Dr. Timothy Boykin

Professor, ECE

Contact

301 Sparkman Drive
Engineering Building
Room 263E
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.6269
boykint@uah.edu

Biography

Timothy Boykin's research centers on the physics of quantum wells, superlattices, nanowires, nanoribbons, and other quantum-confined heterostructures. Most of his work has involved full-bandstructure modeling these structures with empirical tight-binding techniques. Highlights of his research include the first numerically-stable, realistic bandstructure empirical tight-binding calculation for a resonant-tunneling diode including space-charge regions; The generalized eigenproblem method for obtaining surface and interface states; Analytic effective mass expressions for and investigations of the capabilities of many commonly employed tight-binding models; Electromagnetic interactions in tight-binding; Tight-binding strain models; Valley-splitting in Si quantum wells for quantum computing devices; Brillouin zone unfolding and approximate bandstructures of semiconductor alloys and alloy nanodevices; Multi-band tight-binding models for graphene; Semiconductor surface states; and Brillouin zone unfolding to find approximate bandstructures for crystals with vacancies. He was elected Fellow of APS in 2011 and elevated to Fellow of IEEE in 2018 in recognition of this work.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1992
  • M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1988
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering (Summa Cum Laude), Rice University, 1987

Honors & Awards

  • Fellow, IEEE (2018)
  • Fellow, American Physical Society (2011)
  • UAH Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award (2012)
  • ACM Gordon Bell Prize, Honorable Mention-SC11 (2011)
  • UAH Foundation Research Award (2001)

Expertise

  • Full-bandstructure modeling of nanostructures/devices
  • Tight-binding models of semiconductor heterostructures

Recent Publications

  • Timothy B. Boykin, "The discretized momentum operator," The Physics Educator 1, 1920003 (2019).

  • Timothy B. Boykin, Prasad Sarangapani, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Non-orthogonal tight-binding models: Problems and possible remedies for realistic nano-scale devices," Journal of Applied Physics 125, 144302 (2019).

  • M. Raquibuzzaman, B. Ray, T. B. Boykin, and R. S. Gorur, "Polymer-Metal Layered Structures for Improved Energy Storage Density," IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation 25, 2375 (2018).

  • Timothy B. Boykin and Arvind Ajoy, "Effective bandstructures from unfolding supercells with vacancies," Physica B 531, 130 (2018)

  • Timothy B. Boykin and Gerhard Klimeck, "Insights from simple models for surface states in nanostructures," European Journal of Physics 38, 025501 (2017).

  • Yaohua Tan, Michael Povolotskyi, Tillmann Kubis, Timothy B. Boykin, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Transferable tight-binding model for strained group IV and III-V materials and heterostructures," Physical Review B 94, 045311 (2016).

  • Timothy B. Boykin, Arvind Ajoy, Hesameddin Ilatikhameneh, Michael Povolotskyi, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Unfolding and effective bandstructure calculations as discrete real- and reciprocal-space operations," Physica B 491, 22 (2016).

  • Yaohua P. Tan, Michael Povolotskyi, Tillmann Kubis, Timothy B. Boykin, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Tight-binding analysis of Si and GaAs ultrathin bodies with subatomic wave-function resolution," Physical Review B 92, 085301 (2015).

  • Timothy B. Boykin, Arvind Ajoy, Hesameddin Ilatikhameneh, Michael Povolotskyi, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Brillouin zone unfolding method for effective phonon spectra," Physical Review B 90, 205214 (2014).

  • SungGeun Kim, Mathieu Luisier, Timothy B. Boykin, and Gerhard Klimeck, "Computational Study of Heterojunction Graphene Nanoribbon Tunneling Transistors with p/d Orbital Tight-binding Method," Applied Physics Letters 104, 243113 (2014).