Akintunde Ibitayo (Tayo) Akinwande joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT in January 1995 as an Associate Professor. Prior to arriving at MIT, Professor Akinwande was a Staff Scientist at the Honeywell Technology Center in Bloomington, MN. While at Honeywell, Dr. Akinwande pioneered the development of thin-film-edge Field Emitter Arrays for RF Micro-Triode Power Amplifiers and Flat Panel Displays and demonstrated the feasibility of using the thin-film-edge FEA for these applications. Recent accomplishments include demonstration of very low voltage operation field emission arrays using the smallest gate aperture and radius ever reported and a technique of increasing resolution and brightness of emissive displays. Dr. Akinwande received his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Ife, Nigeria, and an MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
RESEARCH
Currently, Akinwande is leading a research effort in vacuum microelectronics, with applications to flat-panel displays. His devices are made using processes similar to those used in semiconductor device fabrication. He is particularly concerned with resolution, luminous efficiency, brightness, drive voltage, reliability, and manufacturability of display devices, vacuum microelectronic devices, and wide bandgap semiconductor devices. His current focus is on intelligent displays that utilize smart pixels.