Postdoctoral Fellow (PREP0003210)
PREP Research Associate
CHIPS Funded Project
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 and thus requires that such institutions be the recipients 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.
Research Title:
Thermal 3D Magnetic Imaging of Advanced Semiconductor Packages
The work will entail:
Our multi-disciplinary team at NIST has recently been awarded funding to apply magnetic particle imaging to the remote measurement of temperature within packaged semiconductors. This technology will assist in the thermal characterization and design of advanced packages that have grown increasingly complicated and 3-dimensional. We seek a postdoc to develop a high sensitivity magnetic microscope, most likely based on magnetic tunnel junction sensors, for temperature readout of magnetic nano-objects engineered with high thermosensitivity. For the past 6 years, our team has been developing instrumentation for magnetic nanoparticle characterization/imaging, and the postdoctoral researcher would extend the capabilities of these instruments specifically for thermal imaging in packaged semiconductor devices. A qualified candidate would have a Ph.D. in physics, materials science, engineering, or a related field and already have expertise in at least some of the following areas: scanning microscopy, instrumentation for magnetic measurements, digital acquisition and control, magnetic sensors (e.g., GMR, MTJ, fluxgates, atomic magnetometers), magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic particle imaging (MPI), and 3D image reconstruction.
Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
- Developing a custom-designed magnetic microscope for thermal imaging
- Characterizing magnetic nanoparticle tracers using commercial and custom NIST instrumentation
- Collaborating with other team members to thermally image semiconductor test packages
- Presenting results at internal meetings, meetings with external stakeholders, and conferences
- Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization
Qualifications:
- A Ph.D. in physics, materials science, engineering, or a related field
- 3 years of relevant research experience
- Demonstrated experience working with magnetic materials and devices
- Ability to control, operate and automate scientific test equipment and instrumentation
- Familiarity with design and simulation tools like SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, MuMax, OOMMFi COMSOL, or similar
- Familiarity with the programming languages Python, Matlab, or LabVIEW
- Strong oral and written communication skills
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PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.
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