Press ReleaseAug 16, 2019
Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS)
Division of Plasma Physics (AAPPS-DPP)

AAPPS-DPP Plasma Innovation Prize– Professor R. W. Boswell is selected as First Laureate –The Division of Plasma Physics (Chair: Mitsuru Kikuchi) under the Associationof Asia Pacific Physical Societies (President: Gui-Lu Long) selected Professor
Roderick William Boswell of The Australian National University as the first
Laureates of AAPPS-DPP Plasma Innovation Prize, which is awarded to scientists
who have made seminal / pioneering contributions in the field of plasma applications,focusing on impacts on industry.

CitationsRoderick William Boswell: “For wide-ranging contributions to fundamental plasma
physics and applications to terrestrial and space industries, in particular for
discovery and invention of high-density low pressure radiofrequency plasma source
called a ’helicon plasma source’, with broad and significant impact on
low-temperature plasma physics, plasma processing for microelectronics represented
by plasma etching and focused ion beam source, and plasma thrusters, in which heexerted leadership to pioneer new scientific research fields and industrial
applications.”
Contact points：
AAPPS-DPP Chairman and CEO, Mitsuru Kikuchi(AAPPS-DPP Association Inc.)
TEL: +81-80-115-3482, E-mail: aapps.dpp.ceo@gmail.com
AAPPS-DPP Executive Officer, Haruo Nagai
TEL: 080-1096-4575
AAPPS-DPP Homepage Address：http://aappsdpp.org/AAPPSDPPF/index.html

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On the achievements of Professor Roderick William BoswellProf. Roderick W. Boswell was born in 1944 at Melbourne,
received his Ph. D thesis at Flinders University in 1974. After working
at England, Netherland, and Germany from 1970-1980, he returned toAustralia to work at Australian National University. Since 1998, he has
been Professor of the Australian National University.
Prof. Rod Boswell is the inventor of the nowadays well-known‘helicon plasma source’ yielding the very efficient plasma production
in low pressure. He has established the foundation of the field ofhelicon plasmas in term of the scientific significance by understanding
the wave-plasma interactions and ionization processes. The application
Professor Roderick of the helicon sources to plasma etching in microelectronics is also
another key aspect of his research, yielding the high etching rate by
W. Boswell
the helicon source and establishing the basic physics of pulsed plasma
etching technique for high selectivity and anisotropy. Furthermore, he has worked on adevelopment a focused ion beam system providing a 1000 times brighter than the existing ones.
More recently, his group has discovered a current-free double layer that leads to the spontaneous
acceleration in the expanding helicon plasma and proposed the new concept of the space
propulsion device. His achievements including the above-mentioned researches have a strong
impact in both academia and industrial companies over the world. In particular, his work helped toshape the future development in both the microelectronics and space industries.
He has published over 300 scientific papers encompassing plasma source development, plasma
etching and deposition, plasma thrusters, space physics, plasma diagnostic development, and ion
sources for focused ion beams and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. Professor Boswell not onlyis the acknowledged world leader in the experiments, theory, and application of helicon plasma
sources, but also his work for over thirty years has had a tremendous impact on worldwide plasmas
source development. With a strong passion in supporting and training young scientists across theglobe, many of his former students or young scientists worked with him are leading scientists inseveral countries.
Prof. Rod Boswell was elected as fellows of the American Physical Society (1998), theAustralian Academy of Technological Science (1999), the International Union of Pure and Applied
Chemistry (2002), the Australian Academy of Sciences (2008), and the International Society ofPlasma Chemistry (2013). In
addition, he has won many
prizes and awards, including:
PSTD Prize for Science andTechnology,
AmericanVacuum Society, Centenary
Medal of Australia, Elected
Member of the Order ofAustralia, and the Doctorat
Honouris Causa, Universityof Orleans in France. He istruly one of the mostcelebrated world leaders in
the field of low temperatureplasmaphysics
andapplications.
Fig. Schematics of helicon plasma source and helicon thruster
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Appendix-1: 2019 AAPPS-DPP Plasma Innovation Prize
AAPPS-DPP Plasma Innovation Prize
was founded by the AAPPS-DPP in 2019. Thisprize is given to a plasma physicist/engineer
annually to recognize outstanding contributions
to experimental and/or theoretical research in all
fields of plasma applications, focusing onimpacts on industry. The 2019 SelectionCommittee composed of leading physicists ofplasma application in Asia-Pacific region.
Selection committee:
Chairman:Prof. Masaharu Shiratani (Kyushu University)
Members:
Prof. Yi-Kang Pu (Tsinghua University)
Prof. Jing Zhang (Donghua University)
Prof. Rikizo Hatakeyama (Tohoku University)
Dr. Tony Murphy (CSIRO)
Prof. Jenq-Gong Duh (National Tsinghua University)
Prof. Jang-Hsing Hsieh (MingChi Univ. of Technology)
Prof. Abhijit Sen (Institute of Plasma Research)
Prof. Sudeep Bhattacharjee (India Inst. of Technology)
Prof. Wonho Choe (KAIST)
Dr. Jung-Sik Yoon (National Fusion Research Institute)

Fig. 1 Decision letter from the selection committee

Certificate, medal and cash prize will be given at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma
Physics in November 4 at Hefei, China.
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