Semiconductor Process Engineer/ MEMS/Lithography/Etch/thin film

Zhongcheng Gong, Ph.D.

**************@*****.***, 601-***-****

Summary:

• Professional in Micro/Nanotechnology (MEMS, Semiconductor) system design, fabrication, and testing;

• 5 years of class 100 cleanroom hands-on experience for semiconductor fabrication processes (PECVD/e-beam evaporation/sputtering thin film growth/deposition, lithography, dry/wet etching, etc.), metrology and analytical instruments (SEM, AFM, Surface profiler, XRD, etc.) for complex micro fabrication process development and integration;

• 5 years of experience for MEMS and electronics devices development;

• 5 years of experience in design of experiments (DOE) and statistical data analysis;

• Experience with simulation and modeling for fabrication process, MEMS, and electronic devices;

• Strong background knowledge in semiconductor physics, solar cell, electronic and optical devices;

• Involved in 10+ research projects with fast learning, great problem solving skills, and team spirit;

• Provided team leadership and projects management for multiple projects;

• 25+ high level journal and conference publications and presentations;

Objective:

I am seeking a full-time position of semiconductor fabrication process engineer/design engineer/product engineer/testing engineer/application engineer in Semiconductor, MEMS, or Renewable Energy industries for new product/process development or research scenarios, utilizing strong technical skills, systematic consideration, research, and management experiences to provide neat engineered solutions and contribute to the success of your company.

Education:

Ph.D. Engineering: Micro/Nanotechnology and Micro/Nanoelectronics, Expected: May, 2012; GPA: 3.95

Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, USA

Dissertation: Fabrication and Characterization of Hybrid Energy Harvesting Microdevices

M.S. Electrical Engineering, February, 2011; GPA: 3.94

College of Engineering and Science, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, USA

B.E. Electrical Engineering, July, 2007

Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics), Beijing, China

Professional Experiences and Selected Accomplishments

Research Assistant, Institute for Micromanufacturing, Louisiana Tech University (2007 to present)

• Lead a team (5+ engineer students) over the course of 5 years to develop a novel hybrid energy harvesting(solar/ thermal /vibration) system based on thin film nanomaterial and MEMS technology which won national recognition; current generation has a power density over 2 mW/cm2 (15 mW/cm2 for typical solar panel) and has the capability of scavenging energy 24/7;

• Independently developed unit micro fabrication process and integrated into complex device fabrication;

• Provided project leadership as well as team player which managed to develop fabrication processes and testing methods for numerous functional MEMS and electronic prototype devices from the ground up (nanoassembly-enabled field-effect transistor/FET, micro cantilever energy harvester, nanomaterial resonator, micro biosensor, nanostructured optical sensor, tunable optical antenna, and microfluidic devices, etc.);

• Developed PECVD process for hydrocarbon polymer and silicon nitride/oxide dielectric films;

• Optimized PECVD film quality for various applications by adjusting PECVD recipe and annealing process;

• Successfully developed the DC sputtering process of Au coating on nanostructure for signal enhancement;

• Utilized the principle of design of experiment (DOE) to design the experiments matrix, analyzed results statistically and optimized the parameters for the process development and testing using JMP, Matlab and MS Excel;

• Published 25+ peer reviewed papers on high level journals and conferences proceedings in recent 4 years;

• Played an essential role to establish the Micro-Nano-Systems lab for my advisor from the ground up

(developed and documented unit processes essential for multiple projects, purchased equipment, materials, built up fundamental electrical and optical experiments setup and organized the lab in order);

• Trained graduate students on fabrication, metrology, and testing equipment (PlasmaTherm PECVD 790, SUSS mask aligner for photolithography, ICP/RIE dry etcher, KLA surface profiler, AFM, probe station);

• Helped staff do maintenance and troubleshooting for lithography (SUSS MA6 mask aligner) and dry etching equipment (Altech ICP-DRIE);

Professional Skills:

• Thin film growth, evaporation and deposition: PECVD (hydrocarbon polymer, dielectric films), PVD (E-beam evaporation/DC sputtering for metals), Oxidation, Sol-gel thin film process (PZT film);

• Mask layout design and photo lithography: Layout design (L-edit), Cr mask fabrication, spin coating, mask aligner, contact printing photo lithography process for positive (S1813, SPR 220, etc.) and negative (SU8, KMPR 1000 series, etc.) thin and thick film photoresist (0.3µm to 300 µm in thickness); Maintenance and troubleshooting for SUSS MA6 mask aligner;

• Dry etching: ICP-DRIE, RIE process for Si Bosch Process, dielectric film (Si3N4, SiO2, PZT), metal films (Pt), organics (photo-resist ashing, etc.), polymer, Si XeF2 isotropic etching for MEMS device releasing;

• Wet etching: BOE (SiO2, PZT), KOH (Si), Metal etchant (Ni, Cu, Al metal film etching);

• Skills for annealing, wafer dicing, bonding, and other nanofabrication;

• Fabrication Metrology and Testing for topology, electrical, optical properties: Surface profiler, AFM, SEM, ellipsometer, spectrometer (optical properties), probe station (electric characteristics), data Acquisition system programmed by LabVIEW;

• FEA based micro/nano system, fabrication and property simulation/modeling:

Experience in Coventor 2008, COMSOL Multiphysics 4.0, TCAD (TSUPREM4 and MEDICI);

• Computer skills, programming, design of experiments (DOE), statistical process control (SPC), data analysis: JMP (for DOE: screening design, full factorial designs and fractional factorial designs and other statistical analysis), Matlab, familiar with VC++, skilled in Microsoft office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint);

• Computer-Integrated production line manufacturing experience: Operation of Intelitek Computer-Integrated-manufacturing system;

• Teaching Assistant Experience: Advanced Microfabrication with CAD (process simulation demonstration); Industrial Statistics (Grading); Robotics and Automation (Lab demonstration for Intelitek Computer-Integrated-manufacturing system);

• Basic knowledge of Engineering Economics, Operation Research, Managerial Accounting, Finance from industry engineering courses; 1 year experiences for image processing.

• Languages: Fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese;

Selected Academic Projects

a. Fabrication and characterization of renewable energy harvesting micro device (2007 to now)

• First time discovered, characterized, and explained the “self-oscillation” phenomenon of carbon nanotube thin film based composite cantilever as the fundamental for the energy harvesting device which can provide continuously mechanical vibration upon receiving light/thermal radiation energy without external mechanical energy sources;

• Designed the layouts (7 layers) and fabricated the Cr masks for the micro-scale hybrid energy harvesting system;

• Developed and optimized the PECVD process for silicon nitride film;

• Optimized the PECVD film stress which suitable for the device operation by changing the gas composition and adjusting the annealing process;

• Developed the e-beam evaporation process for improving the yield of a bi-layer lift-off process;

• Designed the etching window for cantilever releasing in a dry etching process capable of reducing the time and chemical consumption by more than 50%;

• Successfully developed and integrated complex fabrication processes (lithography, PECVD, PVD, dry etching, , thermal oxidation, lift-off, etc.) more than 15 steps for fabricating micro energy harvesting system;

• Studied and explained the device physics (hybrid energy harvesting) from several mechanisms (piezoelectric effect/thermoelectric effect/photovoltaic) by conducting a series of control experiments;

• Designed and verified several power enhancement methods for the second generation of micro device that significantly increased the power density for more than 500 times;

b. Polymer based and nanostructure enhanced Fabry-perot optical sensor (2007 to 2010)

• Fabricated the SU8 mold and PDMS polymer optical sensor by soft-lithography method;

• Studied the DC sputtering process for conformal Au coating on nanopore structure for optical signal enhancement introduced by surface plasmon resonance;

• Built up the optical setup for studying the interference optical signal and Raman spectrum using optical components (optical fiber, spectrometer, laser and white light sources, optical filter, etc.) for bio/chemical sample detection;

c. PDMS through-hole process for 3D microarray chip for protein analysis (2009 to now)

• Developed the PECVD process for hydrocarbon polymer coating as an intermediate layer for soft lithography;

• Designed, fabricated and assembled the 3D microarray chip by micro fabrication techniques;

d. Layer-by-layer nanoassembly based field-effect-transistor (2011 to now)

• Involved in design of fabrication process flow and layout to integrate bottom-up with top-down approaches;

• Developed the PECVD process for patterning silicon dioxide as the passivation layer;

• Participated and advised group member to successfully fabricated functional MOSFET devices;

• Conducted initial testing of ID-VDS curve, gate voltage control on the fabricated MOSFET;

e. MEMS device fabrication using nanocomposites by combining photolithography, lift-off and layer-by-layer nanoassembly (2010)

• Developed innovation fabrication process for MEMS devices using nanocomposites combining layer-by-layer nanoassembly and photolithography;

• Analyzed the stress in the nanomaterial thin film using bowtie strain gauge and Guckel ring micro structures;

• Demonstrated this fabrication technique by developing a nanocomposite based MEMS resonator and biosensor;

f. Patch-clamp microfluidic device with cell selection and positioning (2007 to 2009)

• Designed and fabricated the PDMS microfluidic platform bonded on glass slide using oxygen plasma bonding;

• Developed the KOH wet etching process for fabricating a through hole in silicon wafer using PECVD silicon nitride as a protection mask;

• Conducted testing for capturing and sorting cells by integrated air-bubble actuator;

• Built up the experiment setup for analyzing the ion channel current of the cell using a unique patch clamp amplifier;

g. Simulation of 100nm MOSFET based on NMOS technology (2007 to 2008)

• Set up the 2-D finite element model of MOSFET in TSUPREM-4;

• Modeled all the critical fabrication process flow in TSUPREM-4 such as oxidation, etching, implantation, epitaxy, CVD, diffusion in rapid thermal annealing, and metallization for fabricating a complete MOSFET;

• Analyzed the modeling results of fabrication processes such as the profiles of concentrations of impurities at the gate region as well as the source and drain regions; calibrated the results by adjusting parameters in TSUPREM-4.

• Modeled the electrical properties of the MOSFET device (I-V characteristics, potential contours, etc.) in MEDICI;

Honors and Awards

• Selected to get Student Financial Support, EIPBN/3 beams 2011 conference, Las Vegas (2011)

• The energy harvesting system ranked Top 10 renewable energy technology breakthroughs in 2010 by Ecofriend.org (www.ecofriend.com/entry/10-breakthroughs-in-renewable-energy-technology-in-2010/)

• The energy harvesting system is reported prominently by some major media in the US (Museum of Science at Boston, PhysOrg, Ecofriend, Gizmag, KNOE8 news, etc.) and in Europe (Science&Vie)

• Co-developed nanostructured biosensing platform is highlighted by Laser Focus World Magazine(2010)

• First place of Students Research Symposium awarded by president of Louisiana Tech University (2010)

• Selected to get Student Travel Award, Transducers 2009, Denver (2009)

Publications

• Journal Papers

J1. Z. Gong, V. Kotipallim, Y. He, J. Soman, C. O’Neal, and L. Que, “Fabrication of carbon nanotube film-based microcantilevers for energy harvesting application,” to be submitted, 2012

J2. Z.Gong, Y. Tseng, Y. He, and L. Que, “Studies of self-reciprocating characteristic of carbon nanotube film-based cantilevers under light and thermal radiation,” Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 11, 1-6, 2012

J3. Z. Gong, H. Zhao, T. Zhang, F. Nie, P. Pathak, K. Cui, Z. Wang, S. Wong and L. Que, “Drug Effects Analysis on Cells Using a High Throughput Microfluidic Chip,” Biomedical Microdevices, Vol. 13, No.1, 215-219, 2010

J4. P. Pathak, H. Zhao, Z. Gong, T. Zhang, F. Nie, K. Cui, Z. Wang, S. Wong and L. Que, "Real-time monitoring of cell viability using direct electrical measurement with a patch-clamp microchip," Biomedical Microdevices, V. 13, No. 5, 949 (2011)

J5. V. Kotipalli, Z. Gong, P. Pathak, T. Zhang, Y. He, S. Yadav and L. Que, “Light and Thermal Energy Cell Based on Carbon Nanotube Films,” Applied Physics Letters 97, 124102, 2010 (also selected for the September 27, 2010 Volume 22, Issue 14 of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology)

J6. T. Zhang, Z. Gong, R. Giorno, L. Que, “A Nanostructured Fabry-Perot Interferometer,” Optics Express,Vol. 18, No. 19, pp.202**-*****, 2010

J7. T. Zhang, S. Talla, Z. Gong, S. Karandikar, R. Giorno, L. Que, “Biochemical Sensing with A Polymer-Based Micromachined Fabry-Perot Sensor,” Optics Express, Vol. 18, No. 17, pp.183**-*****, 2010

J8. S. Penmetsa, K. Nagrajan, Z. Gong, D. Mills, and L. Que, “Biological Cell Controllable Patch-Clamp Microchip,” Applied Physics Letters 97, 263702, 2010 (also selected for the January 1, 2011 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research)

• Conference Papers and Invited Presentations

C1. Z. Gong, V. Kotipallim, Y. He, J. Soman, C. O’Neal, L. Que, “Fabrication of carbon nanotube film-piezoelectric (CNF-PZT) microcantilevers for energy harvesting application,” Electron, ion, and photon beam technology and nanofabrication (EIPBN), 2011. (Oral Presenter)

C2. Y. He, X. Zhang, P. Dahal, A. Koirala, Z. Gong, A. Gunasekaran, Y. Lvov and L. Que, “Nanocomposite-beam based microresonator fabricated by combining microlithography and layer-by-layer nanoassembly,” Electron, ion, and photon beam technology and nanofabrication (EIPBN), 2011.

C3. V. Kotipalli, Z. Gong, Y. He, S. Yadav, S. Penmetsa, J. Wei, L. Que, “Carbon Nanotube Film-Based Cantilever for Light and Thermal Energy Harvesting,” Proceeding of IEEE Sensors Conference, pp. 1165-1168, 2010 (Oral Presenter)

C4. Z. Gong, S. Karandikar, X. Zhang, V. Kopitalli, Y. Lvovl, L. Que, “Composite Nanomaterial Thin Film-based Biosensors,” Proceeding of IEEE Sensors Conference, pp. 29-32, 2010 (Oral Presenter)

C5. T. Zhang, S. Karandikar, Z. Gong, R. Giorno, L. Que, “Label-Free Biosensing Using A Nanostructured Fabry-Perot Interferometer,” Proceeding of IEEE Sensors Conference, pp. 2065-2068, 2010

C6. P. Pathak, H. Zhao, Z. Gong, F. Nie, T. Zhang, S. Wong, L. Que, “Real-Time Tagless Monitoring of Cell Viability Using Patch-Clamp Microdevices,” Proceeding of IEEE Sensors Conference, pp. 2482-2485, 2010

C7. V. Kotipalli, P. Pathak, T. Zhang, Z. Gong, J. Ypya, L. Que, “Optical and thermal characterization of carbon nanotube film for energy harvesting applications,” Material Science & Technology, 2010 (Oral Presenter)

C8. Z. Gong, X. Zhang, P. Dahal, Y. Lvov, L. Que, “Fabrication of micro and nanodevices using nanocomposite materials by combining layer-by-layer nanoassembly and optical lithography,” Material Science & Technology, 2010 (Oral Presenter)

C9. Z. Gong, F. Nie, T. Zhang, P. Pathak, Z. Wang, H. Zhao, S. Wong, L. Que, “High throughput analysis of drug effects on single breast cancer cells using droplet-microfluidic devices,” Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on MEMS, pp. 1015-1018, 2010

C10. Z. Gong, V. Kotipalli, C. O'Neal, L. Que, "A piezoelectric photovoltaic micropower generation (PPVMG) chip," Lockheed Martin Special Symposium, NSTI-Nanotech 2009, Houston, TX, 2009 (Invited Presentation)

C11. Z. Gong, S. Penmesta, Z. Zheng, Y. Lvov, L. Que, "Encapsulation of microparticles and biomolecules based on layer-by-layer nanoassembly techniques with microfluidics droplet device," Proceeding of 15th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators & Microsystems (Transducers' 09), pp. 1043-1046, 2009 (Poster Presenter)

C12. S. Penmetsa, K. Nagrajan, Z. Gong, D. Mills, L. Que, "A patch-clamp device with cell sorting and positioning function," Proceeding of 15th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators & Microsystems (Transducers'09), pp. 81-84, 2009

C13. T. Zhang, Z. Gong, R. Giorno, L. Que, "Signal sensitivity and intensity enhancement for a polymer-based Fabry-Perot interferometer with embedded nanostructures in its cavity," Proceeding of 15th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators & Microsystems (Transducers'09), pp. 2310-2313, 2009 (Oral Presenter)

C14. T. Zhang, Z. Gong, L. Que, "A white-light source operated polymer-based micromachined Fabry-Perot chemo/biosensor," Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on NEMS, pp. 177-180, 2009

C15. Z. Gong, K. Nagrajan, S. Penmetsa, D. Mills, L. Que, "A patch-clamp device with integrated actuators for cell selection and positioning," Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on NEMS, pp. 278-281, 2009 (Oral Presenter)

C16. S. Madisetti, Z. Zheng, Z. Gong, S. Penmetsa, Y. Lvov, L. Que, "Layer-by-layer nanoscale-coating of microparticles with a droplet microfluidic device," Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on NEMS, pp. 440-443, 2009 (Oral Presenter)

C17. S. Penmetsa, T. Zhang, Z. Gong, T. Lee, L. Que, "Design and modeling of a tunable optical antenna enabled by a micromachined actuator," Proceeding of IEEE International Conference on NEMS, pp. 172-176, 2009

C18. Z. Gong, T. Lee and L. Que, "Design and modeling of a MEMS-based tunable optical nanoantenna,” 14th IEEE Mixed-Signals, Sensors, and Systems Test Workshop, June 18-20, 2008

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