Dr Soon-Fatt Yoon joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at National University of Singapore as Professor of Electrical Engineering in October 2018. He holds two other concurrent key administrative appointments as Vice Dean (Industry) in the Faculty of Engineering and Director (Industry Engagement and Partnerships) in the Office of the Deputy President (Research and Technology). Prior to joining National University of Singapore, he was Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore where he served close to 29 years in various appointments, with the last 5 years as Chair of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE). During his tenure as Chair of School of EEE in NTU, he spearheaded major industry centric initiatives which led to the establishment of four Corporate Laboratories and four Joint Laboratories with key industry partners and propelled the School to a leadership position in university-industry engagement and partnerships.
A strong advocate of translational research, his interests are mainly focused in the domain of solid-state electronics and photonics, where his areas of specialization are in III-V compound semiconductor materials and devices grown using the molecular beam epitaxy process. In the field of III-V compound semiconductors, he has spearheaded major research programs in partnerships with universities, research institutes and industry. He led the group to pioneer the world’s first III-V microwave photoconductive switch at long wavelength using a semiconductor process patented by his group for integrating highly lattice mismatched systems. His achievement paves the way for designing novel systems that incorporate the capability for optically induced microwave switching, thus enabling a new paradigm in the emerging field of microwave photonics and terahertz technology. Currently, he co-directs the Low Energy Electronics Interdisciplinary Research Program (IRG) under the SMART centre of CREATE Singapore. This interdisciplinary program aims to realize the world’s first foundry compatible process for III-V/Si integration targeted for wafer scale manufacturing. He has contributed to over 600 top-tier journals and conference publications, a number of granted patents and several book chapters in the field of III-V compound semiconductors, devices and thin film technology.