In this interview, Mr. Francesco Fortunato, working on the Move2THz project at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), reflects on the rapid evolution of semiconductor technologies and emphasizes the importance of continuous learning through research papers and hands-on experience. Mr. Fortunato shares insights into his role at Chalmers, detailing responsibilities such as conducting research, developing hands-on lab expertise, and collaborating with supervisors and colleagues.

Q: 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜/𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞2𝐓𝐇𝐳 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?
A: My PhD focuses on the fabrication of semiconductor devices for Terahertz applications. In particular, my work for Move2THz is related to the fabrication and analysis of indium phosphide (InP) HEMTs on silicon substrates. Within the project, I try to successfully demonstrate these devices on the structures that have been built by partners using the SmartCut technology to transfer InP on silicon and epitaxial growth of the heterostructure. This means that I am involved with cleanroom work (where we fabricate the devices) and in the measurement lab. (I want to note that I started my PhD only a handful of months ago, so I don’t have the full expertise in both labs.)

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭?
A: Since my first course in electronics during my engineering degree, I discovered that I really enjoy solving problems in the semiconductor technology, because it really puts together electronics and physics and I think this is the best and most interesting area to study and research on when it comes to engineering. The PhD position is directly connected to Move2THz, and it’s definitely exciting to be inserted into such a project.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞2𝐓𝐇𝐳 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭? 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬?
A: I am working at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, as part of my PhD studies. My role, as any PhD student, is to become an independent researcher and to produce contributions in the field of semiconductors by reading and eventually writing papers. This is done by discussing and presenting results to my supervisors and colleagues. Apart from striving to get a substantial baggage of theoretical knowledge through courses at the university, I also plan to get as much hands-on experience as possible within the labs we have at Chalmers.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞?
A: I mostly collaborate with my supervisors and my colleagues at Chalmers. That mostly includes discussions and meetings about our topics of research, scientific papers we’ve read and doubts and challenges we run into in the cleanroom and in the lab. This happens regularly, but most of the time, I work independently by studying something new or working towards better understanding of my own devices. Moreover, I expect to have more fruitful discussions with other partners involved in Move2THz as time goes on.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐛?
A: I’ve learned a lot in these few months of my PhD, such as how to correctly read a paper, how to make concise presentations that show results that others can immediately understand, and, in general, what my responsibilities are as a PhD student at Chalmers. Other important abilities that I’m still learning are the manual skills required to work in the cleanroom and in the lab: this hasn’t been easy since it requires precision and full comprehension of the whole process.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐭?
A: The biggest challenge has been the adaptation time to learn notions and skills that were totally new for me and not to forget very advanced and complex to understand: it’s still a challenge every day. Being quick in understanding concepts in the field and prioritizing my tasks is essential for a smooth workflow, and those have been and still are crucial to master to this day.

Q: 𝐒𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲?
A: I try to stay updated by reading papers that have been recently published in the field, and I also make use of the library to get access to new and even old books to revise or become competent in something that I think could be useful in my own work or just catches my curiosity. As an example, I got to learn HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors) and cleanroom practices in these few months since the start of my PhD, and while I’m still far from being able to say that I have completely mastered them, I admit I’ve been learning immensely, also thanks to the support of my colleagues. It also helps (for me at least) to write down what I’ve just learned as well as repeating it on my own multiple times.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞?
A: In my opinion, the challenge is the need for sustainable production of wafers while at the same time obtaining greater performances for the applications that need ever-increasing requirements in the field of telecommunications and electronics. Surely, this could result in a trade-off among the many parameters and figures of merit, but I am hopeful that progress can be made within Move2THz. Optimizing such processes is definitely not straightforward, but it could be very rewarding in the future.

Q: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 - 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞2𝐭𝐡𝐳 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞/𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞?
A: For starters, InP is a material with properties that have great potential for building cutting-edge electronic circuits, and I feel that the solutions and collaborations that come out of Move2THz will move forward the development of devices in Europe that make use of InP. This might come from a more viable implementation of the growth of the materials and optimized fabrication of the devices, as many partners are doing, or from an improved comprehension of the mechanisms inside semiconductors. Either way, I am confident this can make InP more affordable and thus more accessible for industries in all kinds of fields.

Thank you for your thoughtful responses, Mr. Francesco Fortunato. We wish you continued success with your research!