The proliferation of mobile electronic devices and the emergence of applications such as wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things have brought energy consumption to the fore of challenges for future information-processing devices. The energy efficiency of a digital logic integrated circuit is fundamentally limited by non-zero transistor off-state leakage current. Mechanical switches have zero leakage current and potentially can overcome this fundamental limit. This seminar will describe recent progress toward realizing the promise of ultra-low-power mechanical computing.

Tsu-Jae King Liu received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. From 1992 to 1996 she was a Member of Research Staff at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Palo Alto, CA). In August 1996 she joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where she is currently the TSMC Distinguished Professor in Microelectronics, and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Dr. Liu's research awards include the DARPA Significant Technical Achievement Award (2000) for development of the FinFET, the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2010) for contributions to nanoscale MOS transistors, memory devices, and MEMs devices, the Intel Outstanding Researcher in Nanotechnology Award (2012), and the Semiconductor Industry Association Outstanding Research Award (2014). She has authored or co-authored close to 500 publications and holds over 90 U.S. patents, and is a Fellow of the IEEE. Her research activities are presently in advanced materials, process technology and devices for energy-efficient electronics.

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Free and open to the public. Register online by Monday for a free lunch at UC Berkeley. The CITRIS Research Exchange Seminar Series is a weekly dialogue highlighting leading voices on societal-scale research issues. Each one-hour seminar starts at 12pm Pacific time and is hosted live at Sutardja Dai Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.

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The proliferation of mobile electronic devices and the emergence of applications such as wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things have brought energy consumption to the fore of challenges for future information-processing devices. The energy efficiency of a digital logic integrated circuit is fundamentally limited by non-zero transistor off-state leakage current. Mechanical switches have zero leakage current and potentially can overcome this fundamental limit. This seminar will describe recent progress toward realizing the promise of ultra-low-power mechanical computing.