Dr Yuefeng Yin
AEA Ignite Project Lead / Research Fellow · Materials & Devices for Low-Energy Electronics — First-Principles Modelling, AI-Accelerated Discovery & Translation
Department of Materials Science and Engineering & School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University
46Original Research Articles
1,244Citations
20h-index
9PhDs Mentored
A$3.4MFunding Led, Co-led and Participated
Computational materials scientist and device theorist (PhD, Monash; nine years postdoctoral, seven in the ARC CoE FLEET) designing materials and devices for low-energy electronics — the hardware on which the energy cost of computing and AI ultimately rests. First-principles, tight-binding and quantum-transport modelling in a close predict-and-test loop with experiment and industry, now extending to AI-accelerated materials discovery. Lead CI of an AEA Ignite lab-to-fab transistor project and lead inventor on its patent application, with a sustained record of teaching, HDR supervision and industry translation.
Education
2012 – 2016
PhD, Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University. Thesis: Tailoring the electronic structure of graphene via molecular adsorption.
2007 – 2011
B.Eng., Materials Science and Engineering (2+2 program), Monash University / Central South University.
Appointments
2024 – now
Research Fellow (Level B) / Lead Entrepreneur, AEA Ignite Project, Department of Materials Science and Engineering / School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University. Quantum-materials theory; prototyping a new low-energy transistor technology.
2017 – 2024
Research Fellow, Monash University , ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronic Technologies (FLEET) — a physics-led national Centre headquartered at Monash. Theory of topological materials, Berry-curvature transport, magneto-optics and spintronic systems for low-energy electronics.
Teaching, Supervision & Outreach
- Lecturer, Computational Materials Science (2017–2019, 2023–2024), Central South University — delivered on behalf of Monash under the Monash–CSU "2+2" program.
- Designed its intensive 3-week curriculum from first principles — foundations through DFT, HPC and AI, finishing in a group mini-assignment — expandable to a full 12-week program; materials open on GitHub.
- Training HDR students in research skills — DFT training workshops and tutorials for Master's and PhD students, Monash University.
- Examiner for 3 PhD candidates, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University.
- 9 PhD candidates mentored/co-supervised (4 current, 5 graduated): Hanqi Wang, Minh Tien Le, Rahul Awale, Tung Huynh, Ziyuan Zhao, Enamul Haque, Bernard Field, Abin Varghese, Chutian Wang.
- 3 Bachelor's/Master's students supervised, including Qile Li.
- Mentees first-authored papers in Advanced Science, ACS Nano and Nano Letters; one graduate now holds a joint postdoctoral position at the University of Cambridge and King's College London.
- Public engagement: Melbourne Knowledge Week (FLEET quantum-science outreach), annual Gordon Godfrey Workshop (UNSW), and ongoing science communication via X, GitHub and Wikipedia.
Grants (Funding & Computational Resources)
2026 – Current
A$650K: Lead CI, Australia's Economic Accelerator (AEA) Ignite, Round 2, "From Lab to Fab: Advancing a New Low-Energy Transistor Towards Large-scale Manufacturing." Other CIs: Prof. Michael S. Fuhrer & Prof. Nikhil V. Medhekar, with industry partner TQ Transistors.
2026 – Current
A$1.7M: Key Participant, ARC Linkage Project, 2025R2, "Prototyping a Breakthrough Low-Energy Topological Transistor for Future Electronics.", Led by Prof. Michael S. Fuhrer. Other CI: Prof. Nikhil V. Medhekar, with industry partner TQ Transistors.
2024 – Current
A$1.04M: Co-CI, Industrial funding (TQ Transistors Pty Ltd), "Materials Design for Novel Negative Capacitance Field Effect Transistors", Led by Prof. Nikhil V. Medhekar. Other CI: Prof. Michael S. Fuhrer.
2024 – Current
2M SU: Lead CI, NCI Adapter Scheme / NCI-Monash Computational Scheme, "Exploring new approaches of modeling defects in Materials."
2025 – 2026
1.5M CPU hours: Lead CI, Pawsey Fast Track Scheme, "Understanding the interfacial interactions for semiconductor-metal/semiconductor contact."
Selected Publications since 2019 (lead-author papers first; full publication list on Google Scholar)
- Magnetic thin filmsW. Zhao, Y. Zhang, Y. YinCO-FIRST, et al. Giant Berry curvature in the amorphous ferromagnet Co2MnGa. Matter 2025, 8, 101988.
- Magnetic thin filmsY. Zhang, Y. YinCO-FIRST, G. Dubuis, T. Butler, N. V. Medhekar, S. Granville. Berry curvature origin of the thickness-dependent anomalous Hall effect in a ferromagnetic Weyl semimetal. npj Quantum Materials 2021, 6, 17.
- Quantum materialsL. Chen, Y. YinCO-FIRST, T. Lu, et al. Uncovering complex phonon interactions in Mg3Bi2-xSbx: topology and avoided crossings. Nature Communications 2026, doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-71754-9.
- Quantum materialsC. Wang, Y. YinCORR, T. T. Huynh, M. S. Fuhrer, N. V. Medhekar. Edge-state stabilization and control in 2D topological crystalline insulators. Materials Today Physics 2025, 59, 101897.
- Quantum materialsY. YinFIRST, C. Wang, M. S. Fuhrer, N. V. Medhekar. Extracting unconventional spin texture in the 2D topological crystalline insulator bismuthene via tuning bulk–edge interactions. Materials Today Physics 2023, 36, 101168.
- Quantum materialsQ. Li, J. S. Smith, Y. YinCORR, C. Wang, M. V. Klymenko, J. H. Cole, N. V. Medhekar. Localized Wannier-function-based tight-binding models for 2D allotropes of bismuth. New Journal of Physics 2021, 23, 063403.
Entries 4–6 form the “Bismuth trilogy” — five years leading 2D bismuth allotrope theory, from foundational tight-binding models to device-relevant edge-state control.
- Quantum materialsC. X. Trang, Q. Li, Y. YinCO-FIRST, et al. Crossover from 2D ferromagnetic insulator to wide-band-gap quantum anomalous Hall insulator in ultrathin MnBi2Te4. ACS Nano 2021, 15, 13444.
- Quantum materialsY. YinFIRST, M. S. Fuhrer, N. V. Medhekar. Selective control of surface spin current in topological pyrite-type OsX2 (X = Se, Te) crystals. npj Quantum Materials 2019, 4, 47.
- 2D electronicsK. Xing, P. Zhang, Q. Cai, W. Zhao, Y. Yin, et al. Robust van der Waals diamond-like dielectric for two-dimensional electronics. Matter 2026, 103059.
- Magnetic thin filmsJ. Wang, Y. Zhang, J. Hu, … Y. Yin, et al. Band-structure engineering to optimize spin-wave propagation in the Weyl ferromagnet Co2MnGa1-xGex. Advanced Materials 2025, 37, 2505704.
- Magnetic thin filmsY. Zhang, J. Sung, Y. Yin, et al. Giant temperature-independent ultraviolet circular dichroism in Co2MnX (X = Ga, Ge) Heusler magnetic thin films. Physical Review Applied 2025, 24, 034052.
- Magnetic thin filmsW. Zhao, K. Xing, Y. Zhao, L. Chen, M. Hong, Y. Yin, et al. Room-temperature quantum metric effect in the kagome magnet TbMn6Sn6. Nature Communications 2025, 16, 6837.
- Magnetic thin filmsZ. Liu, B. Liu, Y. Yin, N. V. Medhekar. Generic approach to intrinsic magnetic second-order topological insulators via inverted p–d orbitals. Nano Letters 2024, 24, 11295.
- Magnetic thin filmsM. Aoki, Y. Yin, S. Granville, et al. Gigantic anisotropy of self-induced spin–orbit torque in the Weyl ferromagnet Co2MnGa. Nano Letters 2023, 23, 6951.
Translation, Service & Collaborative Practice
- Lead inventor on a US patent application for a novel transistor material architecture (2025, US63/848,509) with start-up TQ Transistors, and contributed to its subsequent US funding application (2025–current).
- Liaison for a strategic R&D partnership between Monash University and Jiangxi Copper (Fortune 500), taken from first contact to a formal MoU signed in August 2024; also hosted delegations from Central South University, Wuhan University of Technology, and Shanghai University.
- Peer reviewer for Nature Communications and Communications Physics; presentations at the APS March Meeting and ICON-2DMAT.
- Quantum-physics networks — 4 papers (+3 under review) and 2 grants with Monash Physics and Astronomy since 2024; sustained partnerships with RMIT and Victoria University of Wellington / MacDiarmid Institute.
Referees
Prof. Michael S. Fuhrer, FAA — VC's Distinguished Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Monash · TODO-referee-email
Prof. Nikhil V. Medhekar — Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, Monash · TODO-referee-email
Dr Simon Granville — Senior Scientist, Robinson Research Institute, VUW (NZ) · TODO-referee-email