Professorial Inaugural address: Prof Saurabh Sinha
Saurabh Sinha, a Professor and the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), will deliver his inaugural address with the theme, SiGe Technology for mm-Wave Applications, in the Council Chambers, Madibeng Building, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus on Tuesday, 08 April 2014 at 18:00.
Prof Sinha obtained his B. Eng, M. Eng and PhD degrees in Electronic Engineering from University of Pretoria (UP). He achieved both his B.Eng and M.Eng with distinction. As a published researcher, he has authored over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. In addition, he is the Managing Editor of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) Africa Research Journal.
Prof Sinha served UP for over a decade with his last service as Director of the Carl and Emily Fuchs Institute for Microelectronics, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering. Together with his research group, he conducted teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, researched and performed extensive management tasks. To allow for continuation of postgraduate leadership, he was also appointed as Extraordinary Professor at UP. In 2013, he was appointed as Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built at Environment (FEBE) at UJ.
Beyond his academic contributions, Prof Sinha is an active member of several professional societies and was recently elected as the 2014 Institute for Electric and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) Board of Director and Vice President: Educational Activities. IEEE is headquartered in New Jersey, USA and is the world’s largest professional association advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. It publishes technical journals, sponsors conferences, develops technology standards and supports the professional interests of more than 400,000 members.
Prof Sinha is recognised for his progressive approach as an electrical engineer, researcher and educator. He is also the recipient of the 2007 SAIEE Engineer of the Year Award, 2010 University of Pretoria (UP) Laureate Award and 2013 TW Kambule NRF-NSTF Award as an emerging researcher for an outstanding contribution to Science, Engineering, Technology and Innovation (SETI) through research and its outputs.
He also serves on committees of international, national, regional and professional societies, including the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA).
Abstract of the inaugural address by Prof Saurabh Sinha:
The global semiconductor industry is dominated by silicon and silicon germanium (SiGe) process technologies. The introduction or “nano-engineering” of germanium into the base layer of a conventional silicon bipolar transistor improves the operating frequency, linearity, 1/f noise, early voltage and power capabilities. This means that key advantages of state-of-the-art silicon processing can be retained, and at the same time the improved fundamental transistor-level parameters provides the prospect of integration in the mm-Wave domain. The quest is intended to increase the wireless bandwidth, but simultaneously attain power efficiency and low cost. The inaugural lecture will seek to engineer the mm-Wave wireless communications space using a SiGe technology node and results from recent prototyping will be presented.
