Taiwan Research Team Receives IEEE Nanotechnology Best Paper Award

The cross-campus and interdisciplinary research team led by NTU Prof. Ching-Ray Chang (張慶瑞) received T-NANO Best Paper of the Year 2018 Award for their paper titled, “Planarization, Fabrication, and Characterization of Three-Dimensional Magnetic Field Sensors,” published in the IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology (TNANO), Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 11-25, January 2018. This result was finalized on July 26, 2019, and the award was presented to the team at the 19th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology (IEEE NANO 2019) in Macau, China, on the same day.

Every year, TNANO’s Editorial Board members nominate candidate papers for the award from over a thousand papers published in the journal within the year. The nominated papers are then evaluated by the Senior Editors Panel in terms of their contributions, originality, possible impacts on industry, content comprehensiveness, practicality, and application. For candidate papers of the year 2018, the Senior Editors Panel has unanimously selected the paper by Prof. Chang’s team as the best paper of the year. This paper was the first of such articles in Taiwan to receive the Best Paper Award in the field of nanotechnology from IEEE, indicating that Taiwan has achieved a world-leading status in the R&D and application of nanotechnology.

The team’s study on the planarization of three-dimensional magnetic field sensors is a successful example of interdisciplinary, cross-campus, and cross-industry research project. This project was directed by Prof. Ching-Ray Chang of NTU’s Department of Physics, who invited professors from different fields to conduct research on magnetic sensors and e-compasses. Prof. Chang was in charge of physical design and project coordination; NTU Prof. of Physics Jen-Hwa Hsu (許仁華) analyzed and fabricated AMR/GMR magnetic materials; NTU Prof. of Mechanical Engineering Ming-Han Liao (廖洺漢) was responsible for microstructural fabrication; Prof. Jong-Ching Wu (吳仲卿) of the National Changhua University of Education conducted magnetic measurement; Prof. Jen-Tzong Jeng (鄭振宗) of the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology and Prof. Chih-Cheng Lu (呂志誠) of the National Taipei University of Technology were responsible for the design and application of electric circuits and the fabrication of device prototypes. The analysis about the industry of magnetic field sensors and e-compasses in the paper was conducted and written by President of iSentek, Mr. Max Lai (賴孟煌).

The team would like to thank Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) for their long-term support. This achievement also shows that interdisciplinary and cross-campus collaborations involving industry, government, and academia can more than double Taiwan’s R&D capacity. While bringing new ideas and breakthroughs, this model also provides a possible means to facilitate industrial upgrade in Taiwan.