Siva Sivoththaman

Siva Sivoththaman
Professor, Director, Centre for Advanced Photovoltaic and Display Systems (CAPDS)
Status: Active

Biography

Dr. Siva Sivoththaman is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

Dr. Sivoththaman earned his Doctorate from the University of Paris XII - Créteil Val de Marne (France) in 1993. He then worked as a Research Scientist at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) in Belgium for six years before relocating to Canada in 2000 to join the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

Dr. Sivoththaman has held the NSERC Associate Industrial Research Chair in Radio Frequency Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (2002-2006) and the Ontario Research Chair (ORC) in Renewable Energy Technologies and Health (2010-2015). He is also the Director of the Centre for Advanced Photovoltaic and Display Systems (CAPDS) at Waterloo.

Dr. Sivoththaman served as the inaugural Director of the University of Waterloo's Nanotechnology Engineering Program (2004-2006), the Associate Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (2008-2012), and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs in the Faculty of Engineering (2019-2025). He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

Research Interests

  • Solar Photovoltaic Technologies

  • Microelectronic Fabrication

  • Nanotechnology

  • Advanced Photodetectors and Sensors

  • Crystalline Silicon and Thin Film Materials

  • Synthesis of Colloidal Quantum Dots

  • Quantum Dot-enabled Emission Devices

  • Smart Circuits for Solar Photovoltaic Systems

  • Backplane Electronics in Displays

Education

  • 1993, Doctorate Engineering Sciences, University of Paris Est - Creteil Val de Marne (UPEC), Paris, France

  • 1989, Master's Energy Technology, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand

  • 1987, Bachelor's Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India

Awards

  • 2001 New Opportunities Award, Canada Foundation of Innovation

  • 2002 Premier's Research Excellence Award, Ontario

  • 2003 Distinguished Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering

  • 2002-2006 Industrial Research (Associate) Chair in RF/MEMS, NSERC

  • 2006 Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering

  • 2010-2015 Research Chair in Renewable Energy Technologies & Health, Ontario

  • 2011 Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering

  • 2015 Distinguished Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering

  • 2022 Outstanding Performance Award, Faculty of Engineering

Teaching*

  • ECE 109 - Materials Chemistry for Engineers
    • Taught in 2026
  • ECE 231 - Semiconductor Physics and Devices
    • Taught in 2021
  • ECE 433 - Fabrication Technologies for Micro and Nano Devices
    • Taught in 2024
  • ECE 632 - Photovoltaic Energy Conversion
    • Taught in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
  • ECE 730 - Special Topics in Solid State Devices
    • Taught in 2024
  • NE 343 - Microfabrication and Thin-film Technology
    • Taught in 2024, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

Graduate studies

I am currently seeking to accept graduate students. Please submit your graduate studies application and include my name as a potential advisor.