Material Scientist

Yang Li, Ph.D.

*** * ******** *****, *******, IL, 60610, USA 740-***-**** ************@*****.*** SUMMARY

Material scientist with extensive experience with thin film synthesis and characterization. Using CVD, PVD and MBE, developed a variety of novel thin films of semiconductors, metals, polymers, and organic molecules. Characterized thin films’ physical and chemical properties using scanning probe microscopes

(SPM) and advanced X-ray techniques. Hands-on experience with developing cutting-edge characterization techniques. Strong abilities in design of experiments (DOE), troubleshooting and data analysis. Experienced in collaborating with diverse teams and delivering objective results in a timely manner. Managed multiple DOE funded projects from initial stage to successful completion. EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Physics, Ohio University, Athens, OH August 2010 – May 2017

GPA: 3.7/4.0

Dissertation: Novel Kondo and Superlubricity effect of molecule/GNR/Au(111) heterostructure B.S. in Applied Physics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

GPA: 3.4/4.0

September 2006 – June 2010

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Argonne National Laboratory Graduate Material Researcher January 2013 – May 2017 System development: built a cutting-edge 4K-STM/qPlus-AFM microscope system.

• Leading a team, designed and built a STM/qPlus-AFM scanner and control systems; solved noise issues by troubleshooting circuits and vibration damping systems, and achieved atomic resolution topography images of Ag(111) substrates.

• Built a He-4 bath cryostat and radiation shields to cool the microscope down to lower than 4.4 K, and reduced sample drift to less than 1.0nm/24hr.

• Built and troubleshot a vacuum system that achieved UHV environment (<1.0E-11Torr), including stainless steel chambers, multi-level pumping systems, leakage checking and baking processes.

• Built plasma sputtering and radiation annealing systems to prepare atomically flat and clean substrates.

• Reduced sample transfer time by 80% by adding an airlock system to the UHV system and devising a three-step transfer process.

• Set up an electroetching system to fabricate atomically sharp tungsten tips for STM/AFM. Doubled yield by optimizing etching process.

System development: invented a SX-STM microscope system.

• Collaborating with a X-ray team, invented a SX-STM system to analyze components of nanomaterials.

• Significantly reduced noise of signal by modulating the signal and applying lock-in technique.

• Designed experiments to analyze metal thin films, and obtained atomic resolution chemical images.

• This project won over $3M DOE funding for the the PI. Material development: TBrPP-Co molecules

• Leading a team, developed PVD processes to synthesize self-assembled thin films of TBrPP-Co.

• Developed a surface catalyzed debromination process to synthesize TBrPP-Co network, and investigated electrical properties of neighboring TBrPP-Co molecules in the network.

• Discovered and investigated a two-state spintronics effect of TBrPP-Co using tunneling spectroscopy and molecule manipulation, and proposed a molecular switch application based on this effect. Material development: graphene nanoribbon (GNR)

• Leading a team, developed a a 2-step CVD process to synthesize GNR from precursor monomers.

• Designed STM experiments to investigate topography and electrical properties of GNR, and discovered that the band gaps of GNR were reversely proportional to the width of GNR.

• Optimized CVD process to synthesize GNR with varying band gaps, and proposed a nm-scale transistor.

• Developed CVD and MBE processes to synthesize TBrPP-Co/GNR/Au(111) heterostructures.

• Quantitatively measured the strength of an unexpected spin coupling in heterostructures using tunneling spectroscopy and nonlinear regression.

• Innovated a method to measure molecular frictions using STM, and discovered Superlubricity effect

(<2pN) between TBrPP-Co and GNR. This result was selected to be presented to DOE reviewers. Material Development: GNR polymer

• Collaborating with a team of chemists, developed a sol-gel process to deposit GNR polymers onto a Au(111) substrate, and characterized topography and band gaps of polymers.

• Investigated surface catalyzed synthesize process of GNR polymer at different temperatures. Material Development: Borophene

• Developed an electron beam PVD process to synthesized Borophene, a novel 2D material, on Ag(111).

• Investigated superconductivity and charge density wave (CDW) of Borophene.

• Applied Fourier transform (FT) and spectrum mapping to investigate the Fermi surface of Borophene. In charge of over $1M lab equipment, and collaborated with more than 10 internal and external top scientists from diverse background to develop and characterize novel nanomaterials. Ohio University Material Research Assistant June 2011 – December 2012 Material development: nanomachine network

• Developed a PVD process to synthesize self-assembled nanomachine thin films.

• Developed a mechanism to switch individual nanomachine among multiple stable state.

• Discovered long range interactions (~100 nm) between nanomachine using molecule manipulation. MEMS development: microchannel chips

• Designed and fabricated microchannel chips. Fabricated negative microchannel molds using a variety of techniques, including spin coating, photolithography and etching. Checked quality of negative molds using SEM. Optimized parameters of fabrication process to maximize the yield. Management experience

• In charge of two half million worth 4K-UHV-STM microscope systems.

• Supervised and trained two undergraduate/ graduate students to operate STM and SEM systems, design experiments, and analyze data.

SKILLS

Synthesis:

Ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electron beam physical vapor deposition (PVD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), electroetching, photolithography, plasma sputtering, atom manipulation. Characterization:

Atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), scanning tunneling microscope

(STM), synchrotron X-ray STM (SX-STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) System Development: Ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), cryogenic system (4K, 77K) Computer: Matlab, Python, Origin, SOLIDWORKS, machine learning SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

1. Y. Li, A. T. Ngo, A. DiLullo, B. Fisher, and S. W. Hla. “Graphene Nanoribbon Mediated Anomalous Spin Coupling in a Molecular Heterostructure”. Submitted to Science. 2. Y. Li, A. T. Ngo, A. DiLullo, B. Fisher, and S. W. Hla. “Innovative STM Tribology study of Single Molecules on Graphene Nanoribbon”. To be submitted. 3. A. Luican, A. DiLullo, Y. Zhang, Y. Li, B. Fisher, P. Darancet and S. W. Hla, “Negative Differential Resistance in Charge Density Wave Phase of 1T-TaS2”. To be submitted. 4. Y. Zhang, H. Kersell, R. Stefak, J. Echeverria, V. Iancu, G. Perera, Y. Li, A. Deshpande, K. F. Braun, C. Joachim, G. Rapenne, and S. W. Hla. “Simultaneous and Coordinated Rotational Switching of All Molecular Rotors in a Network”. Nature Natotechnology (2016), doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.69 5. N. Shirato, M. Cummings, H. Kersell, Y. Li, D. Miller, D. Rosenmann, S. W. Hla, and V. Rose. “Hard X-ray beam damage study of monolayer Ni islands using SX-STM”. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 2015, Vol. 1754.

6. N. Shirato, M. Cummings, H. Kersell, Y. Li, B. Stripe, D. Rosenmann, S. W. Hla, and V. Rose.

“Elemental Fingerprinting of Materials with Sensitivity at the Atomic Limit”. Nano Letters, 2014, 14

(11), pp 6499–6504.

7. Y. Li, A. DiLullo, B. Fisher, S. W. Hla, ‘Reversible Control of Single Molecule Kondo Interactions’, 8th International Workshop on Nanoscale Spectroscopy and Nanotechnology, Chicago, IL, 2014. 8. Y. Li, A. DiLullo, B. Fisher, S. W. Hla, ‘Combination of Two Nanoscale Quantum Systems by Controlled Manipulations’, American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting, Denver, CO, 2014. PATENTS

Saw-Wai Hla, Yang Li, Brandon Fisher, Anh-Tuan Ngo. ‘Anomalous spin coupling mediated by graphene nanoribbons for extreme sensing and spintronic applications’, pending patent.

Contact this candidate