Yuezhou Luo, PhD student

Yuezhou Luo awarded IET Postgraduate Scholarship

Congratulations to Yuezhou Luo, PhD student on the CEPS CDT Programme, on being awarded the Hudswell International Research Scholarship in 2024. This IET Postgraduate Scholarship will help Yuezhou facilitate the dissemination of his research and allow him to explore further ideas in the rest of his PhD.

Yuezhou Luo is a PhD candidate in the Electrical Engineering Division at the University of Cambridge on the Connected Electronic and Photonic Systems CDT programme. He has a Master’s degree in Connected Electronic and Photonic Systems from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Material Physics from Fudan University, China.

Investigating novel electronic devices

Yuezhou’s PhD research explores novel electronic devices based on amorphous semiconductors. These materials are widely used as the channel semiconductors in thin film transistors, the fundamental devices enabling large-area electronics (such as displays and large-area sensor arrays) and many other emerging technologies. Despite their merits, such as low cost, uniformity and flexibility, amorphous semiconductors generally exhibit weaker electrical performance compared with their crystalline counterparts. Intrinsically low carrier mobility is one example.

Before an attempt to engineer this material attribute, Yuezhou established a systematic theory and a computationally tractable model which linked the structure of amorphous semiconductors to their electrical properties associated with localised band tail states. He introduced modifications to an existing charge transport theory and demonstrated that the carrier mobility of amorphous semiconductors can be significantly improved through device downscaling, without material-level optimisations. Combined with future device-level engineering, these findings could enable a further significant development of large-area electronics and beyond.

A worthy winner

Seven IET postgraduate scholarships were awarded in 2024. Yuezhou received the Hudswell International Research Scholarship prize, which promotes excellence in electrical, electronic or manufacturing engineering and technology research.

We congratulate Yuezhou on his award. He said, "I am honoured to receive this scholarship, and encourage all eligible students to enter the competition in future."

IET Postgraduate Scholarship

To find out more about the IET Postgraduate Scholarship, 2024 winners and how to apply for the award, go to: https://www.theiet.org/impact-society/awards-prizes-and-scholarships/iet-postgraduate-research-awards

Connect with Yuezhou Luo: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/yzjk98

^{Article published: February 2025}