SRC Names 2026 Award Winners for Semiconductor Innovation and Sustainability

The Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) has announced its 2026 award winners, honoring researchers and industry leaders for critical advancements in semiconductor technology and education. The awards highlight a strategic shift toward sustainable manufacturing and the removal of hardware bottlenecks in computing.

Among the top technical honors, Nam Sung Kim of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign received the Rama Divakaruni Technical Excellence Award for his pioneering work in memory and storage architecture, specifically focusing on Compute Express Link (CXL) technology. In the realm of optics, Jelena Notaros of MIT earned the Young Faculty Award for her contributions to silicon photonics and integrated optical-phased-array technologies designed for LiDAR sensors.

Manufacturing innovation was also a central theme. Steven George of the University of Colorado received the SRC Innovation Award for his patented work in atomic layer etching (ALE) technology. Addressing the industry's environmental footprint, Jihoon Seo of Hanyang University and Elizabeth Podlaha-Murphy of Clarkson University shared the Sustainable Future Award. Their winning research focused on the development of biodegradable, amino acid-based alternatives for chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) chemistries, aiming to replace toxic industrial chemicals.

Leadership and mentorship were recognized through several distinct honors. Timothy Rost of Texas Instruments received the SRC Champion Award for his leadership within the SPARC research collaboration, while Arijit Raychowdhury of Georgia Institute of Technology was granted the SRC Aristotle Award for his commitment to student education and mentoring. Additionally, John Neuffer, CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), received a Special Recognition Award for his global leadership within the sector.

The Push for Sustainable Hardware

These selections reflect the semiconductor industry's urgent need to balance performance gains with environmental responsibility. The transition toward amino acid-based CMP chemistries represents a move toward "green chemistry," reducing the hazardous waste associated with wafer polishing. Simultaneously, the focus on atomic layer etching indicates a drive for higher precision as chip features continue to shrink toward the atomic scale.

Overcoming the Memory Wall

Beyond sustainability, the recognition of CXL and silicon photonics underscores the industry's battle against the "memory wall"—the growing gap between processor speed and memory access. By advancing CXL architecture, researchers aim to create more flexible, high-bandwidth memory pools that can support the massive data requirements of modern AI workloads. Similarly, the shift toward non-mechanical LiDAR via silicon photonics is critical for the next generation of autonomous robotics and automotive safety systems.

Industry Outlook

As the SRC continues to bridge the gap between academic theory and commercial application, the 2026 awards signal that the next era of semiconductor growth will be defined by interdisciplinary collaboration. Observers will be watching to see how quickly the biodegradable chemistries and CXL advancements move from the laboratory into high-volume manufacturing environments.