Additional Campus Affiliations
Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Associate Professor, Materials Research Lab
Biography
Professor Cao received his B.S. degree in 2004 from Nanjing University, and his Ph.D. in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After working at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as research scientist for 9 years, he returned to the University of Illinois as an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Affiliate of the Department of Chemistry and of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
Research Interests
Advanced materials for electronics and optoelectronics
Research Description
The Cao group seeks to exploit new materials and processing techniques to develop novel electronic and optoelectronic devices exhibiting enhanced performance and functionality with more custom form factors. This includes high performance extremely-scaled devices for future technology nodes, and low-cost printed electronics for macroelectronics and energy harvesting. These efforts are highly multidisciplinary, requiring a combined expertise in materials science, chemistry, electrical engineering, and device physics.
Honors & Awards
Fellow of the World Innovation Organization Sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2017)
Millennium Fellow of the Atlantic Council (2017)
I.B.M. Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award (2017)
I.B.M. Master Inventor Recognition (2016)
35 Innovators under 35 (TR35) by MIT Technology Review (2016)
U.S. Frontiers of Engineering by National Academy of Engineering (2016)
I.B.M. Research Division Award (2016)
“All-Star Alumni” of Forbes 30 Under 30 (2016)
I.B.M. Corporation Outstanding Technical Achievement Award (2015)
Forbes Magazine "30 under 30" list of rising stars in Science (2012)
I.B.M. Corporation Invention Achievement Award (17 times) (2009-17)
Highlighted Publications
Cao, Q., Tersoff, J., Farmer, D. B., Zhu, Y., & Han, S. J. (2017). Carbon nanotube transistors scaled to a 40-nanometer footprint. Science, 356(6345), 1369-1372. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aan2476
Cao, Q., Han, S. J., Tersoff, J., Franklin, A. D., Zhu, Y., Zhang, Z., Tulevski, G. S., Tang, J., & Haensch, W. (2015). End-bonded contacts for carbon nanotube transistors with low, size-independent resistance. Science, 350(6256), 68-72. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac8006
Cao, Q., Han, S. J., Tulevski, G. S., Zhu, Y., Lu, D. D., & Haensch, W. (2013). Arrays of single-walled carbon nanotubes with full surface coverage for high-performance electronics. Nature Nanotechnology, 8(3), 180-186. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2012.257
Cao, Q., Han, S. J., & Tulevski, G. S. (2015). Fringing-field dielectrophoretic assembly of ultrahigh-density semiconducting nanotube arrays with a self-limited pitch. Nature communications, 5, Article 5071. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6071
Cao, Q., Kim, H. S., Pimparkar, N., Kulkarni, J. P., Wang, C., Shim, M., Roy, K., Alam, M. A., & Rogers, J. A. (2008). Medium-scale carbon nanotube thin-film integrated circuits on flexible plastic substrates. Nature, 454(7203), 495-500. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07110
Recent Publications
Wang, H. N., An, F., Wong, C. Y., Yin, K., Liu, J., Wang, Y., Zuo, J. M., Schleife, A., & Cao, Q. (2024). Solution-processable ordered defect compound semiconductors for high-performance electronics. Science Advances, 10(41), Article eadr8636. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr8636
Cui, J., An, F., Qian, J., Wu, Y., Sloan, L. L., Pidaparthy, S., Zuo, J. M., & Cao, Q. (2023). CMOS-compatible electrochemical synaptic transistor arrays for deep learning accelerators. Nature Electronics, 6(4), 292-300. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-00939-7
Zhang, Y., Cui, J., Chen, K.-Y., Kuo, S. H., Sharma, J., Bhatta, R., Liu, Z., Ellis-Mohr, A., An, F., Li, J., Chen, Q., Foss, K. D., Wang, H., Li, Y., McCoy, A. M., Lau, G. W., & Cao, Q. (2023). A smart coating with integrated physical antimicrobial and strain-mapping functionalities for orthopedic implants. Science Advances, 9(18), eadg7397. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adg7397
Cao, Q. (2021). Carbon nanotube transistor technology for More-Moore scaling. Nano Research, 14(9), 3051-3069. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3459-z
Xu, Y., Zhao, G., Zhu, L., Fe, Q., Zhang, Z., Chen, Z., An, F., Chen, Y., Ling, Y., Guo, P., Ding, S., Huang, G., Chen, P. Y., Cao, Q., & Yan, Z. (2020). Pencil-paper on-skin electronics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(31), 18292-18301. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008422117