Prof. Fitzgerald's group's research activities attack the current limitations of electronic materials, especially limitations created by imperfections in materials such as point, line, and planar defects. Much of the group's efforts are focused on lattice-mismatched semiconductor systems, in which layers in electronic materials and devices have different lattice parameters. Such material combinations have potential in printing, storage, display, communications, and interconnect applications. But the utility of these materials depends on our ability to understand and eliminate crystalline defects which can be generated due to the lattice-mismatch between semiconductor layers. Current projects involve the fabrication of GeSi/Si detectors and InGaAs/GaAs emitters which may be used in fiber-to-the-home applications; GeSi/Si structures for integrated, micro-mechanical devices; visible AlInGaP LEDs and lasers integrated on Si and GaAs; III-V microwave transistors integrated on Si; III-V solar cells integrated on Si; basic studies concerning the generation, propagation, and interaction of defects in these heterostructures; and investigations of microscopic failure mechanisms in optoelectronic and electronic devices.
The cost of solar power is beginning to reach price parity with cheaper fossil fuel-based electricity in many parts of the world, yet the clean energy source still accounts for just slightly...
The Cornell Department of Materials Science and Engineering has honored Gene Fitzgerald with the Distinguished Alumni Award for 2016, "in recognition of [his...
Professor Chiang offers his perspective on energy research, Professor Gibson describes DMSE's online educational offerings, Professor Fitzgerald explains DMSE's international collaboration with universities in...
ILP interviews Professor Gene Fitzgerald about changes in the tech industry that are driving new innovations.
“People imagine that technology research is a linear process that moves from stage to stage, but we found that’s not really what happens,” says Fitzgerald. “It’s...
Eugene Fitzgerald pursues new models for innovation in electronics as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. The Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) has entered its eighth year of investigating new...
This MITx class on Innovation and Commercialization is taught by distinguished practicing innovators who debunk the concept of innovation as a linear process, from research to development to product in the market but instead present a simple model for understanding it as a highly iterative...
MIT researchers find that heat moving in materials called superlattices behaves like waves; finding could enable better thermoelectrics. Learn more from the MIT News Office.
IEEE, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, has honored Prof. Gene Fitzgerald as a co-recipient of the Andrew S. Grove Award. This is the highest award presented by the electronic devices community. Prof. Fitzgerald is cited for his "seminal contributions to the demonstration of...
The MIT Energy Initiative's second round of seed grants for energy research, announced this week, will go toward a wide array of research topics ranging from micro-hydropower and solar-thermal power projects for developing countries, to the development of novel materials for insulation or for...
Robert H. Richards, the first department head, appears in The Technologists, a 2012 novel by Matthew Pearl.