Prof. Yue KUO
Texas A&M University, USA

Yue Kuo is the Dow Professor at Texas A&M University. He established the Thin Film Nano & Microelectronics Research Laboratory when he joined the university in 1998. Previously, he spent two decades at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center and in Silicon Valley. He obtained his PhD from Columbia University and his BS degree from National Taiwan University. Prof. Kuo is a member of the ECS Board of Directors and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.

Prof. Kuo’s research is focused on thin film materials, processes, and devices with special emphasis on large-area TFTs and future generation ULSICs. He is one of the few researchers in the world who have been deeply involved in both IC and TFT-LCD industries including research, development, and mass production since its very early stages. One of his inventions involving a plasma-based room-temperature copper etch process has been demonstrated on commercial IC and TFT LCD products. He developed the generalized relationship among the large-area PECVD process, material properties, and device characteristics, which has been widely interpreted in industry. His two-mask, self-aligned TFT fabrication process is most popular in research laboratories. He has been instrumental in the development of TFT LCD technology.

Prof. Kuo’s honors include receiving the ECS Electronics and Photonics Award, ten IBM technology and Invention awards, and being named an ECS Fellow, an IEEE Fellow, and a TEES Fellow. Prof. Kuo has been an Honorary Guest Professor at Nankai University, at Xian Jiaotong University, and at Shanghai Jiaotong University. He has received many best paper awards as well. He has served on numerous advisory and review boards, panels, and committees for the U.S. National Academies of Science and Engineering, and for industry, professional societies, universities, and governments globally. He has been involved in organizing and chairing 60 international conferences, including a conference on “ULSIC vs. TFT 2” in July 2009 in Xi’an, China, which resulted in the publication of a volume in ECS Transactions (Vol. 22, 2009).

Prof. Kuo has published over 400 papers, five books, 14 conference proceedings, and has 40 inventions to his name. He was the guest editor for an MRS Bulletin special issue on advanced flat panel displays and materials (2002), and was a guest editor for IBM J. R&D special issue on plasma technologies (1998). Prof. Kuo has delivered 120 plenary/keynote/invited speeches at international conferences, universities, R&D centers, and national laboratories. His two-volume book, Thin Film Transistors (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004), has become a classic, comprehensive textbook used in universities and industry.