Director, Center for Solid State Energetics
- rama
rti.org - Research Triangle Park, NC
download imageRama Venkatasubramanian
Expertise
Thermoelectric Power Generation
Thermal Management
Thermoelectric Materials
Optoelectronic Materials
Biography
Rama Venkatasubramanian, PhD, is director of the Center for Solid State Energetics at RTI. He founded Nextreme Thermal Solutions, an RTI spin-off. Dr. Venkatasubramanian holds several thermoelectric patents and has several patents pending. He has written over 110 peer-reviewed publications and presentations in thermoelectric materials and devices, photovoltaic materials and devices, optoelectronic materials, and other solid-state devices, and has chapters in Recent Trends in Thermoelectrics–Semiconductors and Semimetals and Thermoelectrics–Micro to Nano. Dr. Venkatasubramanian initiated and developed a research program in thermoelectric materials and devices at RTI. His work in atomically engineered superlattice materials resulted in the most significant thermoelectrics breakthrough in the last 40 years. His current focus is to transition this superlattice technology to advanced cooling systems, electronics thermal management, and power conversion systems. Under his leadership, the RTI thermoelectrics program has published in Nature (2001) and won several awards, including the R&D 100 Award (2002).
Education
PhD, Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; MS, Electrical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; BTech, Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology.
Selected Publications
Venkatasubramanian, R. (2004). Nanoscale materials for thermoelectrics, thermo-photonics and hybrid energy systems - Toward green energy solutions. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 227:U1240-U1241.
Venkatasubramanian, R. (2003). Thin-film superlattice thermoelectric devices. Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society, 225:U987-U987.
Venkatasubramanian, R., Siivola, E., Colpitts, T., & O'Quinn, B. (2001). Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit. Nature, 413 (6856):597-602.
Cui, R., Bhat, I., O'Quinn, B., & Venkatasubramanian, R. (2001). In-situ monitoring of the growth of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 films and Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 superlattice using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Journal of Electronic Materials, 30 (11):1376-1381.
Venkatasubramanian, R. (2001). Phonon blocking electron transmitting superlattice structures as advanced thin film thermoelectric materials. In T.M. Tritt (Ed.), Recent Trends In Thermoelectric Materials Research III: Semiconductors and Semimetals, Volume 71 (Chapter 4, pp. 175-201). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Touzelbaev, M.N., Zhou, P., Venkatasubramanian, R., & Goodson, K.E. (2001). Thermal characterization of Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 superlattices. Journal of Applied Physics, 90 (2):763-767.
Venkatasubramanian, R. (2000). Lattice thermal conductivity reduction and phonon localizationlike behavior in superlattice structures. Physical Review B, 61 (4):3091-3097.
Venkatasubramanian, R., Colpitts, T., O'Quinn, B., Liu, S., El Masry, N., & Lamvik, M. (1999). Low-temperature organometallic epitaxy and its application to superlattice structures in thermoelectrics. Applied Physics Letters, 75 (8):1104-1106.
Cui, H., Bhat, I.B., & Venkatasubramanian, R. (1999). Optical constants of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 measured using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Journal of Electronic Materials, 28 (10):1111-1114.
Lee, S.M., Cahill, D.G., & Venkatasubramanian, R. (1997). Thermal conductivity of Si-Ge superlattices. Applied Physics Letters, 70 (22):2957-2959.