Education/professional preparation
• Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China, B. S. in Electronics, 07/1997.
• Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China, M. S. in Electronics, 07/2000.
• Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, 11/2005.
• Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, Postdoctoral Research Associate, 12/2005-01/2007.
• Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, Assistant Research Professor, Janauary 2007- August 2008.

Appointments

• 08/2020–Present              Professor with Tenure, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR.
• 08/2014– 07/2020             Associate Professor with Tenure, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR.
• 08/2008–07/2014    Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR.
• 02/2007–08/2008    Assistant Research Professor, Arizona State University, Center for Nanophotonics, Arizona Institute of Nano-Electronics, Tempe, AZ
• 12/2005–01/2007    Postdoctoral Research Associate, Arizona State University, Center for Solid State Electronics Research, Tempe, AZ.
• 08/2000–12/2005    Graduate Research Associate, Arizona State University, Center for Solid State Electronics Research, Tempe, AZ.

Research Interest
• Semiconductor optoelectronic devices
• Advance material integration
• Applied Nano & Bio Photonics technologies
• Nanopackaging

Professional Honors
• University of Arkansas College of Engineering Research Award (2015).
• University of Arkansas College of Engineering Imhoff Outstanding Researcher Award (2014).
• University of Arkansas Department of Electrical Engineering William D. Brown and Margaret A. Brown Faculty Excellence Award (2013).
NSF Faculty Early Career Award (2012).
• University of Arkansas College of Engineering Research Award (2011).
• University of Arkansas New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment (2009).
IEEE Phoenix Chapter / Society Award (2008) for technical contributions to the fabrication and development of high-efficiency light-emitting diodes for optical refrigeration applications.
Palais Outstanding Doctoral Student Award (2005) in Electrical Engineering department, Arizona State University, Selected out of 41 PhD students that graduated in 2005.
• The paper reporting “High performance GaAsSb QW lasers” was selected for Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology and Solar cell work was highlighted by Laser Focus World for a preview article of Photonic West 2008, Selected from 3100 contributed abstracts.

Professional Activities
• General Co-Chair, 2018 Mid-IR Optoelectronics: Materials and Devices, Arizona, USA.
• Organizing committee, 76th Physical Electronics Conference, Fayetteville, AR (June 20-23, 2016)
• Topic Co-Chair, 2016 IEEE Summer Topical meeting on “Emerging Technology for Integrated Photonics (ETIP)”, 2016 Summer Topical Meeting Series (11 – 13 July 2016), Newport Beach Marriott, Newport Beach, CA, USA.
• Program committee, SPIE Photonics West, Silicon Photonics XI (San Francisco, CA, USA, 2016)
• Topic Co-Chair, 2015 IEEE Summer Topical meeting on “Mid Infrared Photonics”, 2015 Summer Topical Meeting Series (13 – 15 July 2015), British Colonial Hilton, Nassau, Bahamas.
• Organizing Committee for 18th International Molecule Beam Epitaxy (Flagstaff, Arizona, 2014).
• Technical Program Committee for the SC6 – LEDs, Photovoltaics, and Optoelectronics in Energy in 2013 Asia Communications and Photonics Conference (Beijing, China; Nov 12-15, 2013).
• Steering committee for International Workshop on Bismuth-Containing Semiconductors since 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
• Chair of organizing committee for “4th International Workshop on Bismuth-Containing Semiconductors: Growth, Properties and Devices”, July 14-17, 2013, University of Arkansas, Arkansas.
• Steering committee for International Workshop on Bismuth-Containing Semiconductors since 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
• Chair of organizing committee for “4th International Workshop on Bismuth-Containing Semiconductors: Growth, Properties and Devices”, July 14-17, 2013, University of Arkansas, Arkansas.
• Organizing committee, First International Conference on Small Science (2011).
• IEEE member since 2000, SPIE member since 2005, OSA member since 2014.
• Reviewer for Chemistry of Materials, Journal of Applied Physics, Journal of Crystal Growth, Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, IEEE Electronic Device Letter, IEEE Photonics Journal, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics Selected Topics, NanoLetter, Nanoscale Research Letters, Nanotechnology, Applied Physics Letters, Optics Letter.
• Proposal reviewer for NSF ECCS EPDT program, DMR EPM program, and Army Research Office.

Teaching Activities
Undergraduate Courses: ELEG 2104 (Electric Circuits I), ELEG 2114 (Electric Circuits II).
Graduate Courses: ELEG4203/5203 (Semiconductor Devices), ELEG 5353 (Semiconductor Optoelectronic Devices), ELEG 5363 (Semiconductor Material and Device characterizations), ELEG 587V Special Topic (Integrated Photonics).
Student supervising: Graduated 4 Ph.D. (1 co-advised) and 6 Master students; supervised 4 postdoctoral research associates, 15 Ph.D. students (10 under Yu, 5 co-advised), 10 M.S. students, and 18 undergraduate student researchers; served as advisory committee member of additional 14 Ph.D. students and 10 M.S. students; 1 graduate student won prestigious DoD SMART fellowship (2011) and 6 undergraduate students won NSF Summer REU fellowship.

Industrial Experiences
• 12/2013-          Founder of Arktonics (A startup company to commercialize SiGeSn based optoelectronics devices).
• 09/2004–12/2004        Laser Components DG, Inc., Consulting, Developed characterization techniques to evaluate Si-APD performance.
• 05/2002–08/2002        Lytek Corp, Summer Internship, Built test lab and reliability test setup and developed testing software.
• 07/1995–07/1995        Tianjin Shanxing automobile annunciator factory, Inc., Consulting, Developed a quality-control machine using programmable logic controller.

Research Interests and Achievements
Prof. Yu’s current research interests are developing novel semiconductor optoelectronic devices such as lasers, photo detectors, THz devices, and renewable energy devices covering visible to far-infrared wavelength ranges (solar cells, thermo photovoltaic cells, and thermoelectric devices) by using novel SiGeSn alloys and other materials and advanced nanofabrication techniques. His research areas include:
Sn based group-IV photonics: i) SiGeSn based lasers, detectors, modulators, and waveguides for long wavelength Si based optoelectronic integration; ii) SiGeSn based multi-junction solar cells and thermos-photovoltaic cells.
Bismuth photonics: i) MBE grown III-V-Bi materials and their optoelectronic device applications; ii) Surface states bandgap engineering for topological insulator based THz photonics devices using Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3; iii) General purpose compliant substrates based on Vander Walls epitaxy grown Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 buffer for arbitrary II-VI, III-V, and Si integration.
Nanophotonics devices for renewable energy applications: Plasmonics based thin-film, low cost, high efficiency solar cells and plasmonics based cryogenic-free mid-IR focal plane array detectors.
THz plasmonics devices: Surface plasmonics based THz emitters using novel 2D materials such as graphene and topological insulators.
Prof. Yu has sixteen years of experiences in optoelectronic device design, growth, fabrication, and testing. His research focuses on devices made from (InGaAs)(AsSb) materials grown on GaAs, InAs, and GaSb substrates and SiGeSn on Si. Highlights of his research achievements include:
• Monolithically integrated GeSn based optically pumped lasers with low threshold and high operating temperature.
• GeSn based infrared detectors with world record performance.
• 1310 nm GaAsSb/GaAs EELs and VCSELs with world record performance.
• LEDs that can potentially achieve an energy-conversion-efficiency greater than 100% and therefore be utilized as vibration-free coolers for space applications.
• InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb QW lasers with wavelength range of 2-3 µm and an ETR cavity for sensing applications.
• Multi-junction solar cells based on monolithically integrated III-V (InAlGa)(AsSb) and II-VI (ZnCdMg)(SeTe) materials on GaSb substrates, an approach that provides a continuous set of bandgaps to enable lattice-matched four, five, and even six junction solar-cells with conversion efficiencies that can potentially exceed 50%.

Selective Publications
• S.-Q. Yu, Y. Cao, S. R. Johnson, and Y.-H. Zhang, Y.-Z. Huang, GaSb based midinfrared equilateral-triangle-resonator semiconductor lasers, J. of Vac. Sci. & Tech. B, 26, 56 (2008).
• S.-Q. Yu, D. Ding, J.-B Wang, N. Samal, X. Jin, Y. Cao Y, S. R. Johnson SR, Y.-H. Zhang, High performance GaAsSb/GaAs quantum well lasers, J. of Vac. Sci. & Tech. B, 25, 1658 (2007)
• K. Hild, S. J. Sweeney, I. P. Marko, S. R. Jin, S. R. Johnson, S. A. Chaparro, S.-Q. Yu, Y.-H. Zhang, Temperature and pressure dependence of carrier recombination processes in GaAsSb/GaAs quantum well lasers, physica status solidi (b), 244, 197 (2007).
• S.-Q. Yu, J.-B. Wang, D. Ding, S. R. Johnson, D. Vasileska, Y.-H. Zhang, Fundamental mechanisms of electroluminescence refrigeration in heterostructure light emitting diodes, SPIE Photonics West (2007).
• J.-B. Wang, D. Ding, S. R. Johnson, S.-Q. Yu, and Y.-H. Zhang, Determination and improvement of spontaneous emission quantum efficiency in GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy, physica status solidi (b), 244, 2740 (2007).
• D. Ding, S. R. Johnson, J.-B. Wang, S.-Q. Yu, Y.-H. Zhang, Intrinsic Irreversibility in Semiconductor Light Emission, Phys. Stat. Sol. (c)4, No.5, 1698 (2007).
• S.-Q. Yu, X. Jin, S. R. Johnson, Y.-H. Zhang, Gain saturation and carrier distribution effects in molecular beam epitaxy grown GaAsSb/GaAs quantum well lasers, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 24, 1617 (2006)
• S. R. Johnson, S.-Q. Yu, X. Jin, Y.-H. Zhang, Injection Uniformity in GaAsP/GaAs/GaAsSb Quantum Well Lasers, 23rd North American Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (2005).
• S.-Q. Yu, J.-B. Wang, D. Ding, S. R. Johnson, Y.-H. Zhang, Interplay of thermoelectric Cooling and Electroluminescence Refrigeration in LEDs, Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, ITC 2005 (2005).