Scientific demonstrations, winter sports, technical talks, telepresence robots, and late-night s’mores wrapped up in a two-day retreat make the Microsystems Annual Research Conference (MARC) a truly unique event highlighting both academic achievements and the research communities behind them.
Held at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire on January 23-24, 2024, MARC gathered over 250 MIT students, faculty, staff, and industry partners to chart the future of microsystems and nanotechnology. Now in its 20th year, the student-run conference is organized by the Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) and, since 2020, co-sponsored jointly with MIT.nano.
“MARC 2024 was a reminder that we are at the most exciting time for microelectronics and nanotechnology in history,” said Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Professor Tomás Palacios, MTL director. “It is inspiring to see our amazing students take the lead in sharing with our entire community their energy, enthusiasm, and their impactful work. They are laying the foundation for the coming decades of innovation in microelectronics, and are the future of the field and of all the technology it drives.”
This year marks the 40th anniversary of MTL, which first opened at MIT in 1984. The anniversary was highlighted in the MARC 2024 conference theme: “MTL@40 - Manufacturing Technology Leadership for the next 40 years.”
“We stand today in awe of what we have accomplished since the opening of MTL,” said graduate student co-chairs Sharon Jung-Han Hsia and Pradyot Yadav in a letter to attendees. “[We] take inspiration from the scientists and engineers whose discoveries have made way for the research we conduct today, and celebrate this community made up of our time’s brightest and most brilliant minds.”
40 years back, 40 years ahead
The two-day conference was a reflection on what has been accomplished—both by MIT students who presented their latest research and by corporate partners who spoke about the growth they have seen in the microelectronics industry—as well as an opportunity to look to the future and the next set of discoveries.
In the opening keynote, Ted Letavic, corporate fellow and senior vice president of technology innovation at GlobalFoundries, spoke about his career in semiconductors and lessons he has learned over his 30 years in the industry. The following day, two panel discussions featured insights from company representatives who are part of the MTL Microsystems Industrial Group (MIG) and MIT.nano Member Advisory Panel (MAP). The first, titled “40 Years: Reflections on the Past and Visions for the Future,” comprised leaders from Applied Materials, Ericsson, IBM, and Texas Instruments. A second panel that focused on the transition from academia to industry highlighted the journeys of panelists from Analog Devices, Lam Research, Soitec, and UpNano.
“We were honored to host distinguished guests with expertise across a range of fields,” said Hsia, a third-year PhD student in Professor Palacios' research group. “The keynote presentation and panel discussions provided us with many insightful perspectives, from the exciting opportunities in microelectronics to the valuable advice on personal growth and career development.”
A student-led celebration
In addition to Hsia and Yadav, the MARC core planning group included graduate students Emma Batson, Adina Bechhofer, Patrick Darmawi-Iskander, Teddy Hsieh, Abhishek Mukherjee, Minsik Oh, Dingyu Shen, and Jinchen Wang, all from the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS), as well as Ne Myo Han from Mechanical Engineering (MechE) and Tamar Kadosh from Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE). Together, this group managed conference logistics, organized winter sports and social activities, coordinated industry partner invites and sessions, and encouraged MIT students to participate.
“Having such a capable student committee and the wonderful MTL staff made our job as chairs so much easier,” said Yadav, a second-year PhD student in Professor Palacios' research group. “Everyone was inspired to work together to organize one of the biggest MARC conferences to date."
This year, the student committee introduced a new research photo contest that received 21 submissions, and replaced company pitches with the MIG / MAP panel discussions to offer a more interactive environment. This was also the first-year telepresence robots were utilized by member companies, such as Applied Materials, to virtually attend the conference.
Growing the community
MARC 2024 broke several records from previous years, including number of attendees and research abstracts. More than 130 student abstracts were presented, showing the breadth of research happening at MIT on microsystems, semiconductors, and nanotechnology.
The students presented their work across two poster sessions divided into eight topical areas: electronic devices; integrated circuits & systems; medical devices & biotechnology; energy, power & sustainability; materials & manufacturing; nanotechnology & nanomaterials; optoelectronics & integrated photonics; and quantum technologies. Each category was carefully curated by one of eight session chairs: EECS graduate students Morgan Blevins, Xibi Chen, Quang Kieu, Hridibrata Pal, and Sarah Spector; DMSE graduate student Abigail (Zhien) Wang and postdoctoral associates Wouter Van de Pontseele from the Laboratory for Nuclear Science and Quansan Yang from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
Before the sessions kicked off, the researchers delivered 60-second lightning talks and attendees voted for their favorite. Best pitches were awarded to graduate students Alex Kachkine (MechE), Zhengqi Gao (EECS), Zoey Bigelow (EECS), and visiting researcher Tomi Baikie.
MARC 2024 was held in conjunction with the QSEC Annual Research Conference, which took place on January 22 and 23, also at Bretton Woods. MIT students and faculty, as well as industry affiliates, were encouraged to attend both events and experience a breadth of research and engineering in materials, structures, devices, circuits, and systems.
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