IMEC
E-mail: robert_grubbs @ avs.org

ROBERT K. GRUBBS is presently the Scientific Director of Thin Films at IMEC in Leuven Belgium. This position enables him to view the broad and diverse landscape of materials and design strategies that will enable future nodes of memory and computing devices.  Prior to this position, he worked for eight years at Micron Technology in process engineering, developing critical films for high density phase change memories and on interfacial engineering for high-performance CMOS. Before Micron, Robert spent ten years at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) where he designed and implemented the Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) facilities at the lab.  This facility was utilized to deposit wide-ranging thin films for both laboratory mission activities and for national security applications. Additionally, he held the position of design engineer at the lab for the explosively driven ferroelectric power supply used for pulsed power applications.

Grubbs received his BS in Chemistry from Clarkson University in 1990. He continued with his MS at University of CA Berkeley studying quantum confinement effects in semiconducting nanocrystals.  After a three-year stint working for Silicon Valley start-ups in the areas of charge storage and biomedical devices, Robert completed his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at University of Colorado, Boulder, studying the nucleation and growth of ALD grown metal films.  His subsequent Post Doctorate appointment was at Sandia National Laboratories studying the electrical response of pressure induced phase transitions of exotic perovskite materials. 

He is the holder of seven patents and has a H index of 20.  Robert’s involvement with AVS spans the last twenty years where he was:  actively involved in the New Mexico reginal Chapter, held the National AVS Chapter, Division and Groups (CDG) chairperson position from 2013 to 2016,  is presently active in the Thin Film Division (TFD) and is an AVS national short course instructor.  In the local New Mexico Chapter of AVS, Robert was chapter chairperson twice, ran the NM regional science fair for six years, was on the scholarship and finance committees and promoted AVS outreach for women in science.  At the national level he was the CDG chairperson and interacted with all local AVS chapters providing assessment and support for chapters that wanted to grow or desired revitalization.  He is an active member of the AVS TFD where he has been the chairperson for the TFD awards committee for the last four years.  His leadership also extends into the AVS Short Course program where he has been a valued instructor for two courses:  Atomic Layer Deposition for eighteen years and Plasma-enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition for three years.

Grubbs is presently serving on the AVS Board as an interim Director replacing a member on leave and has been heavily involved positioning AVS to benefit from the emerging Chips Act.  His energy and commitment to the growth of AVS is unwavering and he is excited to bring his enthusiasm to the future of AVS.