Jay Guo elected IEEE Fellow for contributions to nanoimprint technology

Jay Guo, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow, class of 2025, “for contributions to nanoimprint, scalable nanopatterning.”

Guo is a world-renowned researcher who has made significant contributions to a wide variety of areas. One of his key innovations has been in scalable roll-to-roll (R2R) nanoimprint technology. The world’s first demonstration of applying nanoimprinting to fabricate Si nano-transistors by Guo in 1997 has been regarded as a foundational work, which demonstrated that nanoimprint lithography is compatible with CMOS process. Many companies around the world have advanced this technology for commercial applications, including nanogratings in AR glasses, and patterned substrate for LED light extractions. The process is suitable for display, solid state lighting, and biotech industries. For this achievement, he was recognized with the Nanoimprint Pioneer Award in 2015.

Guo further developed R2R technology to include roll-based fabrication of optical metamaterials, flexible organic solar cells and OLEDs, and other continuous-based patterning technologies. Eight years ago, his group also explored optical nanopatterning based on plasmonic and metamaterials structures that exceed the conventional optical resolution limit, reaching only a fraction of the wavelength.

In addition to his contributions to nanoimprint technologies, Guo has made important contributions to a variety of related areas. For example, his team developed an OLED electrode that could help extend the battery life of smartphones and laptops, or make next-gen televisions and displays much more energy efficient. He developed an environmentally-friendly chrome-like finish for cars that supports wireless sensing technologies for vehicle safety; he added superb electrical conductivity to transparent plastic sheets to improve large touchscreens, LED light panels and window-mounted infrared solar cells; and he was a pioneer of colorful semi-transparent solar cells.

Most recently, he developed a technique called OptoGPT so that solar cell, telescope and other optical component manufacturers can design devices more quickly with AI. 

Guo’s innovations often attract the attention of industry, and he has founded two companies: Zenithnano and Inlight Technology Co. Zenithnano applies their flexible ultrathin film technology to intelligent electronics, green energy, and health. Inlight Technology specializes in nanostructural color technology; color pigments from Inlight have been used in applications such as vehicle coating, ceramic coloring, cosmetic enhancement, and colored building-integrated photovoltaics.

Guo is on the editorial boards of Advanced Optical Materials, Opto-Electronics Science, and Nature Scientific Reports. He has published more than 25 U.S. patents, and has authored close to  300 journal publications. These publications have received more than 33,000 citations, and earned him an h-index of 91.

He maintains an active research group, and has graduated 45 doctoral students. He is a passionate educator, teaching introductory courses open to all engineering students as well as graduate level courses. He has involved numerous undergraduate students in research, and recently helped develop two new introductory courses in quantum information technology.

In addition to his primary appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering (EECS Department), Guo is affiliated with the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Macromolecular Science & Engineering, and the Applied Physics program.