The article spotlights UC Davis Ph.D. candidate Pranta Saha and his achievement as the first recipient of the Costas John Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Award. It also dives into his research on scalable quantum technologies in silicon carbide, touching on why this award matters for semiconductor education and industry partnerships.
About the Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Award
CITRIS and the Banatao Institute present this award to outstanding graduate researchers from UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz. The award honors Costas John Spanos and encourages graduate students to tackle big challenges in semiconductor devices, design, technology, and manufacturing.
Award Highlights and Saha’s Research
Saha works with Associate Professor Marina Radulaski at UC Davis. He zeroes in on scalable quantum technologies in semiconductor platforms, especially silicon carbide.
His research involves designing novel nanophotonic structures that integrate solid-state single-photon sources (color centers). The aim? To connect fundamental science with scalable, real-world devices.
He’s also pushing to scale up fabrication using advanced nanofabrication processes so these designs can actually get built and tested.
- Quantum technologies that scale, using silicon carbide as a platform.
- New nanophotonic structures with color centers for single-photon sources.
- Scaling up fabrication through advanced techniques and new process workflows.
- Efforts to boost engineering education and shape the future workforce in quantum tech.
- Working with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Molecular Foundry to create etching recipes and process workflows.
Education and Collaboration
Outside the lab, Saha helped co-design UC Davis’s first quantum computing course. He’s also worked to expand quantum sensing lab modules at several universities.
Saha earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. That strong engineering background set the stage for his graduate work in the U.S.
Impact on the Semiconductor Ecosystem
“Semiconductor innovation underpins key technological advances—from AI to national security—and awardees like Saha are the next generation of innovators strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem,” said Alexandre Bayen, the director of CITRIS. This award highlights the impact of young researchers in pushing forward semiconductor devices, manufacturing, and design.
It also points to a growing focus on talent development and industry-relevant research across UC campuses and national labs. As semiconductor manufacturing and quantum technology keep evolving, awards like the Costas John Spanos Award draw attention to the connections between academic research and experimental facilities, such as the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The broad industrial base depends on robust silicon carbide platforms, precision nanofabrication, and scalable color-centers-based photonics. Saha’s work shows how education, research, and industry can actually come together to speed up next-generation semiconductor breakthroughs.
Here is the source article for this story: Graduate Student Researcher Receives Inaugural Spanos Semiconductor Manufacturing Award