About Me
Given names: Wilfred Gerard
Academic titles: Prof. Dr. MSc.
Birth date and place: 28 May 1975, Gouda, The Netherlands
Present function: Professor of NanoElectronics and Director of Center for
Brain-Inspired Nano Systems (BRAINS)
E: W.G.vanderWiel@utwente.nl
University of Twente Featured Scientist
Press photos
CURRICULUM VITAE
PROFILE
Wilfred G. van der Wiel (Gouda, 1975) is full professor of Nanoelectronics and director of the BRAINS Center for Brain-Inspired Nano Systems at the University of Twente, The Netherlands. He holds a second professorship at the Institute of Physics of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany. His research focuses on unconventional electronics for efficient information processing. Van der Wiel is a pioneer in Material Learning at the nanoscale, realizing computational functionality and artificial intelligence in designless nanomaterial substrates through principles analogous to Machine Learning. He is author of more than 125 journal articles receiving over 10,000 citations.
EDUCATION
1998-2002 PhD Applied Physics (cum laude1), Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; NTT Basic Research Labs. Japan
1993-1997 MSc Applied Physics (cum laude1), Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
1In the Netherlands, ‘cum laude’ is the only (and therefore highest) distinction for MSc and PhD degrees, and is only awarded to the top ~5% of the candidates. The predicates ‘summa cum laude’ and ‘magna cum laude’ do not exist in the Dutch system.
WORK EXPERIENCE
2018-present Director Center for Brain-Inspired Nano Systems (BRAINS)
2009-present Full Professor and Chair, University of Twente
2007-2009 Associate Professor, University of Twente
2005-2007 Research Program Leader, University of Twente, The Netherlands
2002-2005 PostDoc and JST Sakigake Fellow, University of Tokyo, Japan
PUBLICATIONS
>125 publications,
>8,250 citations, h-index: 32 (Web of Science, Nov 2022)
>12,200 citations, h-index: 39 (Google Scholar, Nov 2022)
PATENTS
4 patents
OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES
2022 Co-chair Workshop on Unconventional Computing, Erice (Italy)
2022 Initiator and co-chair of Brainspiration 2022 (Enschede, NL)
2021 Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Nanotechnology | Nanoelectronics
2020-present International advisor for WISE-SSS program, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
2020-present Member External Advisory Board, Research Center for Neuromorphic
AI Hardware, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan
2019-present Visiting Professor in the Institute of Physics, Westfälische-Wilhelms- Universität Münster
2018-present Member External Advisory Panel Groningen Cognitive Systems and Materials Center, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
2016-present Member Advisory Editorial Board Journal of Science: Adv. Materials
and Devices
2014 - 2016 Member Executive Committee of the Global Young Academy (GYA)
2012-2017 Member Global Young Academy (GYA)
2007 - 2012 Member Young Academy (DJA), Royal Netherlands Academy of Art
and Sciences
2005 Co-chair Gordon Research Conference on Quantum Information
Science (Ventura, CA, USA)
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2022-2027 EIC Pathfinder HYBRAIN (Horizon Europe, coordinator)
2022-2025 Core-to-core Material Intelligence (JSPS, co-PI)
2020-2024 Collaborative Research Centre Intelligent Matter (DFG, co-PI)
2020 Take-off Grant (Dutch Science Council NWO, PI)
2019 Program QUAKE, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2019 HTSM Grant NANO(AI)2 (Dutch Science Council NWO, PI)
2018 Physics Projectruimte, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2017 NWA Startimpuls, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2016 UT in de media prijs 2015
2015 Marie Curie Sklodowska ITN, European Commission
2015 HTSM Grant, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2015 Proof of Concept Grant (ERC, PI)
2014 Proof of Concept Grant (ERC, PI)
2014 FOM Projectruimte, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2014 Program DESCO, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2013 World Economic Forum Outstanding Young Scientist Award
2013 STW Valorization Grant I, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2012 FETOPEN Nascence, FP7 European Commission
2009 ERC Starting Grant
2009 NanoSci-E+, European Commission
2009 Program Inter-phase, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2009 NWO nano (2x), Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2008 STW Open Technologie Programma, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2006 NWO Vidi Grant, Dutch Science Council (NWO)
2002 JST Pioneer (Sakigake) Fellowship
MEDIA
2022 U Today - Brainspiration
2022 WWU Zeitung - Intelligente Materie
2022 NPO Radio 1 - Dr. Kelder & Co
2021 NEMO - Gouden nanodeeltjes imiteren hersencellen
2021 Trouw - Het ideaal ligt in de armen van de octopus
2021 De Ingenieur - Breincomputer
2020 Financieel Dagblad - De machine wordt menselijker
2020 Tweakers - De hersenen als voorbeeld: Neuromorfische Informatica
2020 Tubantia - Miljoenen voor samenwerking UT met Universiteit Münster
2020 Physics World - Electrically tuneable network learns fast
2020 Introduction to BRAINS
2019 Omroep MAX - Het eeuwige leven van Jan Mulder
2018 Nieuwsuur - Is de dood straks een keuze?
2017 UT Magazine - Smarter than our brain
2016 Studium Generale - Darwin on a chip
2015 Financieel Dagblad - Het brein als inspiratiebron
2015 New Scientist - Grains of gold shine at computing
2015 de Volkskrant - Nanolabyrinth uit Twente lijkt op menselijk brein
2015 Tubantia - Geloof in de wetenschap
2014 de Volkskrant - Chips kunnen nauwelijks kleiner. En nu?
2012 Between Nano and Nature
2011 BNR Nieuwsradio - Denktank
2009 Tubantia - Europees geld voor onderzoek nanotechnologie
For more info about Wilfred van der Wiel on the 'Featured Scientists' page, click below:
Organisations
Ancillary Activities
-
ECsens b.v.
Scientific Advisor to ECsens b.v. -
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
International advisor for WISE-SSS program, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan -
Research Center for Neuromorphic AI Hardware, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan
Member External Advisory Board, Research Center for Neuromorphic AI Hardware, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan -
Frontiers - www.frontiersin.org
Specialty Chief Editor Frontiers in Nanotechnology | Nanoelectronics -
Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
NPU Guest Professorship -
ECsens b.v.
Scientific Advisor to ECsens b.v. -
Osaka University
Part-time lecturer -
Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster
Second membership Faculty of Physics WWU Münster
Research
PUBLICATIONS
>125 publications, >7,500 citations
Web of Science: h-index 30 (November 2021)
Google Scholar: h-index 37 (November 2021)
ORCID
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
A deep-learning approach to realizing functionality in nanoelectronic devices
Hans-Christian Ruiz Euler, Marcus N. Boon, Jochem T. Wildeboer, Bram van de Ven, Tao Chen, Hajo Broersma, Peter A. Bobbert and Wilfred G. van der Wiel
Nature Nanotechnology 15, 992-998 (2020)
Electrochemical Detection of Tumor-Derived Extracellular Vesicles on Nanointerdigitated Electrodes
D. G. Mathew, P. Beekman, S. G. Lemay, H. Zuilhof, S. le Gac, W. G. van der Wiel
Nano Letters 20, 820-828 (2020)
Classification with a disordered dopant-atom network in silicon
T. Chen, J. van Gelder, B. van de Ven, S. Amitonov, B. de Wilde, H.-C. Ruiz-Euler,
H. J. Broersma, P. A. Bobbert, F. A. Zwanenburg, W. G. van der Wiel
Nature 577, 341-345 (2020)
Bottom-Up Single-Electron Transistors
K. S. Makarenko, Z. H. Liu, M. P. de Jong, F. A. Zwanenburg, J. Huskens,
W. G. van der Wiel
Adv. Mater. 29, 1702920 (2017)
Evolution of a Designless Nanoparticle Network into Reconfigurable Boolean Logic
S. K. Bose, C. P. Lawrence, Z. Liu, K. S. Makarenko, R. M. J. van Damme, H. J. Broersma and W. G. van der Wiel
Nature Nanotechnology 10, 1048 (2015)
Tunable Doping of a Metal with Molecular Spins
T. Gang, M. D. Yilmaz, D. Ataç, S.K. Bose, E. Strambini, A. H. Velders, M. P. de Jong,
J. Huskens and W. G. van der Wiel
Nature Nanotechnology 7, 232 (2012)
Electron transport through double quantum dots
W. G. van der Wiel, S. De Franceschi, J.M. Elzerman, T. Fujisawa, S. Tarucha and
L. P. Kouwenhoven,
Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 1 (2003)
The Kondo Effect in the Unitary Limit
W. G. van der Wiel, S. De Franceschi, T. Fujisawa, J. M. Elzerman, S. Tarucha and
L. P. Kouwenhoven,
Science 289, 2105 (2000)
PATENTS
4 patents
RESEARCH INTERESTS
BRAIN-INSPIRED NANO SYSTEMS FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT COMPUTING
Digital computing has dramatically changed our society. Despite its undeniable success, its technical progress is slowing down and facing physical and economical limits. Moreover, the energy consumption of digital IT is rapidly increasing to an unsustainable level. In order to overcome the limitations of digital computing – particularly, but not exclusively for machine-learning tasks – our group has been exploring the intrinsic physical properties of disordered, nanoscale networks. We have shown that such nonlinear systems can be trained to perform logic operations and canonical machine-learning tasks with potentially very high energy efficiency and small footprint.
Natural and man-made information processing systems differ greatly. Evolution has resulted in living systems that utilize whatever physical properties are exploitable to enhance the fitness for survival. Nature thereby exploits the emergent properties and massive parallelism of highly interconnected networks of locally active components. Man-made computers, however, are based on circuits of functional units, following rigid design rules. In conventional (classical) computational paradigms, potentially exploitable physical processes to solve a problem, are possibly left out. In our research, we manipulate physical systems using the principle of Material Learning, to take full advantage of the computational power of nanomaterial networks.
We have shown that a designless network of gold nanoparticles can be evolved into Boolean logic gates [1]. Later we demonstrated that the above principle is generic and can be demonstrated in other material systems as well, at much higher temperatures. By exploiting the nonlinearity of a nanoscale network of boron dopants in silicon (Si:B networks), we can significantly facilitate (nonlinear) classification [2]. We map a limited number of input data to a new, high-dimensional feature space, in which the data become linearly separable. Using a convolutional neural network approach, it becomes possible to use our device for handwritten digit recognition.
We also show that our Si:B network can be well described by a deep neural network, which allows for applying standard machine learning techniques in finding functionality [3]. We argue that this approach can be helpful in optimizing complex (quantum) nanoelectronic devices in general.
[1] Nature Nanotechnology 10, 1048 (2015)
[2] Nature 577, 341-345 (2020)
[3] Nature Nanotechnology (2020)
NANOELECTRONIC BIOSENSING
Publications
Nano Letters 20, 820-828 (2020)
ACOUSTOELECTRONICS
The oscillating (piezo-)electric fields accompanying surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are able to transport charge carriers in semiconductor nanostructures, where the SAW wavelength can be of the same order as the device size [1]. In our research, we apply nano imprint lithography (NIL) to define high-frequency (> 1 GHz) interdigitated transducers (IDTs) to electrically excite SAWs in a piezoelectric substrate [2,3]. In particular, we demonstrate acoustic transport of photo-generated electron-hole pairs in GaAs/AlGaAs core/shell nanowires on top of a LiNbO3 substrate [4]. The wavelength of the acoustic modulation is smaller than the nanowire length. This allows for transporting the electrons and holes in a spatially separated fashion along the nanowire with a well-defined acoustic velocity towards indium doped recombination centers, where light is detected. Spatially resolved photoluminescence measurements indicate a relative transport efficiency of ~60%. By depositing a piezoelectric layer [3], acoustro-electronic transport experiments in non-piezoelectronic semiconductors like silicon is in reach.
[1] Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 136807 (2006)
[2] Nanotechnology 23 315303 (2012)
[3] Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 013112 (2013)
[4] Nanotechnology 25, 135204 (2014)
Applied Physics Letters 116, 011601 (2020)
Journal of Applied Physics 127, 214901 (2020)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 53, 335301 (2020)
HYBRID INORGANIC-ORGANIC ELECTRONICS
Where conventional electronics makes use mainly of top-down fabrication technology, the introduction of molecular materials paves the way for bottom-up fabrication as well (self-assembly). Hybrid electronic devices benefit from the strong aspects of both fabrication methods. In this research line we take advantage of all these characteristics of hybrid electronic devices to carry out experiments in a largely unexplored area of fundamental and broad scientific interest.
The conduction mechanism in organic (molecular) materials often differs drastically from that in their inorganic (crystalline) counterparts, and still many aspects remain to be understood. A very important and critical issue is the understanding of electronic phenomena at the interface between inorganic and molecular materials, as they usually play a dominant role in the overall properties.
Nature Nanotechnology 7, 232 (2012)
Adv. Mater. 29, 1702920 (2017)
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57, 11465 (2018)
Advanced Electronic Materials 5, 1900041 (2019)
COMPLEX-OXIDE ELECTRONICS
Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 201603 (2013)
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 106401 (2017)
Phys. Rev. B 97, 245113 (2018)
Applied Physics Letters 116, 011601 (2020)
Journal of Applied Physics 127, 214901 (2020)
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 53, 335301 (2020)
Physical Review Letters 124, 017702 (2020)
2020 IEEE 33rd International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures (ICMTS)
UT Research Information System
Google Scholar Link
Courses Academic Year 2022/2023
Courses Academic Year 2021/2022
Contact Details
Visiting Address
University of Twente
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Carré
(building no. 15), room C1441
Hallenweg 23
7522NH Enschede
The Netherlands
Mailing Address
University of Twente
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Carré
C1441
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands