D. Houser Banks Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ph.D., 1979 - McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Physics
M.S. - Meerut University, Meerut, India
Physics/Electronics
B.S. - Agra University, Agra, India
Physics
Contact Information
Office: 206 Riggs Hall
Office Phone: 864.656.0919
Fax: 864.656.5910
Email: srajend@clemson.edu
Professional
With proven success in operations, project/program leadership, R&D, product/process commercialization, and start-ups, Dr. Singh is a leading semiconductor and photovoltaic (PV) expert with over 35 years of industrial and academic experience of photovoltaic and semiconductor industries Dr. Rajendra Singh received the Ph.D. degree from McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, in 1979. From 1979 to 1980, Dr. Singh was a Visiting Assistant Professor at both the University Of Waterloo, Canada and at Colorado State University, Fort Collins. In 1980, he joined Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. as Senior Research Scientist and worked on amorphous silicon solar cells and thermoelectric devices. Before coming to Clemson University, he was a Professor and the Director of the Microelectronics Laboratory at University of Oklahoma’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In 1992, he joined Clemson University as the first D. Houser Banks Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. From 1996 to 1999, he served as the Director of the Materials Science and engineering Program at Clemson. In 1997, he became the Director of the Center for Silicon Nanoelectronics at Clemson. Dr. Singh is currently D. Houser Banks Professor in the Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of the Center for Silicon Nanoelectronics at Clemson University.
Research
Dr. Singh’s research contributions have been primarily in the field of rapid thermal processing, ultra-thin gate dielectrics, low and high-k dielectrics, superconductivity, manufacturing of silicon integrated circuits, and solar cells, thermoelectric devices, nanotechnology and local DC electricity. He was the first one to report the fundamental differences between furnace processing and rapid thermal processing. His work on rapid thermal processing has led to various new applications, such as novel chemical vapor deposition techniques for the deposition of high- and low-dielectric constant materials and manufacturing of solar cells. His fundamental work has served as an initial incubator to the rapid thermal processing (RTP) technology and the related semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry is now valued at over one billion dollars per year, as he has discovered several of the concepts used in the commercial RTP tools. The use of RTP in solar cells manufacturing is mainly due to Dr. Singh’s contributions. His work on solar cells is a part of many recent textbooks on solar cells and has been cited by researchers throughout the world. His early work on ultrathin gate oxide led to the passivation techniques used in surface of commercial silicon solar cells. Similarly his fundamental work on conducting oxide semiconductor led to the use of these materials in all kind of commercial thin film solar cells. The technology invented by Dr. Singh at Energy Conversion Devices (US Patent No. 4419533. South African Patent No. 830748; Great Britain Patent No. 2116364) is used in the manufacturing of amorphous thin film PV modules sold by United Solar. The technology invented by Dr. Singh (US Patens #.5, 820, 942, 1998& # 5, 980, 637, 1999) has been licensed to RTP tool manufacturer AG Associates (prototype tool developed in his Lab)..From solar cells to low power electronics, he has led the work on semiconductor and photovoltaic device materials and processing by manufacturable innovation and defining critical path. He has published over 350 papers in various journals and conference proceedings. He is editor or coeditor of more than fifteen conference proceedings. He has presented over 50 keynote addresses and invited talks in various national and international conferences.
Professional Activities, Honors, and Awards
Dr. Singh has served on a number of committees of various professional societies. Currently he is serving as Chair of IEEE Electron Devices Society Technical Committee on Semiconductor Manufacturing and Editor of IEEE Journal of Electron Devices Society. Part of Prof. Singh's awards and honors include IEEE distinguished Lecturer for Latin American on Solar Cells (Region 9) 1983, Distinguished Technologist United Nations Development Program (1987), IEEE Electron Device Society distinguished Lecturer (1994-2012), and outstanding Researcher Award, Clemson University, Sigma Xi Chapter (1997), five Clemson University awards for Faculty Excellence, Thomas D. Callinan Award of the Electrochemical Society (1998), J.F. Gibbons Award from the 11th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Thermal Processing of Semiconductors (2003), and the 2005 McMaster University Distinguished Alumni Award. Photovoltaics World (October 2010) selected him as one of the 10 Global “Champions of Photovoltaic Technology”. Dr. Singh is 2014 recipient of the SPIE Technology Achievement Award. He is Fellow of IEEE, SPIE, AAAS and ASM. On April 17, 2014 he was honored by US President Barack Obama as a White House “Champion of Change for Solar Deployment” for his leadership in advancing solar energy with PV technology.