Justin Shih is a senior undergraduate researcher at UC Berkeley pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Physics, working under Professor Asir Intisar Khan. Justin’s research focuses on the materials–device interface for next-generation AI hardware. His research interest lies in thin-film growth, structural and thermal characterization, and device-level electrical measurement to translate emerging electronic materials into 3D integrated technologies.
Research
As AI hardware moves toward denser 3D integration, the back-end-of-line (BEOL) has become the shared bottleneck for interconnect performance, memory, and heat extraction — problems that are usually studied in isolation but increasingly compete for the same thermal budget and process window. Justin’s research approaches them as a single integration problem. He explores next-generation BEOL-compatible materials that can serve as better thermal spreader, and energy-efficient embedded memory elements within the constraints of a CMOS process. The broader goal is to co-develop these materials for 3D integrated energy-efficient electronics.