Alexander A. Balandin

Alexander A. Balandin
Born
Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia
Alma mater
Awards
  • MRS Medal for the discovery of unique thermal properties of graphene
  • IEEE Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology for phonon engineering research
  • Brillouin Medal for investigation of phonons in graphene
Scientific career
FieldsNanotechnology, low-dimensional materials, phonon engineering, thermal transport, electronic noise, Raman spectroscopy, Brillouin spectroscopy
Workplaces
Websitebalandin-group.ucla.edu

Alexander A. Balandin is an American electrical engineer. He was elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2011.[1]

Research

Balandin was among the pioneers of the field of phononics and phonon engineering. In 1998, Balandin published an influential paper on the effects of phonon spatial confinement on thermal conductivity of nanostructures, where the term “phonon engineering” appeared for the first time in a journal publication.[2] In this work, he proposed theoretically a new physical mechanism for reduction of thermal conductivity due to the changes in the phonon group velocity and density of states induced by spatial confinement. The theoretically predicted changes in the acoustic phonon spectrum in individual nanostructures were later confirmed experimentally.[3][4] Phonon engineering has applications in electronics, thermal management, and thermoelectric energy conversion.[5]

In 2008, Balandin conducted pioneering research of thermal conductivity of graphene.[6] In order to perform the first measurement of thermal properties of graphene, Balandin invented a new optothermal experiment technique based on Raman spectroscopy.[7] He and his coworkers explained theoretically why the intrinsic thermal conductivity of graphene can be higher than that of bulk graphite, and demonstrated experimentally the evolution of heat conduction when the system dimensionality changes from 2D (graphene) to 3D (graphite).[8][9] The Balandin optothermal technique for measuring the thermal conductivity was adopted by many laboratories worldwide, and extended, with various modifications and improvements, to a range of other 2D materials. Balandin's contributions to graphene field go beyond graphene thermal properties and thermal management applications. His research group conducted detailed studies of low-frequency electronic noise in graphene devices;[10] demonstrated graphene selective sensors, which do not rely on surface functionalization;[11] and graphene logic gates and circuits, which do not require electronic band-gap in graphene.[12]

Balandin made a number of important contributions to the field of low-frequency electronic noise, also known as 1/f noise. His early work in the 1/f noise field included investigation of noise sources in GaN materials and devices, which led to a substantial reduction in the noise level in such type of devices made of wide band-gap semiconductors.[13] In 2008, he started the investigation of electronic noise in graphene and other 2D materials. The main results of his research included understanding the mechanism of the 1/f noise in graphene, which is different from that in conventional semiconductors or metals; the use of few-layer graphene to address the century-old problem of surface vs. volume noise origin;[14] understanding unusual effects of irradiation on noise in graphene, which revealed a possibility of noise reduction in graphene after irradiation.[15]

Balandin's work helped in the rebirth of the charge density wave (CDW) research field. The early work on CDW effects was performed with bulk samples, which have quasi-1D crystal structures of strongly-bound 1D atomic chains that are weakly bound together by van der Waals forces. The rebirth of the CDW field has been associated, from one side, with the interest in layered quasi-2D van der Waals materials and, from another side, with the realization that some of these materials reveal CDW effects at room temperature and above. Balandin group demonstrated the first CDW device operating at room temperature.[16] Balandin and co-workers used original low-frequency noise spectroscopy to monitor phase transitions in 2D CDW quantum materials,[17] demonstrated the extreme radiation hardness of CDW devices [18][19] and proposed a number of transistor-less logic circuits implemented with CDW devices.[20][21]

References

  1. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". American Physical Society. Retrieved July 28, 2026.
  2. ↑ A. Balandin and K. L. Wang, “Significant decrease of the lattice thermal conductivity due to phonon confinement in a free-standing semiconductor quantum well,” Phys. Rev. B, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 1544–1549, Jul. 1998.
  3. ↑ A. A. Balandin, “Phonon engineering in graphene and van der Waals materials,” MRS Bull., vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 817–823, 2014.
  4. ↑ F. Kargar, B. Debnath, J.-P. Kakko, A. Säynätjoki, H. Lipsanen, D. L. Nika, R. K. Lake, and A. A. Balandin, “Direct observation of confined acoustic phonon polarization branches in free-standing semiconductor nanowires,” Nature Commun., vol. 7, p. 13400, Nov. 2016.
  5. ↑ A. A. Balandin, “Phononics of graphene and related materials,” ACS Nano, vol. 14, pp. 5170-5178, 2020.
  6. ↑ A. A. Balandin, S. Ghosh, W. Bao, I. Calizo, D. Teweldebrhan, F. Miao, and C. N. Lau, “Superior thermal conductivity of single-layer graphene,” Nano Lett., vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 902–907, Mar. 2008.
  7. ↑ A. A. Balandin, “Thermal properties of graphene and nanostructured carbon materials,” Nat. Mater., vol. 10, no. 8, pp. 569–581, 2011.
  8. ↑ S. Ghosh, W. Bao, D. L. Nika, S. Subrina, E. P. Pokatilov, C. N. Lau, and A. A. Balandin, “Dimensional crossover of thermal transport in few-layer graphene,” Nat. Mater., vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 555–558, 2010.
  9. ↑ D. L. Nika and A. A. Balandin, “Phonons and thermal transport in graphene and graphene-based materials,” Reports Prog. Phys., vol. 80, no. 3, p. 36502, Mar. 2017.
  10. ↑ A. A. Balandin, “Low-frequency 1/f noise in graphene devices,” Nat Nano, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 549–555, Aug. 2013.
  11. ↑ S. Rumyantsev, G. Liu, M. S. Shur, R. A. Potyrailo, and A. A. Balandin, “Selective gas sensing with a single pristine graphene transistor,” Nano Lett., vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 2294–2298, May 2012.
  12. ↑ G. Liu, S. Ahsan, A. G. Khitun, R. K. Lake, and A. A. Balandin, “Graphene-based non-Boolean logic circuits,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 114, no. 15, p. 154310, Oct. 2013.
  13. ↑ A. Balandin, S. V. Morozov, S. Cai, R. Li, K. L. Wang, G. Wijeratne, C. R. Viswanathan, “Low flicker-noise GaN/AlGaN heterostructure field-effect transistors for microwave communications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 47, no. 8, pp. 1413–1417, 1999.
  14. ↑ G. Liu, S. Rumyantsev, M. S. Shur, and A. A. Balandin, “Origin of 1/f noise in graphene multilayers: surface vs. volume,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 102, no. 9, p. 93111, Mar. 2013.
  15. ↑ M. Zahid Hossain, S. Rumyantsev, M. S. Shur, and A. A. Balandin, “Reduction of 1/f noise in graphene after electron-beam irradiation,” Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 102, no. 15, p. 153512, Apr. 2013.
  16. ↑ G. Liu, B. Debnath, T. R. Pope, T. T. Salguero, R. K. Lake, and A. A. Balandin, “A charge-density-wave oscillator based on an integrated tantalum disulfide–boron nitride–graphene device operating at room temperature,” Nature Nano, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 845–850, Oct. 2016.
  17. ↑ G. Liu, S. Rumyantsev, M. A. Bloodgood, T. T. Salguero, and A. A. Balandin, "Low-frequency current fluctuations and sliding of the charge density waves in two-dimensional materials," Nano Letters, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 3630–3636, 2018.
  18. ↑ G. Liu, E. X. Zhang, C. Liang, M. Bloodgood, T. Salguero, D. Fleetwood, A. A. Balandin, “Total-ionizing-dose effects on threshold switching in 1T-TaS2 charge density wave devices,” IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 38, no. 12, pp. 1724–1727, Dec. 2017.
  19. ↑ A. K. Geremew, F. Kargar, E. X. Zhang, S. E. Zhao, E. Aytan, M. A. Bloodgood, T. T. Salguero, S. Rumyantsev, A. Fedoseyev, D. M. Fleetwood and A. A. Balandin, “Proton-irradiation-immune electronics implemented with two-dimensional charge-density-wave devices,” Nanoscale, vol. 11, no. 17, pp. 8380–8386, 2019.
  20. ↑ A. Khitun, G. Liu, and A. A. Balandin, “Two-dimensional oscillatory neural network based on room-temperature charge-density-wave devices,” IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol., vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 860–867, Sep. 2017.
  21. ↑ A. G. Khitun, A. K. Geremew, and A. A. Balandin, “Transistor-less logic circuits implemented with 2-D charge density wave devices,” IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1449–1452, 2018.
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