Advancing oxide electronics through materials engineering: Prof. Judith L. DRISCOLL shares breakthroughs in next-generation memory technologies

On 10 August 2026, Prof. Judith L. DRISCOLL, Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), Professor of Materials Science and Fellow of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, delivered a PAIR Distinguished Lecture titled “Pioneering Materials Engineering to Meet Performance Requirements of Oxide Electronics Applications”.  The lecture attracted 37 onsite participants and more than 14,000 online viewers across various social media platforms.

During the lecture, Prof. Driscoll highlighted the enormous potential of functional oxide materials for a wide range of electronic, energy and information technologies.  While these materials exhibit diverse and highly attractive electronic, magnetic, optical and energy-related properties, she noted that translating research breakthroughs into practical technologies remains challenging.  Key challenges include the precise control of material composition, defects and interfaces, all of which significantly influence device performance.

With the rapid advancement of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, edge computing and neuromorphic computing, demand for advanced non-volatile memory technologies continues to grow. Prof. Driscoll explained that next-generation memory devices must simultaneously deliver low power consumption, fast switching speeds, high endurance, scalability and reliable multilevel operation.  She highlighted oxide-based resistive random-access memory (RRAM) and ferroelectric random-access memory (FRAM) as two highly promising candidates for next-generation memory technologies.

Prof. Driscoll then presented a series of innovative materials-engineering strategies developed by her research team to improve memory device performance.  Central to these approaches is the precise control of oxygen vacancies and their transport pathways within thin-film materials, which play a critical role in determining device performance.  By engineering switching layers, electrodes and interfaces, her team has demonstrated effective ways to improve device uniformity, reduce power consumption, enhance endurance and enable reliable multistate operation.  She also shared several examples of oxide-based memory systems, highlighting significant advances in switching performance, stability and neuromorphic-computing applications.

The lecture also explored how fundamental materials research can be translated into device architectures compatible with existing semiconductor-manufacturing processes. Through advanced nanostructuring, interface engineering and electrode composition tuning, Prof. Driscoll demonstrated how materials design can address long-standing challenges associated with oxygen vacancy control and defect management, paving the way for the practical deployment of oxide-electronics technologies.

Looking ahead, Prof. Driscoll emphasised that materials engineering will remain a key driver of progress in oxide electronics. She noted that new approaches to oxygen-vacancy control are continuously improving device uniformity, endurance, energy efficiency and neuromorphic-computing capabilities. These advances help bring oxide-based memory and computing technologies closer to real-world deployment, creating new opportunities for next-generation electronic and AI applications.

The lecture concluded with a Q&A session moderated by Prof. TAO Xiaoming, Director of Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR), Vincent and Lily Woo Professor in Textiles Technology and Chair Professor of Textile Technology.  Participants actively engaged with Prof. Driscoll in discussions on oxide electronics, advanced memory technologies and neuromorphic computing, bringing the lecture to a successful close.