This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.
Postdoc Position Research Title:
High Speed Metrology for Magnetoelectronic Devices and Models: Research Associate
The work will entail:
This position entails making high speed electronic and optical measurements of the Heisenberg exchange parameter on state of the art samples and devices from industrial collaborators. The successful applicant will work closely with collaborators to analyze these results and use the results to develop better predictive models of device performance. In addition, the position will involve fabrication of metrological structures using magnetic thin-film deposition tools and photo- and electron-beam lithography to develop metrology for high-speed real-time measurements of high-impedance devices. In these projects the Associate will work closely with NIST staff, but the Associate must be self-motivated in designing and executing measurements, developing robust data analysis methods with proper statistical validation, and reporting these results to the group and via publication.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
• Using optical measurement systems based on inelastic light scattering
• Developing high speed electronic (microwave) measurements, including pulsed, harmonic, sampled and real-time measurement methods using microwave sources, arbitrary waveform generators, and oscilloscopes
• Analyze heterogeneous data sources including optical spectra, read- and write-error rate data streams, real-time and sampled high speed electronic traces.
• Fabricating magnetoelectronic devices using optical and electron beam lithography, reactive and physical ion etching methods.
• Presenting results at internal meetings, and occasional meetings with external stakeholders.
• Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization
Qualifications:
• A Master’s degree or higher in Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with the design and fabrication of magnetic nanostructures including magnetron sputtering and e-beam evaporative deposition or molecular beam epitaxy, electron-beam and photo-lithography
• Experience with characterization tools including vibrating sample magnetometry, MOKE, x-ray reflectometry, secondary-ion mass spectrometry, atomic force and scanning electron microscopy
• Experience with simulation tools including MuMAX, COMSOL, OOMMF
• Experience developing novel data acquisition platforms to acquire DC and RF data at scale.
• Familiarity with coding languages including Python, Matlab, Verilog.
The university is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not unlawfully discriminate in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.