SPOTLIGHT

Ashly's paper on "Persistent photoconductivity and Emulating Ebbinghaus forgetting curve via characterization of excitatory synaptic transmission in a ZnO-based optoelectronic synapse with ultra-low power (~ fJ) consumption", co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in Applied Surface Science by Elsevier. 

(I.F. 6.3).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2024.161767

Amrita's paper on "Combined optical & electrical control of a low-power consuming (∼fJ) two-terminal organic artificial synapse for associative learning and neuromorphic applications" co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in Nanoscale by RSC (I.F. 5.8)

Link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4NR02673J

A paper on "A carbon electrode approach for TiO2-write-once-read-many resistive memories", co-authored by Dr. R. Thamankar, in collaboration with researchers from Dept. of Chemistry and School of Electrical Engineering at VIT Vellore, and Multimedia University and Taylor's University in Malaysia, is published in Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing by Elsevier. (I.F. 4.2)

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mssp.2024.108839

A paper on "Ligand-controlled UV light absorption property and neuromorphic behavior of a new Th(IV)- bisphosphoramide complex", co-authored by Keval and Dr. R. Thamankar, in collaboration with researchers from Depts. of Chemistry at VIT Vellore and IIT Kanpur, and Fuel Chemistry Division at IGCAR Kalpakkam is published in Inorganic Chemistry Communications by Elsevier. 

(I.F. 4.4).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inoche.2024.112957

Ashly's paper on "Emulating Ebbinghaus forgetting behavior in a neuromorphic device based on low dimensional h-BN", co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in AIP Advances by AIP Publishing. (I.F. 1.4).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0203002

Amrita presented her research work on "Pb-free Cs3Cu2I5 perovskite based opto-electronic synaptic device for neuromorphic application" and won the Best Oral Presentation Award at the International Conference on Low-Energy Digital Devices and Computing (ICLED2024) held during 01-04 August 2024 at Singapore.

Promoting science communication, Prof. Ramesh Thamankar inaugurated the Physics Association at Auxilium College, Vellore. In his keynote address, Prof. Thamankar introduced the audience to cutting-edge topics in Neuromorphic Computing and Quantum Computing, inspiring students to pursue Physics in their higher education.

Sreelakshmi's paper on "Investigation of the transient photo-response and switching window of an Al/indigo/Al device: unveiling negative photoconductivity and the photo-enhanced memory window", co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in Materials Advances by RSC. (I.F. 5.2).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D4MA00302K

Mr. Mrunal Shete successfully defended his M.Sc. Thesis titled "Pb-free Cs3Cu2I5 perovskite based opto-electronic synaptic device for neuromorphic application" and presented his research work at the Post-graduate Research Outcome Symposium (PROS-2024) at VIT Vellore.

Prof. Ramesh Thamankar delivered an invited lecture on "2D Materials and Electronics" at the Faculty Development Program on Emerging Materials for Future Electronics organised by the School of Electronics Engineering, VIT - Vellore.

A paper on "Guidelines for the Design of Random Telegraph Noise-Based True Random Number Generators", co-authored by Dr. R. Thamankar, in collaboration with researchers from UNIMORE - Italy, CHALMERS - Sweden, and IMRE & SUTD - Singapore, is published in IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability. (I.F. 2.5)

Link: https://doi.org/10.1109/TDMR.2024.3394576

A paper on "Reliability Analysis of Random Telegraph Noisebased True Random Number Generators", co-authored by Dr. R. Thamankar, in collaboration with researchers from UNIMORE - Italy, CHALMERS - Sweden, and IMRE & SUTD - Singapore, is published in 2023 IEEE International Integrated Reliability Workshop (IIRW).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1109/IIRW59383.2023.10477697

Girish, Keval, and Ashly from NeoSMaRT Group Win Second Prize in Physics Quiz at VIT-Vellore's National Science Day Celebrations.

Ashly presented her research work on "Optoelectronic synapse using h-BN" and won the Best Oral Presentation (Third Prize) Award at the National Conference on Functional Materials and Applications (NCFMA-2024) held during 18-19 January 2024 at Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, India.

Meenu's paper on "Spike rate dependent synaptic characteristics in lamellar, multilayered α-MoO3 based two-terminal devices: efficient way to control synaptic amplification", co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in RSC Advances by Royal Society of Chemistry. (I.F. 4.036).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RA07757H

Amrita presented her poster titled "Artificial synapse based on Carbon Quantum Dots dispersed in Indigo molecular layer for Neuromorphic device application" at the 34th Annual General Meeting of Materials Research Society of India and 5th Indian Materials conclave, held at IIT (BHU), Varanasi during 12-15 December 2023.

Amrita presented her research work on "Carbon Quantum Dots based Neuromorphic Device" at the 2nd International Conference on Advanced Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology held during 20-21 November 2023 at Vienna, Austria.

Meenu's INSPIRE Fellowship is upgraded to Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) based on good progress in her work on "Threshold Switching in single/multilayer MoO3" by DST, Govt. of India.

Congratulations Meenu!

A new probe station is added to the lab facility for electrical characterization of thin film devices.

Specifications:

• Make: EverBeing Int'l; Model: C4

• 4 probes with magnetic-lock-based micropositioners

• Tungsten probe tips of 5µm diameter

• Heatable vacuum chuck; Temperatures: RT - 200°C

• Optical microscope; Magnification: 150x; Camera: Moticam 8MP

• Source Measurement Unit (SMU) - Keysight B2902B

This instrument is funded by DST-SERB Core Research Grant.

Girish participated in the 10-days Hands-on Training on "Nanofabrication and Characterization Techniques" as a part of Indian Nanoelectronics Users Programme - idea to innovation (INUP-i2i)  jointly organized by MeitY, Govt. of India and CeNSE, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru from 04-14 September 2023.

Sreelakshmi's paper on "Coexistence of synaptic behaviour and negative differential resistance at room temperature in the resistive switching device based on natural indigo molecules", co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in Dyes and Pigments by Elsevier. (I.F. 5.122).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2023.111638

Ms. Aishwarya G, who completed her Master's Thesis with NeoSMaRT, joins the Masters Programme in Materials Science and Engineering at Columbia University, New York, USA.

Keval's paper on "Bio-inspired artificial synapse for neuromorphic computing based on NiO nanoparticle thin film" co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, Dr. A. Rastogi & Dr. R. Ganesan, is published in Nature Scientific Reports (I.F. 4.6).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33752-56

Keval won the Best Poster Presentation Award at the International Conference on Functional Materials for Future Technology (IC-FMFT 2023) hosted by the Centre for Functional Materials at VIT Vellore, India. The award sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry included an RSC Book Voucher along with the certificate.

Congratulations Keval!

NeoSMaRT group members participated and volunteered for the International Conference on Functional Materials for Future Technology (IC-FMFT 2023) hosted by the Centre for Functional Materials at VIT Vellore, India from April 19-21, 2023.

• Ashly, Amrita, Keval, Meenu and Sreelakshmi participated in Poster Presentation, and also volunteered for the conference.

• Girish actively volunteered in designing and compiling the official Book of Abstracts, and served as the Master of Ceremonies for the inaugural event.

• Dr. Ramesh Thamankar served as the Chair for some technical sessions and organised the events as the Convener of the conference.

The Centre for Functional Materials (CFM) hosts the International Conference on Functional Materials for Future Technology (IC-FMFT 2023) from 19-21 April 2023 at VIT Vellore, India.

Dr. Ramesh Thamankar and CFM Director Dr. R. Ezhil Vizhi convene the conference.

• Book of Abstracts: icfmft2023-bookofabstracts.pdf

• Conference Website: https://vit.ac.in/ICFMFT-2023/

Amrita's paper on "Artificial synapse based on carbon quantum dots dispersed in indigo molecular layer for neuromorphic applications" co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar, is published in APL Materials by AIP Publishing. (I.F. 6.635)

Link: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0143219

Dr. V. Radhakrishna, Head - Instrumentation Division, Space Astronomy Group, U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO delivered a talk on "Space Science Missions - Motivation and Challenges" to the students and faculty at VIT Vellore.

This lecture was organised by Prof. Ramesh Thamankar through Centre for Functional Materials (CFM).

Ashly attended the 1-week training programme on R&D Equipment "Advanced Instrumentation: Theory and Practice" jointly organized by the Department of Physics, SAS, VIT, Vellore and NIT, Warangal under the DST STUTI scheme.

Girish and Amrita attended the 3-days INUP-i2i online Familiarization Workshop on Nanofabrication Technologies, conducted by IIT-Bombay during 23-25 January 2023.

Prof. Ramesh Thamankar's project proposal on "MoS2/CaF2 Nanocomposite based Resistive Switching devices for Neuromorphic applications" is awarded the Core Research Grant (CRG) for a duration of 3 years by the Science and Engineering Board (SERB), DST, Govt. of India.

Prof. Ramesh Thamankar delivers an invited talk on "Memristors as an ideal platform for Neuromorphic devices and computation - A Physicist's perspective" during the 10th National Conference on Condensed Matter Physics and Applications (CMPA2022) organised by Manipal Institute of Techonology, Manipal, Karnataka, India.

Ms. Meera N, who completed her Master's Thesis with NeoSMaRT, joins her Ph.D. position with Dr. Alwin Daus at the Chair of Electronic Devices (ELD), RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Update: Ms. Meera is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at University of Freiburg, Germany.

Ashly presented her poster titled 'Room temperature Photoluminescence in low dimensional hexagonal Boron Nitride' at the International symposium on “Advanced Microscopy and its Application in Materials Science" organised by IIT, Madras, Chennai.

Ms. Aishwarya G, who completed her Master's Thesis with NeoSMaRT, qualifies the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) 2022.

Amrita, Meenu and Girish attended a 6-day virtual workshop on "Research Opportunities in Semiconductor Materials and Devices" (ROSMD-2022) jointly organised by SRMIST, Chennai and IIITDM, Kancheepuram.

Keval attended the 10-day Hands-on Training on "Nanofabrication and Characterization Techniques" as Level 2 of Indian Nanoelectronics Users Programme - idea to innovation (INUP-i2i) organized by CeNSE, IISc, Bengaluru.

Keval attended a 1-week Workshop on "Emerging Electronics for Logic and Memory devices: Towards Next-generation Computing

System" under Abhyaas Karyashala component of Accelerate Vigyan Scheme of SERB-DST organised by NIT-Silchar, Assam.

Ashly's paper on "Room-Temperature Deep-UV Photoluminescence from Low-Dimensional Hexagonal Boron Nitride Prepared Using a Facile Synthesis"  co-authored with Dr. R. Thamankar is published in ACS Omega (I.F. 4.1).

Link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c02884

Ashly presented her work titled 'Room temperature photoluminescence in low dimensional hexagonal Boron Nitride' at the online Student Research Symposium 2022 themed 'Emerging Nanotechnology in Electron Devices' jointly organised by IEEE Chapters (NTC, EDS, and Sensors Council), IIT, Indore.

Meenu is awarded the INSPIRE Fellowship for her work on "Threshold Switching in single/multilayer MoO3" by DST, Govt. of India.

Ms. Meera successfully defends her M.Sc. Thesis titled "Two-dimensional materials based artificial synapses" at VIT, Vellore.

Ms. Aishwarya successfully defended her M.Sc. Thesis titled "Resistive Switching based Neuromorphic Devices" at VIT, Vellore.

Book Chapter on "Resistive Switching and Hysterisis Phenomena at Nanoscale" written by alumnus Vithaldas along with Prof. Ramesh, is published in the book 'Electromagnetic Field in Advancing Science and Technology' by IntechOpen.

Link: https://www.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101500

Amrita qualifies the national level Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Physics 2021.