Professor Tay Beng Kang

Prof Tay Beng Kang is a pioneer in Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc (FCVA) technology and works for many years in developing thin film materials especially in amorphous carbon, nanocomposites, graphene and carbon nanotubes. His current research includes growth and application of 2D TMDC materials and their heterostructures, fabrication and characterization of nanostructures for field emission, thermal and high frequency RF applications. To date, Prof Tay has published more than 400 journal papers with Google Scholar H index of 77.

Prof Tay is also the co-inventor of 17 international patents for 7 technologies filed between 1995 and 1998. Nanofilm Technologies Pte Ltd was established in 1999 as a spin-off licensing exclusively IP developed at NTU on Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc technologies.

The research team was subsequently awarded the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Award and National Technology Award in 1997 and 2000 respectively for outstanding R&D contributions on a new Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Technology.

Prof Tay’s research has been recognized internationally where he works closely with companies such as Excelitas Technologies, IIA Technologies, Thales Group where he also supervised several EDB Industry Postgraduate Programme (IPP) students. He is currently the Deputy Director of CINTRA, a UMI research unit cofounded by CNRS, NTU and Thales. He has been an invited speaker at numerous international conferences and universities.

Google scholar

Academic Qualifications

1999PhD Nanyang Technological University
1989MSc (Elect Eng) National University of Singapore
1985BEng (Hons) CL 2A National University of Singapore

Professional Qualifications / Memberships

2007 – PresentFellow, Institution of Engineers, SingaporeSingapore
2019 – PresentSenior Member, IEEE, USAUSA
2013 – 2019Member, IEEE, USAUSA

Summary of Working Experience

2006 – PresentProfessor, School of EEE, NTU
1999 – 2006Associate Professor, School of EEE, NTU
Jan 1998Senior Lecturer, School of EEE, NTU
Apr 1992Lecturer, School of EEE, NTU
  
Nov 2023 – PresentCo-Director, NTI-NTU Corporate Laboratory (Concurrent Appt)
Apr 2024 – PresentPresident’s Chair in Nanoelectronics
Aug 2022 – PresentAssociate Chair (Faculty), School of EEE, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
Nov 2015 – PresentDeputy Director, CNRS-NTU-Thales Research Alliance (CINTRA) (Concurrent Appt)
Jul 2011 – Jun 2016Associate Dean (Research), College of Engineering, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
Jun 2008 – May 2011Associate Chair (Research), School of EEE, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
Aug 2006 – May 2008Associate Chair (Admin), School of EEE, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
Jun 2005 – Jul 2006Vice Dean (Admin), School of EEE, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
Jun 1999 – May 2005Sub Dean (Alumni Affairs), School of EEE, NTU (Concurrent Appt)
  
Dec 1991 – Mar 1992Head, Technical Support, ATE Centre, Singapore Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd
Jul 1988 – Dec 1991Senior Project Engineer, Singapore Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd
Apr 1984 – Jul 1988Project Engineer, Singapore Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd

Academic Honors and Awards

YearAcademic Honour / Award
2024CoE Industrial Excellence Award
2022Elected to Fellowship of International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) – in recognition of his contribution to “Deposition Techniques”
2019Long Service Awards (30 years), NTU
2015The Long Service Medal, National Day Awards
2013Visiting Professor, Hanyang University
2007IES Prestigious Engineering Awards (by The Institution of Engineers Singapore) – in recognition of an outstanding project, Nano-Engineered Carbon Hybrid Systems
2005International Adviser of Shenzhen Key Lab of Composite Materials, China
2004Honorable Professor, East China Normal University, China
2003NTU Alumni Service Award – for alumni who have rendered outstanding service and contributed significantly in furthering the interests of the University and its alumni. 
2000Singapore National Technology Award (by National Science & Technology Board) – for their outstanding contributions in R&D on a new Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Technology
1997ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award (by AEFO, ASEAN Federation Engineering Organizations) – for outstanding contributions in R&D on a new Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Technology

Key Areas of Research

  • Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc technologies and its applications.
  • Synthesis, Characterization and Modelling of 2D Materials.
  • Synthesis and Applications of Carbon based Nanomaterials / CNT/ Composites
  • Low temperature transfer of carbon nanotubes for high frequency applications (such as EM isolation, passive devices, etc).
  • Application of 2D materials for tunneling diodes, ternary logic and thermoelectric devices.

Research Awards / Recognition

YearResearch Award / Recognition
2024Outstanding Poster Award, Yi Hu, Nonstoichiometric Engineering of 2D TMDs for Piezo/Ferroelectrics, 2D TMDs 2024, International Conference on Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenices, Hong Kong SAR, China, 20 – 23 May 2024
2024Teaching Assistant Award, Jiang Rongtao, School of EEE, NTU, 2024.
2023Best Oral Presentation Award, G. Zhao, X. Wang, P. Coquet, M. Huang, B.K. Tay, Demonstration of Monadic Ternary Logic Gates Based on Two-Dimensional Semiconductors, 3rd International Conference on Electron Devices and Applications (ICEDA 2023), Tokyo, Japan, Oct 16-18, 2023. (G. Zhao – PhD student supervised by Prof Tay)
2023Best Poster Award, G. Zhao, X. Wang, M. Huang, P. Coquet, B. K. Tay, Implementation of Ternary Logic Gates Families based on 2D Materials, 10th International Conference on Nanomaterials and Materials Engineering (ICNME 2023) Singapore, Dec 14-17, 2023 (G. Zhao – PhD student supervised by Prof Tay)
2023Teaching Assistant Award, Yip Weng Hou, School of EEE, NTU, 2023.
2022Beng Kang Tay, Fellow of International Association of Advanced Materials, 2022-2025, in recognition for his contribution to “Deposition Techniques”, from International Association of Advanced Materials, awarded in Aug 2022.
2018Lim Yu Dian (supervised by Prof Tay) – Doctorate Research Excellence Award, Nanyang Technological University,
2015Wang Xingli (supervised by Prof Tay) – Chinese Government Award for Outstanding self-financed Students Abroad – from China Scholarship Council
2014Lu Cong Xiang (supervised by Prof Tay) – Chinese Government Award for Outstanding self-financed Students Abroad – from China Scholarship Council
2010Cheong Jhun Yew (supervised by Prof Tay) Poster Award – 10th International Conference on Applied Surface Engineering / 5th International Conference of Surface and Interface Science and Engineering, Singapore
2008Edwin Teo Hang Tong (supervised by Prof Tay) – Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award –Silver for PhD student,
2007Yang Yi (supervised by Prof Tay) – Chinese Government Award for Outstanding self-financed Students Abroad – from China Scholarship Council
2005Wendy Yung (supervised by Prof Tay) – “Diplomas of Distinction” for Student Papers, 13th POLYCHAR World Forum on Advanced Materials, Singapore
2003B.K. Tay – Best paper Award at International Conference on Metallurgical Coatings & Thin Films (ICMCTF), San Diego, USA

Publicities

  • The Technical Insights Alert in July 31, 1998, issue of Advanced Coatings & Surface Technology Alert, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  • The Straits Times and Zhao Bao (July 24 1996, December 31 1996, May 8 1998, 11 Nov 1999, 13 Nov 1999, 26 Nov 1999, 2 Sep 2000),
  • School Magazine E3World (Jan 1999),  NTU Newsletter (Nov 2000) and NTULink (2001)
  • Commercialization of Publicy Funded Research : Singapore Experience, 19 Mar 2002 by Prof C C Hang, Deputy Chairman, A*STAR & Executive Director of SERC, A*STAR

Invited Speakers

  1. Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc: Evolution Beyond Coating Materials, European assembly of Advanced Materials Congress (AMC), Sweden, International Association of Advanced Materials, 28-31 Aug 2022.
  2. On The Synthesis, Engineering And Applications of 2D Materials, Nanomeeting 2019 Minsk, Belarus, 21 -24 May 2019.
  3. Study of interaction between plasmons in nanocavities and excitons in two dimensional materials, ISSP2019: The 15th International Symposium on Sputtering and Plasma Processes, 11-14 Jun 2019.
  4. On The Synthesis, Engineering And Applications Of 2D Materials, AURA 2018, Chennai, India, 29-31 Oct 2018.
  5. Carbon based Nanotechnology and 2D materials, 2018 International Symposium on Advanced Materials and Technologies (ISAMT2018), Lanzhou, China, 7 – 10 Jun 2018.
  6. CNTs for RF and Field Emission Applications, CINTRA-THALES Workshop on NanoPhotonics and NanoElectronics, Palaiseau, France, March 6-7, 2018.
  7. Thermal Characterization of Carbon-based Material using Infrared Thermal Imaging Measurement Coupled with Finite Element Modeling, 8th IEEE International Nanoelectronics Conference (IEEE INEC 2018), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 3-5, 2018.
  8. Femtosecond laser irradiation of 2D materials, The 3rd International Conference on 2D Materials and Technology, Singapore, 11-14 December 2017.
  9. Enhanced Field Emission Characteristics of Carbon Nanotubes, SurCoat Korea 2017, Incheon, Korea, 29-31 March 2017. 
  10. Growth and Application of Carbon Nanomaterials, TMDs and 2D Heterostructures in CINTRA, Workshop, Indo French Seminar on “Microwave Nanotechnologies” supported by CEFIPRA, Bangalore, India, 3-4 July 2017.
  11. Growth and Application of Carbon Nanomaterials, TMDs and Related Heterostructures NTU-IISC Bilateral Symposium on Nano Electronics, Bangalore, Indian, 17-19 April 2017
  12. Stacking-dependent interlayer interaction in few-layer MoS2, Nanomeeting, 30 May -2 June 2017, Minsk, Belarus.
  13. Growth, simulation, and application of 2D TMDs and related heterostructures, 2nd International Conference on Two-Dimensional Layered Materials (2DLM 2016), HK, 7-9 Jan 2016.
  14. Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc: The Evolution beyond Coating Materials, 13th International Symposium on Sputtering & Plasma Processes, ISSP 2015, Kyoto Research Park, Kyoto, Japan, July 8-10, 2015.
  15. Growth Of Monolayer Molybdenum Disulfide And Diselenide with Chemical Vapor Deposition, Nanomeeting 2015, 26-29 May 2015, Minsk, Belarus.
  16. Carbon-Based Hybrid Nanostructures for Electrochemical Energy Storage, The 6th IEEE International Nanoelectronics Conference, IEEE INEC 2014_Sapporo, Japan, 28th – 31st July 2014.
  17. The 72nd IUVSTA Workshop on Plasma Assisted Vapour Deposition of oxide based thin films and coatings, Schloss Seggau, Austria 6 – 11 April 2014.
  18. Graphene and Graphene-Like Two Dimensional Materials, International Symposium on Integrated Functionalities (ISIF 2012), Hong Kong, Jun 18 to 21 2012.
  19. RF Nanopackaging on carbon-nanostructures, IIEEE Topical Symposium on Radio Frequency Nanotechnology 2012, Singapore, May 2012.
  20. Third International Conference on Frontiers in Nanoscience and Technology (Cochin Nano-2011 India Conference, August 14-17, 2011, India.
  21. Field emission enhancement and thickness dependency of field emission in laser irradiated carbon, IEEE International NanoElectronics Conference (2011 INEC), 21 – 24 June 2011, Taiwan
  22. Nano-Engineered Carbon Hybrid Systems, International Symposium on Thermal and Materials Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, TMNN-2011, 29 May-3 June 2011, Turkey.
  23. Carbon based Nanotechnologies,Workshop on Nanotechologies For Electronics And Photonics”, Thales Research Technology Palaiseau, 29th June 2010, France
  24. Field Emission enhancement in laser annealed carbon films, 2010 8th International Vacuum Electron Sources Conference and NANOcarbon, Oct 14-16, 2010, Nanjing, China.
  25. Novel Carbon Materials for Nanoelectronics Applications, 4th international New Diamond and Nano Carbons Conference (NDNC 2010), 16th May -20th May, 2010, Suzhou, P. R. China.
  26. Nano-Engineered Carbon Hybrid System, 2009 International Electron Devices and Materials Symposia (IEDMS), 19 Nov- 20 Nov 2009, Taoyuan, Taiwan
  27. Laser treatment of Carbon films: Application in electronics application, International Conference – Nanomeeting 2009, 26-29 May 2009, Minsk, Belarus
  28. 2nd International Conference on New Diamond and Nano Carbon (NDNC-2008), 26-29 May 2008, Taipei, Taiwan
  29. ZnO nanostructures and CNT/ZnO hierarchical nanohybrids, The 5th International Conference on Material Processing for Properties and Performance, MP3, Singapore, 11-14 December 2006
  30. Metal Nanocomposite Films By Off-Plane Double Bend Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc, The International Conference On Metallurgical Coatings & Thin Film (ICMCTF 2006), San Diego, USA, April 2006
  31. Room-temperature Deposition of Metal Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Off-plane Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc,Asian International Conference on Advanced Materials (AICAM 2005), Beijing, China”, 3 – 5 Nov 2005.
  32. The role of cathodic arc sources in plasma-based deposition of amorphous carbon films 8th International Workshop on Plasma-based ion implantation and deposition (PBII&D), Chengdu, China, 18-22 Sep 2005.
  33. Applications of PIII in polymer, bio-materials, and MEMS technology, UK-Singapore Materials Workshop, A*STAR, Singapore, 12-14 Sep 2005
  34. Recent Development and Applications Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Technology, The 8th International Symposium on Sputtering & Plasma Processes (ISSP), Kanazawa, Japan, Kanazawa, Japan, 8-10 Jun 2005
  35. On stress reduction of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films for moving mechanical assemblies, The Specialist meeting on Amorphous Carbon (SMAC 2000), Barcelona, Spain, 5 – 6 September 2002
  36. On the Properties of Nanocomposite Amorphous Carbon Films Prepared By Off-Plane Double Bend Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc, The International Conference On Metallurgical Coatings & Thin Film (ICMCTF), San Diego, USA, 22 -26 April 2002
  37. Carbon Nanocomposite Thin Films Prepared by Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc Technique, The International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, Singapore,1-6 July 2001
  38. Filtered cathodic Vacuum Arc Technology and Properties of Tetrahedral Amorphous Carbon Films, The 4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma Science & Technology, Sydney, Australia, July 27 – 29, 1998.

Invited Presentations / Seminars

  1. Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc: Evolution beyond Coating Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China, 1 Nov 2022.
  2. The Evolution of Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc beyond Coating Materials, Nano Technology & Advanced Semiconductor Process Technology, Japan, 23 Aug 2022
  3. Research Funding in Singapore, Workshop Association des Unités de Recherche du CNRS en Asie (AURA)- 15 December 2014.
  4. Carbon Nanotubes for Interconnect Application, NTU-TUM workshop, TUM, Munich, Germany, 2008.
  5. On Energetic-Ion and Nano-Cluster Beams Research & Their Applications, Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, Jul 2005
  6. Applications of FCVA to Nanotechnology,NUSNNI, National University of Singapore, 27 May 2005
  7. On the Advancement of Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc (FCVA) Technology & Its Applications, Jilin University, China, Jun 2004
  8. On the Advancement of Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc (FCVA) Technology & Its Applications, Tianjin University, China, Jun 2004
  9. CNT as an electron source in vacuum microelectronics, East China Normal University, China, May 2004
  10. Effect of temperature on the Deflection and Resonance Frequency of Diamond-like amorphous-Carbon (DL-aC) Micro-cantilevers,Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan, 30 Mar 2004
  11. Feasibility of Diamond-Like Carbon coatings for orthopaedic application, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Singapore General Hospital, 23 Nov 2003
  12. Room temperature deposition of metal oxide films, Fudan University, China, Nov 2003
  13. On the Etching Behaviour of Pure and Metal Containing a:C films Prepared by the FCVA Technique, Cambridge University, UK, Mar 2002
  14. Metal-containing amorphous carbon films for hydrophobic application, Cambridge University, UK, Mar 2001

Spin-off Company

  • The high quality of the films produced by FCVA attracted many foreign visitors and potential customers from abroad. Nanofilm Technologies International Pte Ltd (Nanofilm) was finally set up in May 1999 with NTU Ventures to design, develop and commercialize FCVA related vacuum coating systems.
  • The FCVA technology represents a significant advancement in thin film deposition and has been commercialized successfully through Nanofilm. The production systems are now widely used in HDD industry for slider and media carbon overcoat applications
  • Nanofilm is doing well, not only selling machine and systems, but also the coating service. It received the prestigious National i-Award (Innovation) in 2001.