Professor Andrew Knights

 Professor Andy Knights received his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the University of East Anglia in 1994. Under the supervision of Professor Paul Coleman he studied the fundamental interactions of positrons with solid surfaces. This work led to a post-doctoral position at the University of Western Ontario in 1995. Applying much of the knowledge obtained during his Ph.D. work he began to study the quantitative positron spectroscopy of defects in semiconductors with an emphasis on the understanding of vacancy-type ion implantation induced defects.

In 1996 he moved to the University of Surrey to work as a research fellow at the UK National Ion Beam Facility where his interest in semiconductor device design and processing broadened. While at Surrey he met Professor Graham Reed and began a fruitful collaboration in the area of silicon photonics, specifically fabrication techniques involving ion implantation. This work would eventually lead to the co-authorship of the first text book on silicon photonics in 2004.

 In 2000 at the height of the telecom boom he joined Bookham Technology (now known as Oclaro) as Principal Engineer and became a member of the first team to bring silicon photonic devices to the market. In 2003 he was offered a position at McMaster University where he remains as a Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics, being awarded the title of Distinguished Engineering Fellow in 2014. He currently holds a joint appointment with Ranovus Inc. of Ottawa, acting as Lead Silicon Architect.
 
Andy Knights has (co)authored over 220 original research papers. In addition he has made numerous invited presentations at international conferences. In 2004, in collaboration with Professor Graham Reed, he co-authored the first text to deal specifically with silicon photonics. He is co-Chair of the SPIE Photonics West, Silicon Photonics conference held annually in San Francisco. He was co-Chair of the 2015 IEEE Group Four Photonics Conference, which was held in Vancouver. He is Associate Editor of IET Electronics Letters.

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Address & Phone

Mailing Address

McMaster University
Department of Engineering Physics
1280 Main Street West
John Hodgins Engineering Building
Room A315
Hamilton, Ontario
L8S 4L7

Professor Andy Knights's office

McMaster University
Arthur Bourns Building (ABB) 450

​Phone: 905.525.9140 x 27224
Fax: 905.528.5406
Email: aknight ‘at’ mcmaster.ca

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