Applied Materials CTO receives IEEE Frederik Philips Award

Applied Materials, Inc. has announced that Dr Omkaram (Om) Nalamasu, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, has received the 2023 IEEE Frederik Philips Award, which recognises outstanding accomplishments in the management of research and development resulting in effective innovation in the electrical and electronics industry. Nalamasu received the award for leadership in research and development of semiconductor materials, processes and equipment.

Gary Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials, said that Nalamasu has an impressive track record of identifying, incubating and commercialising new growth opportunities based on materials engineering technologies and capabilities developed in the semiconductor industry. “Congratulations to Om for this well-deserved recognition of his passion for technology and ability to lead and inspire successful engineering teams to accelerate innovation from concept to commercialisation,” Dickerson said.

Nalamasu is a renowned expert in materials science and has contributed to the fields of optical lithography and polymeric materials science and technology. He also has a distinguished career of leadership in advancing materials engineering technologies and solutions for semiconductors and displays, and for enabling global inflections in new and adjacent markets to the wafer fab equipment industry. As an advocate for open innovation and a pioneer in value-added partnerships, Nalamasu has established a team to extend Applied’s leadership in materials engineering. The relationships he has cultivated over the years with global academia, research institutes, customers, supply chain partners and government agencies have led to the creation of the Materials Engineering Technology Accelerator (META) Centre in New York, the Computational Centre for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the New Jersey Nanotechnology Consortium (NJNC) at Bell Labs.

Nalamasu also serves as President of Applied Ventures, LLC, the venture capital fund of Applied Materials, where he oversees investments across the globe in all areas of deep tech, including semiconductors, display, AI, Big Data, Industry 4.0, energy efficiency, 5G, electric vehicles and life sciences.

“I am honoured and humbled to follow in the footsteps of the many great technologists and engineers that have received this award. I truly believe that innovations in materials engineering are fundamental to enabling new discoveries and technology breakthroughs that can make the world a better place,” Nalamasu said.

Prior to joining Applied Materials in 2006, Nalamasu was a NYSTAR Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at RPI, where he also served as vice president of research. Nalamasu has also held key research and development leadership positions at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies and Agere Systems, Inc., and was director of Bell Laboratories’ Nanofabrication Research Laboratory, MEMS and Waveguides Research, and Condensed Matter Physics organisations.

Image credit: Applied Materials, Inc.