Botong Xiao

Background

About Botong Xiao

Last year after graduating from the college of electronic science and engineering, Jilin University, I was employed by Wuxi ETEK Microelectronics Co, Ltd. as a front-end digital IC design engineer. Wuxi ETEK Microelectronics is a listed company specializing in integrated circuits and a supplier of chips to many Chinese top tech companies. Through three months of training, I learnt about the whole design process of integrated circuits and started to assist the chief engineer to accomplish the design including RTL coding, synthesis, static timing analysis, layout, and verification. After entering employment for half a year, I was capable of completing the part of RTL coding independently, and responsible for conceiving and designing charging and communication protocols for five chips. My work experience at Wuxi ETEK Microelectronics not only accumulated a precious experience in the integrated circuits area, but also aroused my interest in digital integrated circuits.At the summer of 2019, I was among the three from my university qualified for a six-week undergraduate research summer program at the University of Florida. I had the honor to be a part of the esteemed Professor Jing Guo’s Nanoelectronics Group, and conducted research in quantum computing and nanoscale electronic devices. We applied Bayesian Optimization with Gaussian Process to optimize the design of 2D material-based nanotransistors. In addition, we also performed simulation of inverter and NAND. Compared with the CMOS inverter of the same size, the device consumed nearly 10% less power, demonstrating significant advantage 2D FET had over alternatives. Owing to our efficient and outstanding work, we were assigned another task of building up a stable ring oscillator circuit, which we also accomplished successfully. This experience was eye-opening for me; in particular, learning about various advanced methods such as utilizing computer technology to analyze and solve problems in electronics was deeply informative. Since silicon and silicon dioxide-based FET technology have reached their limit in applications, the 2D FET I have been studying shows promise to be a perfect substitute for current technology and to be applicable to portable devices. While working in the laboratory, I experienced first-hand how labs in the US operate, and I got the opportunity to contact closely with cutting-edge topics as well as advanced research methods. This provided me an explicit direction for my future study and professional development.