POTSDAM -- S.V. Babu (Babu Suryadevara), Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry and Bimolecular Engineering at Clarkson, was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award recently at the International Conference on Planarization Technology (ICPT) 2017 meeting at Katholic Universty in Leuven, Belgium. His award was for Distinguished Contributions to the Field of Planarization. This was only the second time the award has been given by this group.

“It is a great recognition for Clarkson's long-standing excellence in this niche but critical field in semiconductor device processing. I am delighted to acknowledge the support of NYSTAR/CAMP for over 20 years at Clarkson and of many Federal and corporate organizations. While I received the award, it truly reflects the collective effort of my industry and faculty collaborators, and my talented current and former graduate students. I have learned a great deal from them and continue to do so even now,” Babu Suryadevara said.

The outcomes from Clarkson's collective chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) research and teaching efforts have been far-reaching, including over 40 PhD’s, many MS and BS graduates, many of whom occupy leadership positions in the semiconductor industry and an extensive list of research publications, several books, and many patents. Some of the patents have yielded royalties totaling almost a million dollars resulting from nearly $40 million of value added to a set of CMP consumables.

Jingoo Park of Hanyang University, Korea, and Gerfried Zwicker (Fraunhofer Institut für Siliziumtechnologie, Itzehoe, Germany) were also recognized at this meeting with the same award.