Materials Scientist

Brian D. Kernan, Ph.D.

email: d ****************@*****.***

** ********** ***

Andover, MA 01810

Home phone: 978-***-**** Cell phone: 617-***-****

Objective

● Problem solving Materials Scientist seeks materials research or process engineering position in fast paced environment.

Work Experience

Jan 2015 to Present

Materials Science Contractor

Applied Materials, Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates 35 Dory Rd, Gloucester, MA 01930

● High Speed Horizontal Single Crystal Silicon Ribbon Growth for solar cell manufacturing as CZ replacement

● Characterization of p and n type silicon ribbon from alpha tool

Dopant characterization via Resistivity 4pt probe, SIMS, Spreading Resistance

Dislocation density via etching and EPC

Impurity source identification via GDMS and SEM/EDS

Ribbon thickness profiling

Confocal Microscopy of ribbon surface characteristics and relations to growth conditions and crystallography

MCL measurement using QSSPC and microwave PCD

● Provided materials selection guidance for major furnace upgrade

● Improved practices for cleanliness, seeding and furnace rebuild to reduce contamination

● Thermodynamic modeling and process control of carbon containing gas phase in ion implanters (patent filed)

● Set up Liquid Particle Measuring system and measurement procedures for evaluating cleanliness of new and refurbished wafer handling and beam line parts for use in ion implanters

Jan 2014 to Oct 2014

Development Engineer

GT Advanced Technology, 35 Congress St, Salem MA 01970

● Characterization of large as grown Sapphire crystals

● Tracking and communication of crystal characteristics, process and furnace hardware

● Measurement of sapphire physical properties for customer qualification

● Characterization of crystal defects in fabricated parts

● Tracking product yield for 50 furnace manufacturing site Brian D. Kernan 1

Dec 2011 to Jan 2014

Lead Materials Engineer

1366 Technologies, 6 Preston Ct, Bedford MA 01730

● Nucleation and growth characterization of kerfless silicon solar wafers made by Direct Wafer process

● Morphology, structure and properties of coatings used in Direct Wafer process

● Interaction of mold coatings with silicon

● Characterization of dislocation structure in Direct Wafers

● Properties of glassy carbon graphite coatings and bulk graphite Sept 2007 to Jan 2011

Member Technical Staff, Engineering and Science Department Jan 2011 to Nov 2011

Senior Member Technical Staff, Engineering and Science Department Evergreen Solar Inc, 257 Cedar Hill St, Marlborough, MA 01752

● Silicon processing and crystal growth

Identified sources of bulk resistivity variation in string ribbon wafers and reduced variation by 3x through process and material handling modification at Evergreen’s Devens manufacturing plant

Reduced contamination in doping process and crystal growth furnaces through process analysis and materials selection

Studied effects of minor dopants and co dopants on string ribbon solar cells

● Hot zone design for growth of industry standard 156mm wide String Ribbon

Developed method to quantitatively characterize deformation of long lengths of as grown ribbon

Identified sources of ribbon bow during crystal growth and how they are related to thermal and mechanical influences

Reduced wafer bow by 2x using novel hot zone feature in pilot furnaces

Demonstrated significant further wafer bow reduction on experimental furnaces

Improved reliability of automatic melt cleaning feature in melt crucible

Improved temperature uniformity in melt crucible

● String Ribbon Silicon crystal growth process control

Specified and tested process control improvements for feeding, melting, cleaning, gas management, temperature and power control of crystal growth furnaces

Worked with software team and operations team to implement process control improvements into automatic control software

Process monitoring of crystal growth furnaces by examing large data files using Excel Brian D. Kernan 2

and JMP for periods of days and weeks to find and reduce variation.

● Process improvement and cost reduction

Characterized leak sources in furnace chamber using gas analyzer and RGA

Reduced long term purge gas consumption by 2x in development furnaces and showed 4x reduction possible in short term testing.

● Material characterization

Studied defect structure of string ribbon silicon wafers Sept 2004 to Sept 2007

Senior Metallurgist

The Ex One Company, 8075 Pennsylvania Ave, Irwin, PA 15644

● Material and process development of noble metal dental alloys for porcelain fused to metal thin walled dental restorations made by 3D Printing.

● Developed methods to minimize distortion of thin walled 88 wt% gold 3DPrinted objects during infiltration by controlling infiltrant composition and melting rate and restricting powder particle size range.

● Studied and developed methods to minimize presintering behavior of gold alloy powder during repeated cycling of powder through 3DP process.

● Developed method for computing proper amount of infiltrant to apply to uniform thickness and anatomical (variable thickness) 3DPrinted copings using geometric data derived from a combination of CAD model data and 3DP processing parameters.

● Designed alloy systems that meet FDA/ADA specifications to meet lower cost 60% gold alloy using ThermoCalc and calculated material physical property approximations.

● Developed furnace temperature profile and atmosphere for use with alloys containing small amounts of base metal impurities (Fe, Sn, In) in a porcelain firing furnace.

● Collaborated with chemists to develop organic solvent based binders for 3DPrinting of dental alloys.

● Further developed processing methods for making D2 tool steel by Homogeneous Steel Infiltration, including vacuum infiltration, use of metal salt binders, and larger part size.

● Reviewed 3DP machine design and software for process improvements, time savings and ease of use.

August 2001 to August 2004

Post Doctoral Researcher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

● Development of materials systems for use in 3 Dimensional Printing

● Designed and tested hardenable tool steel alloys (D2, H13) made by liquid phase infiltration (Homogeneous Steel Infiltration) of powder metal parts

● Developed methodology for determining print–powder and infiltrant compositions for a wide variety of steel compositions.

● Materials system development of Tungsten Carbide Cobalt, high carbon Stainless Steels, Brian D. Kernan 3

Tool Steels, and Silica.

● Developed tungsten carbide cobalt oxide slurry and slurry delivery system

● Developed basic binder for use with acidic surface powders

● Demonstrated reduction and sintering of cobalt oxide to cobalt metal in WC Co green bodies yielding high density and good microstructure.

● Developed tape cast SiC SiO2 composites for use as string in silicon string ribbon. June 1994 to August 1995

Engineer/Metallurgist

Magnesium Aluminum Corporation, 3425 Service Rd, Cleveland, Ohio 44111

● Developed processing procedures for aluminum and magnesium melting and handling

● Demonstrated flux less melting of Mg alloys

● Ran spectrographic laboratory

● Ran daily material review board

● Programmed coordinate measuring machine for automatic part inspection June 1993 to June 1994

Metallurgist/Quality Engineer

General Aluminum Manufacturing Company, 50 Parrish Rd, Conneaut, Ohio 44030

● Co lead team which earned Ford Q1 award at heat treating and casting plants

● Supervised and instructed material testing and analysis methods

● Instructed foundry workers in basic cast aluminum metallurgy, good foundry practice and defect recognition and prevention

● Improved melt quality by reducing dross level and improving de gassing methods July 1990 to May 1993

Metallurgist/Manufacturing Engineer

Adalet PLM 4801 W 150t h

St. Cleveland, Ohio 44135

● Implemented heat treating process of small cast parts, reducing scrap and machine tool usage

● Implemented use of direct pour ceramic foam filters in aluminum sand casting, reducing material usage, processing and labor costs

● Converted Al Si casting alloy from Na based Si eutectic modifier to Sr based modifier.

● Implemented Bills of Material, Routings and custom order system for transition to MRP. Awards

● 2007 Champion H. Mathewson (representing the most notable contribution to metallurgical science) awarded by the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society (TMS), for the paper “Homogeneous Steel Infiltration”, M etall & Mat Trans A, 2005, vol 36A (10). Brian D. Kernan 4

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Materials Science and Engineering, Jan 2002. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

● Dissertation on room temperature to high temperature mechanical properties (hardness and impact resistance) of electron beam deposited Yttria stabilized Zirconia thermal barrier coatings by indentation studies.

● Designed and constructed instrumented micro hardness tester/impact simulator coordinating temperature control, capacitive displacement sensors, load application and measurement, motion control, stage positioning and vacuum system with PC based data acquisition and control system using HP VEE language. Master of Science, Materials Science and Engineering, Jan 1998. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

● Thesis on Solid Freeform Fabrication of powder metallurgy stainless steel. Focus on low strain lamination of injection molded sheet stock, green and sintered microstructures of laminated powder metallurgy objects and mechanical properties. Bachelor of Science, Materials Science and Engineering, May 1989. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Computer Software Skills

● JMP – Statistics, data analysis and design of experiments

● MS Office Suite

● Advanced Excel user including pivot tables, advanced lookups, add ins

● Solidworks

● ThermoCalc – Calculation of Phase Diagrams software (CALPHAD)

● ImageJ NIH Image processing program

Patents

● US Patent No 6,033,788. “Process for joining powder metallurgy objects in the green (or brown) state.” Issued March 7, 2000.

● US Patent No 7,250,134 “Infiltrating a powder metal skeleton by a similar alloy with depressed melting point exploiting a persistent liquid phase at equilibrium, suitable for fabricating steel parts.” Issued July 21, 2007.

● 3 Patent applications in process concerning String Ribbon & Direct Wafer Brian D. Kernan 5

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