Marco A. Villena holds a PhD (with honors) in Physics and Space Science at the University of Granada, Spain, 2015. His thesis focused on the modeling and development of novel simulation tools for RRAM (Resistive Random Access Memories) devices called SIM2RRAM.
Now, he is a senior postdoctoral researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. He obtained this position after spending several years working as a physicist/scientist at Applied Materials in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In this period in the industry, he was involved in the development of the simulation tool GINESTRA. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Soochow University, Suzhou, China, and a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, California, USA. His research interests focus on the development of new physical models and simulation tools for RRAM devices based on 2D materials. In addition, he has designed new methods of automatic analysis for the experimental measurements of these devices.
Education
2012-2015
University of Granada (Spain)
2011-2012
University of Granada (Spain)
2010
University of Granada
(Spain)
PhD in Physics
Thesis: "Study, modeling and simulation of RRAM memories"
Master degree
“Methods and advanced techniques in Physics”
Bachelor degree in Physics
Courses
2022
Harvard BOK
2022
LinkedIn Learning
2022
LinkedIn Learning
2022
LinkedIn Learning
2021
LinkedIn Learning
2021
University of Michigan, USA
2021
LinkedIn Learning
2019
Stanford University, USA
Higher Education Teaching Certificate
Grade: 92/100
Communicating with Diplomacy and Tact
Certificate number: AdV7EONteON4s0mgH7_rpbijrrk3
Learning Data Science: Understanding the Basics
Certificate number: ASd6lqq0LJllE844kVT18jIp0Uqx
Speaking Confidently and Effectively
Certificate number: AVgKkbDw8wJs2IdumfjEl9gqBbQT
Strategic Negotiation
Certificate number: AepCjgsg3f8MOe1nvvdaw2vNY8r1
Applied Plotting, Charting & Data representation in Python
Verify at coursera.org/verify/DJVM7FV2UL8K
Data Visualization for Data Analysis and Analytics
Certificate number: AdnnUCt-6TnUHUPYjDbfvK87NTgp
Machine Learning
Verify at coursera.org/verify/5VVTDDXAS35R
Professional Activities
2022 -
KAUST, Saudi Arabia
2019 - 2022
Applied Materials, Italy
2017 - 2019
Stanford University, USA
2016 - 2019
Soochow University, China
2016
University of Granada, Spain
Senior Postdoctoral researcher
Physicist/scientist at R&D department
Involved in the development of GINESTRA software.
Postdoctoral fellow
18 months
Postdoctoral researcher
External researcher collaborator
Teaching
2023 -
KAUST
2001 - 2016
Academia en casa, Spain
Teaching Assistant
Course Title: Electronic Properties of Materials
Private tutor
1084 hours of class of high school and bachelor students
Scholarship
Awards
2017
China
Winner of the Suzhou NANO-CIC postdoctoral fellow
Prize: 30,000 USD
Scientific Activities
2021
2019
2017
2017
2017
2017
2016
PhD thesis reviewer for the University of Valladolid
Member of the technical committee of IPFA 2019
Reviewer of Scientific Reports, Nature Publishing group and IEEE Publishing group.
Leader of discussion group. The IEEE IIRW workshop www.iirw.org
Chair of organizing committee. ChinaRRAM workshop, Suzhou, China
Member, Research Network “Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers”
Member, Network of Researchers China-Spain. “RICE”
Patents
Method for optimizing the use of conductive atomic force microscopes and digital source meters
Marco A. Villena, Biyu Guo, Mario Lanza (Chinese names: 马尔科·维勒纳, 郭碧雨, 马里奥·兰扎)
Application No.: CN111122912A (China)
Scientific Software Developed
SIM2RRAM
Simulation tool for RRAM memories based on Finite-elements methods.
Split-DOS for VASP
Software for managing and analysis of density of state data calculated by VASP.
SCIR (Structure Classification by Image Recognition)
Software for automatic classification of crystallographic structures by image recognition techniques.
AReDeReSC
Software for the automatic detection of Reset event during I-V curve measurement on memristor. This software has been designed to work with Keysight B1500A semiconductor parameter analyzer. (software for internal use only at Mario Lanza’s group, Soochow University)
Highlighted
papers
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Kaichen Zhu, Sebastian Pazos, Fernando Aguirre, Yaqing Shen, Yue Yuan, Wenwen Zheng, Osamah Alharbi, Marco A. Villena, Bin Fang, Xinyi Li, Alessandro Milozzi, Matteo Farronato, Miguel Muñoz-Rojo, Tao Wang, Ren Li, Hossein Fariborzi, Juan B. Roldan, Guenther Benstetter, Xixiang Zhang, Husam Alshareef, Tibor Grasser, Huaqiang Wu, Daniele Ielmini, Mario Lanza, “Hybrid 2D/CMOS microchips for memristive applications,” Nature, (Accepted, March 2023).
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Marco A. Villena, Blanka Magyari-Köpe, Yoshio Nishi, Paul C. McIntyre, Mario Lanza, "Effect of IrO2 spatial distribution on the stability and charge distribution of Ti1-xIrxO2 alloys," Chemistry of Materials 31(21), 8742-8751 (2019).
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M. A. Villena, M. B. González, F. Jimenez-Molinos, F. Campabadal, J. B. Roldan, J. Suñe, E. Romera and E. Miranda, “Simulation of thermal reset transitions in resistive switching memories including quantum effects,” J. Appl. Phys. 115, 214504 (2014).
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M. A. Villena, F. Jimenez-Molinos, J. B. Roldan, J. Suñe, S. Long, X. Lian, F. Gamiz and M. Liu, “An in-depth simulation study of thermal reset transitions in resistive switching memories,” J. Appl. Phys. 114, 144505 (2013).
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Mario Lanza, H.-S. Philip Wong, Eric Pop, Daniele Ielmini, Dimitri Strukov, Brian C. Regan, Luca Larcher, Marco A. Villena, Jianghua J. Yang, Ludovic Goux, Attilio Belmonte, Yuchao Yang, Francesco M. Puglisi, Jinfeng Kang, Blanka Magyari-Köpe, Eilam Yalon, Anthony Kenyon, Mark Buckwell, Adnan Mehonic, Alexander Shluger, Haitong Li, Tuo-Hung Hou, Boris Hudec, Deji Akinwande, Ruijing Ge, Stefano Ambrogio, Juan B. Roldan, Enrique Miranda, Jordi Suñe, Kin Leong Pey, Xing Wu, Nagarajan Raghavan, Ernest Wu, Wei D. Lu, Gabriele Navarro, Weidong Zhang, Huaqiang Wu, Runwei Li, Alexander Holleitner, Ursula Wurstbauer, Max Lemme, Ming Liu, Shibing Long, Qi Liu, Hangbing Lv, Andrea Padovani, Paolo Pavan, Ilia Valov, Xu Jing, Tingting Han, Kaichen Zhu, Shaochuan Chen, Fei Hui, Yuanyuan Shi, "Recommended methods to study resistive switching devices," Advanced Electronic Materials, 1800143 (2018).
Full list of papers
Funded Projects
1. Two-dimensional nanomaterial-based electronic synapses for neural computing
Entity: China NSFC Mianshang
From: 01/2019 to 12/2022
Researcher in charge: Mario Lanza
Funding: 630,000 RMB (~90,000 USD)
Reference: 61874075
2. Electronic synapses based on two dimensional materials for neuromorphic computing
Entity: BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa committees
From: 01/2019 to 12/2021
Researcher in charge: Mario Lanza
Funding: 2,200,000 RMB (~320,000 USD)
Reference: 2018YFE0100800
3. Fabricación, caracterización, simulación, modelado de dispositivos de conmutación resistiva
Entity: Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Spain)
From: 01/01/2018 to 31/12/2020
Researcher in charge: Juan Bautista Roldán Aranda and Francisco Jiménez Molinos
Funding: 114,950 €
Reference: TEC2017-84321-C4-3-R
Technical Skills
Programming Languages
Design & Simulation
Tools
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Python
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Matlab
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Linux Bash
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Visual Basic .NET
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Fortran
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Ginestra (involved in the development of this tool)
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VASP
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PSpice
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Virtual NanoLab
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FreeCAD
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Gmsh
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Blender
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Linux (SUSE, Ubuntu)
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VESTA
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CrystalMaker
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Gimp 2
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Microsoft Office