Professor Behera’s research focuses on understanding and developing functional materials that introduce new capabilities while remaining compatible with modern semiconductor manufacturing. His group pursues three interconnected directions: (1) Atomically Precise Synthesis - using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to create novel dielectrics and ferroelectrics, semiconductors, metal interconnects, superconductors, and their heterostructures; (2) Materials at Ultrathin and Ultrasmall Limits - understanding how structure and properties evolve as film thicknesses and grain dimensions approach the unit-cell scale; and (3) Functional Materials for Future Chips — Harnessing electric-field control of charge, spin, and crystal structure in ALD-grown functional materials to improve logic and memory technologies and enable new electronic, thermal, sensing, and quantum capabilities.

• Behera, P. et al. Electric field control of chirality. Science Advances 8, eabj8030 (2022).
• Behera, P. et al. Emergent ferroelectric switching behavior from polar vortex lattice. Advanced Materials 35, e2208367 (2023).
• Behera, P. et al. Anisotropic ferroelectricity in polar vortices. Advanced Materials 37, e2410149 (2025).

• B.S. Materials Science & Engineering - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - 2019
• Ph.D. Materials Science & Engineering - University of California, Berkeley - 2024

• Rising Stars in Materials Science and Engineering - 2025
• UIUC Bronze Tablet - 2019
• UIUC Henry II Ford Award - 2019