Sheger Tribune

Solomon Assefa: One of the 35 World’s Top Young Innovators

Replacing wires with light in chips

Solomon Assefa is among the IBM scientists who unveiled a significant step towards replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips. He is included in this year's prestigious list of 35 of the world’s top young innovators by Technology Review magazine. (Photo credit: Steve Moors)"

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

New York (Tadias) – Solomon Assefa, 32, an Ethiopian American IBM scientist, who is credited for his breakthrough work in changing the way computer chips talk to each other, has been named to the highly-regarded list of 35 of the world’s top young innovators by Technology Review magazine.

Each year Technology Review, the oldest technology magazine in the world and a publication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), recognizes 35 innovators under 35 whose work promises to change the world. Candidates from across the globe are chosen for tackling important problems in transformative ways.

Per TR: “Assefa has developed a new way to make a photodetector, a very sensitive device that amplifies optical signals and converts them into electrical signals that can be shuttled around in a microprocessor. Ordinarily, photodetectors are made using a process called chemical vapor deposition. But sticking with this process for chip-to-chip connections would make microprocessor manufacturing prohibitively expensive. Instead, Assefa seeds germanium onto a silicon wafer, and then melts it to achieve the regular crystal structure that makes for a good photodetector material. He has also determined when in the chip manufacturing process the photodetector should be added in order to get the best performance possible without degrading the surrounding electronics. Assefa can demonstrate the performance of his photodetector in the lab. But before a chip incorporating his creation can be commercialized, he will have to figure out how all the rest of its elements can be integrated efficiently. Making today’s integrated circuits requires hundreds of steps and dozens of lithographic masks, the stencils used to pattern features on chips. ‘We don’t want to change any of these processes or it really increases the costs,’ he says.”

“Technology innovation is key to driving growth and progress in the areas of research, medicine, business and economics,” said Jason Pontin, editor-in-chief and publisher of Technology Review, in a statement. “This year’s group of TR35 recipients is driving the next wave of transformative technology and making an impact on the way we live, work and interact.”