Assistant Professor Wei Mingyang is one of the two faculty members from the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) who has been named National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellows in the Class of 2026.
The NRF Fellowship gives outstanding early-career scientists and engineers the freedom and funding to lead independent research programmes in Singapore. The Fellowship is part of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise RIE efforts to grow Singapore’s talent ecosystem. It supports promising researchers, local and global, to advance their scientific journeys and to contribute to research that advances knowledge and creates impact.
Asst Prof Wei Mingyang: Rethinking how semiconductors are made
Making semiconductor devices is traditionally slow, costly and energy-intensive, relying on high-temperature, high-vacuum processing to build up one thin layer at a time.
Asst Prof Wei’s project, One-step heterostructure formation for next-generation semiconductor manufacturing, aims to lay all those layers down in a single step instead. He works with halide perovskites, a class of materials that can be applied from a solution at low temperatures rather than baked in a vacuum. As the liquid dries, specially designed molecules automatically arrange themselves into the correct stack of layers, forming, in a single coating step, a structure that would normally require many steps. The approach aims to cut both the cost and the carbon footprint of making solar cells, LEDs and sensors, positioning Singapore as a leader in more sustainable semiconductor manufacturing.
Asst Prof Wei has been named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in 2022 and 2023, and listed among Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Europe in 2022.
More about his research can be found at: https://www.wei-lab-at-nus.org/