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2005-2006 Speaker Series
Mr. Brian Swahn
CAD Engineer
Technology Trends and Design Challenges for 45nm and Beyond
September 15, 2005, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
When we see an advertisement for an electronic device, the words "smaller", "faster", "wireless", etc. are usually floating around in the ad somewhere. These buzzwords have been the driving force behind the semiconductor industry for decades and there is no end in sight. The rate at which technology evolves is often refereed to as Moore's law, which states the number of transistors per die will double every one to two years. In the past, shrinking device geometries allowed the semi-conductor industry to keep up with technology demands. However, as device sizes approach 45nm, fundamental scaling limits prevent traditional scaling methods.
This talk focuses on some of these scaling limits and introduces several new non-classical CMOS device structures, such as strained Si, Schottky junctions, multiple gates, etc. The FinFET, a symmetric double gate device, will be explored. The FinFET device structure, properties, and fabrication flow will be covered. Upon examining the device, two design problems will be explored; thermal modeling and gate sizing.
The talk concludes with design challenges the semiconductor industry is currently facing and will face in the near future. Digital versus analog design challenges will be covered as well as the idea of "first silicon success" for complex designs.
Brian Swahn received a B.S. degree in both electrical and computer engineering from Penn State Behrend in 2001. He received a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Tufts University in 2002, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering, while working as a CAD engineer at Analog Devices in Wilmington, MA.
CAD Engineer
Technology Trends and Design Challenges for 45nm and Beyond
September 15, 2005, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
When we see an advertisement for an electronic device, the words "smaller", "faster", "wireless", etc. are usually floating around in the ad somewhere. These buzzwords have been the driving force behind the semiconductor industry for decades and there is no end in sight. The rate at which technology evolves is often refereed to as Moore's law, which states the number of transistors per die will double every one to two years. In the past, shrinking device geometries allowed the semi-conductor industry to keep up with technology demands. However, as device sizes approach 45nm, fundamental scaling limits prevent traditional scaling methods.
This talk focuses on some of these scaling limits and introduces several new non-classical CMOS device structures, such as strained Si, Schottky junctions, multiple gates, etc. The FinFET, a symmetric double gate device, will be explored. The FinFET device structure, properties, and fabrication flow will be covered. Upon examining the device, two design problems will be explored; thermal modeling and gate sizing.
The talk concludes with design challenges the semiconductor industry is currently facing and will face in the near future. Digital versus analog design challenges will be covered as well as the idea of "first silicon success" for complex designs.
Brian Swahn received a B.S. degree in both electrical and computer engineering from Penn State Behrend in 2001. He received a M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Tufts University in 2002, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering, while working as a CAD engineer at Analog Devices in Wilmington, MA.
Dr. William Lasher Penn State Behrend
The Aerodynamics of Yacht Sails for Downwind Sailing
October 27, 2005, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
When a sailing vessel sails in the general direction of the wind, it is referred to as "downwind sailing". Despite the fact that people have been sailing downward for thousands of years, the aerodynamics of this condition are not well understood. The flow around downwind sails is highly complex, and classical aerodynamic theory (which is used on airplane wings) does not apply. Recent advances in technology, however, are allowing us to analyze this flow and learn more about how these sails work.
Computational and experimental work has been performed on both modern racing sails and on the sails of the Brig Niagara, with some interesting findings. The results can be used by both designers and sailors to improve performance. In the case of racing yachts, speed increases of even a few percent are significant, and can make the difference between winning and losing.
Mr. Thomas BriseldenPenn State Behrend
Product Innovation in a Start-Up Company and the Impact of Engineering Interns
November 17, 2005, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
Spinworks is a relatively young company that is based in Knowledge Park on the Penn State Behrend campus in Erie, PA. Spinworks develops technologies for improving energy efficiency in industrial applications. Their flagship product is a spiral core insert, SpyroCorTM, that dramatically improves the transfer of radiation and convective heat. The objective of this seminar is to describe the company’s technologies and the role of innovation in new product development. In particular, it will address how an innovation came about when a Penn State Behrend engineering intern working at Spinworks made an error in processing a ceramic component. Under most circumstances, the part would have been discarded. The intern decided to show the component to a Penn State faculty member. Having an expertise in heat transfer, it was conceived that this new shape could be used as a heat exchanger. The resulting heat exchanger concept was proposed to the Department of Energy for a fuel cell system. Spinworks was awarded a Small Business Innovative Research Grant based on this in May 2005. The fuel cell heat exchanger will initiate the formation of a new company that will hopefully generate over 20 million dollars of revenue and create over 130 jobs. This type of innovation can only occur when university and industry interact. In addition, four patents are expected to be awarded for the design.
Mr. Thomas Peterson
President, Cybersonics; Vice President, Nuvo Surgical
Evolution and Development of the Cyberwand Dual Pole Lithotripter
January 19, 2006, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
How do students prepare to work in global environments once they graduate? What strategies have successful CEOs and entrepreneurs used to transition from college to company, and from employee to chairman of a global company? Kurt Cavano, a Behrend College graduate, has made the transition at TradeCard, Inc., a Wall Street provider of automated procurement for corporations worldwide.
President, Cybersonics; Vice President, Nuvo Surgical
Evolution and Development of the Cyberwand Dual Pole Lithotripter
January 19, 2006, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
How do students prepare to work in global environments once they graduate? What strategies have successful CEOs and entrepreneurs used to transition from college to company, and from employee to chairman of a global company? Kurt Cavano, a Behrend College graduate, has made the transition at TradeCard, Inc., a Wall Street provider of automated procurement for corporations worldwide.
Dr. Wen-Li WangPenn State Behrend
Software Design, Development, and Quality for Component-Based Software
February 16, 2006, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
Component-based software is expected to be the future trend of software development, for its easy plug-and-play and high reusability and extendibility. Component-based approach eases the integration of software entities through the defined interfaces and promotes today's object-oriented design from code and class reuses to a subsystem reuse. The benefit is good productivity and interoperability to meet industry needs. This presentation will discuss and demonstrate the design and development of component-based software using java Beans. For software quality metrics, a discrete event reliability modeling tool will be presented. This tool can model a number of different architectural behavior among software components for less time critical applications. Finally, I will introduce a time domain reliability growth model, base don Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process, for the component-based software.
Dr. Diane Parente Penn State Behrend
Business Skills for Competitive Advantage: Engineering Edition
March 16, 2006, 12:00 - 1:00 in Reed 114
What are the skills and capabilities that we can provide an engineering graduate that will distinguish him/her in the hiring process? These capabilities are developed as distinctive competencies which then become the source of competitive advantage. This session will focus on the business skills and capabilities, in priority order, that should be acquired for Behrend engineering graduates. The discussion will also include techniques that can be used in current engineering classes and possible courses outside of SEET that will facilitate skill acquisition.
All School of Engineering Speaker Series seminars are free and open to the public. We do ask that you notify us at (814) 898-6153 if you plan to attend the programs. For directions to the campus click here.