{"id":11,"date":"2020-11-25T04:19:11","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T04:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/islam-new\/?page_id=11"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T01:48:36","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu\/islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Saif Islam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor and Chair,<\/b><\/span> <\/span>Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/span><\/p>\n

Lead PI:<\/strong> Integrated Nanodevices and Nanosystems Research Lab<\/p>\n

University of California \u2013 Davis, 3135 Kemper Hall, Davis, CA 95616-5270<\/p>\n

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Research Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Islam\u2019s work has covered a broad variety of topics: ultra-fast semiconductor optoelectronics,  synthesis of low-dimensional semiconductor and oxide nanostructures, and their applications in devices, ultra-sensitive novel sensors,<\/a> detectors<\/a>, circuits and systems; fiber optical and RF photonic communication links, and materials and devices for harsh environments. His group was the first to demonstrate light-bending and photon-trapping slow light in silicon<\/a> and germanium photodetectors<\/a> that capitalize on the enhanced photon-semiconductor interactions<\/a> to dramatically increase the light absorption capabilities<\/a> of ultra-fast semiconductor devices, overcoming their weak absorption characteristics (US patent<\/a>). This demonstration has a far-reaching impact on ultra-fast integrated optoelectronic, silicon photonics, data communication, CMOS imagers<\/a>, quantum sensing, computing, hardware security, energy harvesting, and disease sensing and prevention<\/a>.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Islam was the first to demonstrate a <\/span>semiconductor (silicon and III-V) <\/span>nanowire bridging technique<\/a> that effectively addresses the challenges of interfacing and integrating one-dimensional semiconductor and oxide nanomaterials in <\/span>nanoelectronic<\/a> and <\/span>nanophotonic devices<\/a> (US and International Patents<\/a>). His group contributed to the progress of <\/span>u<\/span>ltrawide-bandgap <\/a>semiconductors (Ga<\/a>N<\/a> and Ga2O3<\/a>) for applications in electronics<\/a>, as well <\/span>as in deep-UV (solar blind<\/a>) optoelectronics<\/a>, charged particles-based devices<\/a> for several extreme-environment applications. <\/span>He demonstrated <\/span>the first velocity-matched distributed <\/span>balanced photodetectors<\/a> with record high linear photocurrents and ultra-fast response. He also developed the technique for generating <\/span>ultra-smooth<\/a> <\/span>metal surfaces<\/a> for interfacing molecular electronic devices that improved the yield of molecular switching devices fabricated with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of molecules. Such metal films contributed to the smoothest <\/span>superlens<\/a> ever reported. His group also <\/span>developed a technique for dynamically switching<\/a> between positive and negative permeability of metamaterials by photoconductive coupling.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Research Interests<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n