of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province and the country.
