CNCM was founded in 2023 by Prof. Judith Driscoll and Dr Markus Hellenbrand as an initiative to bring together different groups across the university which are working on similar technologies, but not necessarily with neuromorphic computing applications in mind.
Prof. Driscoll is a RAEng Chair in Emerging Technologies in Advanced Memory Materials and has 30 years experience in nanoengineering oxide thin films to give desired properties for a range of applications. With her team, she has key IP on achieving hybrid switching mechanisms in oxides to give much enhanced memristor performance.
- Professor at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge
- Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
- Editor-in-Chief of APL Materials journal from American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Long term visiting staff member of Los Alamos Laboratory
- Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
- Fellow of the Institute of Physics
- Fellow of the Materials Research Society
- Fellow of American Association of Arts and Sciences 2021
- Recipient of the IOM3 Kroll Medal 2018
- Recipient of the IEEE James Wong Award 2017
- Recipient of the Institute of Physics Joule Medal and Prize 2015
- Receipt of the Royal Academy of Engineering Armourers and Brasiers' Company Prize 2015
Dr Markus Hellenbrand is a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy with a PhD in Nanoelectronics from Lund University, Sweden. He is an expert in the electrical characterisation of oxide defects and their interaction with adjacent electrodes. During his PhD, he used characterisation techniques spanning from low-frequency noise all the way to millimetre-wave operation of transistors. Now, he uses his knowledge to design and characterise resistive switching devices for neuromorphic computing applications. In his most recent work, he nanoengineered vertical alignment into amorphous hafnium oxide films to guide electronic and ionic transport to achieve reproducible and uniform resistive switching devices.
He has authored or co-authored more than 18 refereed journal papers and more than ten conference contributions with several invited talks. With a patent on his recent work, he was among the top ten finalists of the Trinity Bradfield Price and recently, he won the Armourers and Brasiers' postdoc award for excellence in research, teaching, and outreach. He is also a Mental Health and EDI Advocate at the department and in college.