By Ritu Jha-
They’ve come to the U.S. to pursue their passion for semiconductors, and their field has taken notice.
SEMI Americas recently named Indian engineers Mohit R. Khurana[Above right] and Kamal Rudra [Above left]to its 20 Under 30 list at SEMICON WEST 2024.
SEMI Americas recently named Indian engineers Mohit R. Khurana[Above right] and Kamal Rudra [Above left]to its 20 Under 30 list at SEMICON WEST 2024.
Khurana works as a packaging module development engineer at Intel Corporation, while Rudra is a Research & Development Engineer at IBM Research. The award, launched in 2022, recognizes exceptional young engineers in the semiconductor industry for their outstanding leadership, productive collaboration, dedication to success, and community engagement.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Khurana, 28, told indica the award is “prestigious.”
“This recognition inspires me to continue growing and contributing to the industry’s advancement,” Khurana said.
Khurana holds a bachelor’s degree in Polymer Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology (formerly UDCT) in Mumbai and a master’s degree in Materials Science from Cornell University in the U.S. He says has accumulated five years of experience in the semiconductor industry as a packaging engineer.
Khurana said he specializes in materials development and innovations for advanced packaging, addressing various challenges to enable next-generation packages. With the rapid growth in AI and data center applications, the demand for innovative advanced packaging solutions has surged.
“My passion for problem-solving and curiosity for tackling complex issues have led me to my current role as a packaging engineer, where I contribute to advancements in the semiconductor industry,” Khurana said.
The contributions will drive innovation in advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration, essential for meeting the growing AI computing demands.
“I have demonstrated innovation through the development of new materials characterization techniques and have published papers in this domain. Additionally, I have showcased strategic decision-making through key technology choices and effective program management, ensuring milestones are met. My efforts in driving data collection have enabled the deployment of innovative materials solutions for next-generation products.”
Khurana also gives credit to his continuous active engagement with the semiconductor community as a committee member of the IEEE EPS technical committee on emerging technologies.
Rudra said he has been working on the research and development of interconnects for the next generation of transistor technologies. Interconnect or back-end-of-line is similar to a vast and dense network of electrical cables and connections but only 100,000 times thinner than a typical copper wire.
Interconnect structures are required to make connections and transfer of signals in logic and memory devices. Currently, at IBM Research, as a “thinker and problem solver”, he is working on process integration for interconnects for advanced 2nm node technologies, contributing significantly to the future of semiconductor innovation. In light of initiatives like the CHIPS Act aimed at bolstering chip manufacturing in the U.S., Rudra’s efforts are particularly crucial to advancing semiconductor technology on a global scale.
He says the project that he has been working on can have far-reaching impact globally and across multiple industries, including but not limited to the semiconductor industry, as well as human lives.
“I am quite excited to be at the forefront of the technology development and innovation at IBM,” Rudra said.
India has launched a new initiative to grow semiconductor manufacturing. Rudra is happy to see the semiconductor industry expanding its roots in India.
“When a large proportion of talented and ambitious individuals leave the country to pursue opportunities elsewhere, it becomes a detrimental factor for growth,” Rudra said. “Having worked and researched at multiple institutions in India, I realized that some of the institutes offer amazing opportunities in the field of nanofabrication but these opportunities are very limited and concentrated at a handful of institutes.”
After earning a bachelor of technology, electronics and communications engineering, from NIT Allahabad, Rudra joined CeNSE at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. He has performed research at multiple institutes in India, including IIT BHU Varanasi, IIT Kharagpur and CSIR-CEERI Pilani. He earned his master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Michigan, specializing in the Solid State Physics and Nanotechnology.
SEMI 20 under 30 title enhances his portfolio of international accolades, including being recognized as an IEEE Electron Devices Society Masters Fellow and an SPIE Laser Technology, Engineering, and Applications Scholar — the sole recipient of both prestigious honors globally in 2022.
Recently, he was recognized as a “Young Scientist” and was invited to the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting for Physics, an honor highlighting his status as one of the brightest young minds in science globally. Described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by Rudra, the meeting in Lindau, Germany, brought him the extraordinary chance to share the platform with more than 30 Nobel Laureates.
Rudra’s professional journey spans esteemed organizations where he has been at the forefront of technology development and innovation. His industry experience encompasses low-volume manufacturing, high-volume production, and cutting-edge research and development. This background in the field has provided him with essential skills in integrating intricate process knowledge across multiple sectors such as etching, film deposition and characterization.
