Umberto Celano

Associate Professor, School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering

Umberto Celano is an associate professor with Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. His research interests lie at the intersection of condensed matter physics, semiconductor technology, and materials analysis, with a focus on nanoelectronics. His group is currently engaged in studying fundamental processes that govern the operation of emerging devices, using nanoscale analytical instruments to achieve device reliability, failure analysis, and correlative metrology. With a multidisciplinary approach, his research work combines device physics and reliability, materials science, and metrology.

Umberto earned his Ph.D. from the University of Leuven - KU Leuven and imec (Belgium), working alongside Professor Wilfried Vandervorst. During this time, he became fascinated with materials analysis and semiconductor metrology, specifically using scanning probe microscopies to develop a novel three-dimensional nanoscale imaging technique to study materials in confined volumes. As a result of his research work, he was honored with the prestigious 2013 IEDM Roger Haken Award. Following this, he joined imec as a permanent researcher, where he contributed to the development and characterization of advanced CMOS materials for logic and memory in various capacities. 

In 2018, Umberto was a visiting scientist with the Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials at Stanford University, where he expanded his research interests to include two-dimensional materials and nanophotonics. In 2019, he returned to imec as a principal member of technical staff and became a part-time assistant professor at the University of Twente's Faculty of Science and Technology in the Netherlands.