Dr Dinesh Pamunuwa, University of Bristol

Research Chairs and Senior Research Fellowships 2019-20

Dr. Pamunuwa aims to improve the reliability and power efficiency of electronics that operate at high temperatures and radiation levels by using nanoelectromechanical relays instead of transistors as logic switches. Electronics that operate at the edge of the network, especially in industrial and manufacturing applications, typically have stringent environmental and power restrictions that cannot be met by existing solid-state semiconductor technology. Electromechanical relays, by contrast, are inherently high-temperature capable, up to 300 °C, and can cope with radiation levels that are two orders of magnitude higher. All of this harsh-environment capability comes with zero energy consumption in the off state and abrupt on-off transitions, regardless of the environmental conditions. Thus, Dr. Pamunuwa will build a hardware platform that uses nanoscale relays instead of transistors as digital switches to build a new class of harsh-environment capable processors and electronic memories with zero standby power for edge computing applications.

Personal website: https://seis.bristol.ac.uk/~eeidbp/index.html

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinesh-pamunuwa-813086202/