APL Materials has announced the recipients of its annual Excellence in Research Award, recognizing outstanding early-career researchers whose work exemplifies scientific rigor, originality and impact across the materials science community. The annual award honors first authors age 40 and under whose contributed papers were accepted for publication in APL Materials during the eligibility period.
This year’s awardees span diverse areas of materials research, from spintronic device physics to wide-bandgap semiconductors and advanced semiconductor heterostructures. Together, their winning papers highlight the breadth of innovation published in APL Materials and the journal’s role in advancing fundamental and applied materials science.
First Prize: Jing Zhou
Jing Zhou received first prize for the paper “Synergizing intrinsic symmetry breaking with spin–orbit torques for field-free perpendicular magnetic tunnel junction.” In this work, Zhou and colleagues address a long-standing challenge in spintronic device design by demonstrating a pathway to achieve field-free switching in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions. By combining intrinsic symmetry breaking with spin–orbit torques, the research advances the feasibility of scalable, energy-efficient spintronic devices.
Zhou is a scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) at A*STAR in Singapore. He earned his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore in 2019. His research focuses on spin-torque physics, symmetry-engineered magnetic heterostructures, nano-device integration with CMOS, and hardware-native artificial intelligence. His recent contributions include advances in all-electric spin–orbit torque magnetic tunnel junctions on 200-mm platforms and pioneering work in non-volatile physical reservoir computing for energy-efficient edge AI.
“I am deeply honoured to receive the APL Materials Excellence in Research Award,” Zhou said. “This recognition affirms the importance of symmetry-engineered spintronic heterostructures and encourages our continued pursuit of all-electric magnetic tunnel junction technologies.”
Second Prize: Anna Toschi
Second prize was awarded to Anna Toschi for the paper “VN–VIn divacancies as the origin of non-radiative recombination centers in InGaN quantum wells.” Toschi’s research provides new insight into the material defects that limit the efficiency of InGaN-based optoelectronic devices, particularly blue light-emitting diodes. By identifying specific divacancy defects responsible for non-radiative recombination, the work contributes to strategies for improving device performance.
Toschi is a Ph.D. researcher at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, where her work focuses on blue LEDs and the materials defects that constrain their efficiency. She studied engineering physics at Politecnico di Milano and conducted research at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, experiences that shaped her interest in international, collaborative research environments.
“I am very honored to receive this award,” Toschi said. “It reflects not only my efforts but also the support of the colleagues and mentors who have guided me.”
Third Prize: Elena Campagna
Elena Campagna received third prize for the paper “Challenges in modulation doping of n-type Ge/SiGe heterostructures: The role of epitaxial and thermal strain.” Her study examines how strain affects modulation doping in Ge/SiGe heterostructures, providing important guidance for the design of semiconductor structures for high-frequency and terahertz applications.
Campagna is a Ph.D. student in materials science at Roma Tre University. Her research centers on the growth and characterization of Ge/SiGe heterostructures, and during her doctoral studies she conducted research at the IHP – Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics, expanding her experimental expertise.
“I sincerely thank you for this award, which means a great deal to me,” Campagna said. “This recognition motivates me to continue my research with dedication and to keep pursuing my dreams.”
About the Award
The APL Materials Excellence in Research Award is presented annually to recognize exceptional contributed papers published in APL Materials by early-career researchers. Winning papers are selected by an external committee based on scientific content and impact. In addition to monetary prizes, awardees receive waived article processing charges for a future APL Materials publication.