The annual competition selects one outstanding researcher from academic institutes around the world in the field of electrostatic discharge (ESD). ESD is the single largest cause of all integrated circuit failures in the electronics industry. Banerjee's proposal, "Electrothermal engineering of multi-gate CMOS devices for improving robustness under ESD conditions" was rated as the most promising research work for the advancement of ESD knowledge as the semiconductor industry moves toward nanometer technologies. The award was announced during the opening ceremony of the EOS/ESD Symposium held in Anaheim, California, in September 2005, and includes a grant of $10,000 to support Banerjee's research.
Founded in 1982, the ESD Association is a professional voluntary association dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of electrostatic discharge avoidance.
Banerjee received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer sciences from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1999. Before coming to UCSB in 2002, he was a research associate at Stanford University's Center for Integrated Systems. He also served as a visiting professor at Intel's Circuit Research Labs, in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2002. His research interests are focused in the area of nanometer scale issues in high-performance very large scale integrated circuits (VLSI) as well as in circuits and systems issues in emerging nanoelectronics.