Staff

Phone: 614.292.6112
E-mail: carlin.9@osu.edu

With over 20 years of experience in semiconductor materials epitaxy, fabrication and structural and electrical characterization, Dr. Carlin has served as Associate Director of Nanotech West Laboratory, OSU’s primary micro- and nano-fabrication facility, since 2012 and as an OSU PI and member of the technical staff of the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) since 2007. As Associate Director at NTW his main responsibilities include overseeing the operation of the NTW Class 100 cleanroom, managing the NTW metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) laboratory and interfacing with external research customers to provide project and process support.

Prior to joining OSU in 2007, John worked as a research scientist at start-up AmberWave Systems Corporation (developing engineered Si substrates using SiGe epitaxy for application to novel strained Si FET structures and the integration of optical devices on Si), LED manufacturer CREE, Inc. (developing next generation high brightness GaN-based blue and green light emitting diodes) and at the Air Force Research Labs in Dayton, OH (Materials and Manufacturing Directorate). With considerable experience in the epitaxial deposition (MOCVD and MBE) and metrology of metamorphic and mismatched materials and interfaces (including III-V/Si, InAsP/InP, GaN/SiC, SiGe/Si and III-V/Ge) and the design, fabrication and performance characterization of semiconductor devices including high efficiency multijunction photovoltaics, Dr. Carlin’s current research interests include: heterogeneous integration of electronic materials for application to optoelectronics, energy conversion, sensing and high speed devices; substrate engineering; relaxed buffers for lattice engineering and device applications; metalorganic chemical vapor deposition; characterization of defects in semiconductors; and photovoltaics.

John received his Ph.D. from OSU in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2001 under Prof. Steven Ringel working on the modeling, epitaxy, processing and characterization of single and dual junction III-V solar cells on Si for space applications.

Phone: 614.688.1423
E-mail: coil.1@osu.edu

Stacy joined Nanotech West in the fall 2012.

Stacy holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from The Ohio State University.

Phone: 614.292.1047
E-mail: coyne.109@osu.edu

The Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) welcomes Laurie Coyne as its new program assistant. In the position, she will support the administrative operations of the institute and Nanotech West Laboratory on West Campus.

Coyne brings to the institute more than 17 years of administrative support experience. Prior to joining IMR, she worked as an office administrative assistant at the College of Dentistry. Before coming to Ohio State, Coyne held positions in industry, including several years at a multinational engineering corporation.

At IMR, Coyne will provide high-level administrative assistant support to the director of innovation and innovation manager. Along with a myriad of other duties, she will also be collaborating with IMR leadership, operations and facilities staff and department administrators to ensure efficient operations.

Coyne earned her Associate Degree in Business Management from Columbus State Community College.

Apart from work, she enjoys running, exploring new hiking trails, traveling with her husband, and spending time with their two sons.

Phone: 614.688.3035
E-mail: dathathreya.1@osu.edu

Kavya Dathathreya joined the Institute for Materials Research’s Nanotech West Lab as a research assistant in January 2021. Kavya supports NTW’s research operations and has extensive experience in the design and fabrication of micro and nano-devices for biomedical and semiconductor applications. Her skills include layout design, photolithography, nanoimprint lithography, thin film deposition, DRIE, and SEM characterization. Prior to joining OSU, Kavya worked as a Research Technician at the University of Kansas and has 5+ years of experience working in the power plant industry.

Kavya holds an M.S. degree (2016) from Louisiana State University and a B.S. degree (2009) from the PES Institute of Technology (Bangalore, India). Both in Mechanical Engineering.

Phone: 614.292.0774
E-mail: delombard.1@osu.edu

Jay DeLombard joined the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research’s Nanotech West Lab as a research associate supporting the Ohio Third Frontier OSSIP program in 2014. He works extensively in the cleanroom on process development for photolithography and etching, lapping and polishing capabilities, as well as the Energy Storage Hub.

Before joining Nanotech West, Jay worked in R&D with Lakeshore Cryotronics in Westerville.

Jay holds a B.S. degree in Physics from The Ohio State University.

Phone: 614.688.8454
E-mail: doubikin.1@osu.edu

Dan has over 30 years of experience in the building and manufacturing maintenance field. This includes electrical, HVAC, plumbing, welding, pneumatic & electronic controls, boiler systems and preventative maintenance. He brings with him numerous years of experience with Metatec International, one of the largest manufacturers of DVD and CD-ROM discs in the US.

Dan has overall responsible for the operation and maintenance of the physical facilities at Nanotech West. This includes coordinating the installation, maintenance, and operation of all equipment, and coordinating of the building and support systems necessary to the operation of the entire laboratory.

Phone: 614.688.0601
E-mail: hirn.16@osu.edu

Chip Hirn joined the Nanotech West staff in July of 2021 as an Equipment Technician. Chip’s primary responsibilities include providing support for the fields of micro and nanofabrication, energy/battery research, chemical vapor deposition, and infrared material and device characterization. Chip supports all lab equipment, especially vacuum systems, by monitoring and performing preventative maintenance as needed, troubleshoots, repairs, and tests semiconductor process equipment including deposition, plasma etch, lithography, and characterization equipment all in support of 24/7 lab operations.

Chip has worked in the Optics industry for over twenty-three years including eleven years at Zomax in Dublin Ohio working in the Replication Department, manufacturing CDs and DVDs. Chip gained experience working with plasma sputtering chambers, plastic injection molding presses, and working side by side with the engineering team in developing manufacturing processes for new DVD manufacturing equipment at the time. In the last twelve years, Chip has been working as a Process Technician and then Production Supervisor for Luxottica Retail. As a Process Technician Chip led a team of associates providing prescription optical lenses with an Anti-Reflective thin film coating (AR) by way of electronic beam evaporation and plasma etching. As a Production Supervisor, Chip was responsible for process adherence and job flow throughout the lab including support for seventy associates in day-to-day production needs while ensuring all KPIs and metric-driven goals were met.

Chip attended ITT Technical Institute with a degree in Computer and Electrical Engineering in 2007.

Phone: 614.688.4213
E-mail:janney.9@osu.edu

Peter Janney joined the Nanotech West staff in November 2011 as a Laboratory Services Coordinator. Pete’s primary responsibilities include the Diener Plasma Asher, K & S Wedge Wire Bonder, Plasma Therm 790 PECVD, Denton DV-502A E-Gun Evaporator, and the AJA Orion RF/DC Sputter Deposition Tool. Pete is also involved with maintaining the equipment in the Semiconductor and Analysis Lab (SEAL) and the Dreese Lab Cleanroom in OSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Pete brings numerous years of process and equipment experience with him, primarily in industrial CD and DVD fabrication lines. Pete spent over 20 years at Zomax in Dublin, OH, mostly as a Replication Engineer for a CD/DVD manufacturing line. During that time he gained extensive experience with robotics, injection molding, sputtering and evaporation systems and other vacuum fabrication tools, spin coaters, optical inspection equipment, computers, networks, and databases, and machine shop operations. Subsequently he was employed by Toolex USA and Trace Optical, and installed major fabrication equipment in the US and around the world.

Pete attended Columbus State Community College from 1992 to 1996 majoring in Mechanical Engineering.

Phone: 614.688.3055
E-mail: mccleery.7@osu.edu

Mary McCleery is responsible for the day-to-day fiscal and human resource operations of Nanotech West as well as various other administrative duties. She is also the administrator for all grants that flow through the department. She has been at Ohio State since 2000 and at Nanotech West since 2006.

Mary and her office intern staff are often the first stops for anyone wanting to use the facilities at Nanotech West. She coordinates the background paperwork needed for new projects or users to begin working there, and works with other Nanotech West staff to verify safety training and to grant access to the labs. Mary manages the earnings operations at Nanotech West, including all invoicing for NTW lab use and all purchases. As a proven leader in running an earnings unit within the University, Mary is often called upon to train and mentor other earnings units within the Office of Research and OSU. She has also been involved in the Enterprise project, contributing her experience in earnings operations to the transition to WorkDay.

Mary received her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Kent State University, majoring in business management and marketing, and has a background in retail sales as well as University administration.

E-mail: murkute.1@osu.edu

Dr. Punam Murkute has joined the team at Nanotech West Lab as a postdoctoral researcher. She brings with her a wealth of experience in semiconductor growth, characterization, and device development, having worked in these areas for over six years. Punam is highly skilled in a range of techniques, including ALD, PLD, sputtering, evaporation, IVT, electron microscopy, HRXRD, photoluminescence, and FTIR, and has spent over five years working in cleanroom environments.

At OSU, Dr. Murkute is sharing an appointment between Nanotech West and Prof. Sanjay Krishna’s research group, KIND Lab. Within the KIND Lab, Punam’s research will include infrared materials and structure development, device fabrication and device analysis. At Nanotech West, Punam will manage the Mid-Infrared Characterization and Analysis (MICA) Lab and also support the NTW users with training and materials characterization using techniques such as HRXRD, SEM, and others. Prior to joining the team, Punam served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame for two years, and before that spent a year and a half at the French material science laboratory LMGP, where she worked on spatial atomic layer deposition and in-situ FTIR setup and characterization.

Punam holds a Ph.D. in microelectronics from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, as well as M.S. and B.S. degrees in Physics from the University of Pune.

Phone: 614.247.1935
E-mail: payne.122@osu.edu

Aaron Payne joined Nanotech West in early August 2012 as a Laboratory Process Technician. At Nanotech West, Aaron is the primary contact for the Bruker Dimension AFM and the K&S dicing saw. He assists in MOCVD growth, reactor maintenance and epitaxial material analysis. He also conducts orientation and safety training for new users. 

Prior to his arrival at Ohio State he worked in an analytical testing laboratory for the HVAC/R (heating, venting, air conditioning, and refrigeration) industry. 

Aaron holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Hanover College. 

Phone: 614.292.2753
E-mail: price.798@osu.edu

Aimee Bross Price joined Ohio State in 2005 as a Senior Research Associate responsible for electron beam lithography (EBL). She has been with the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) since its inception, moving along with the EBL system to Nanotech West Lab in 2008. Aimee serves as the primary contact for process development support for both new and established Nanotech West cleanroom users. She has extensive experience in semiconductor device fabrication, nanofabrication, process development, and process design and troubleshooting. As a member of IMR’s Technical Staff, Aimee applies creative, simple solutions to fabrication projects. She is passionate about training the next generation of technology experts and believes that encouraging and motivating K-12 students is crucial for continued growth in the field (and it is really fun). Aimee’s main tool responsibilities are the Raith/Vistec EBPG5000 EBL tool, Zeiss Ultra Plus Field Emission SEM, and the PicoSun Atomic Layer Deposition system.

Aimee also serves as co-founder and president of MAEBL Inc, a not for profit corporation focused on building and enhancing the EBL community. MAEBL hosts the Meeting for Advanced Electron Beam Lithography each spring in various US academic sites.

Prior to her arrival at OSU, Aimee spent five years at TriQuint Semiconductor (now Qorvo) in Dallas, Texas, where she was a member of the EBL group in the Process Engineering Department. Her responsibilities included yield enhancement, process development, and manufacturing support. For her work on 0.25um pHEMT yield improvement, she received the TriQuint President’s Award, the highest award given at the company.

She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University, where she did surface chemistry research with the research groups of Paul Weiss and David Allara. She is currently working on an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ohio State in the Steven Ringel and Tyler Grassman research groups.

Phone: 614.292-1985
E-mail: ramsey.435@osu.edu

Keith Ramsey joined the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research’s Nanotech West Lab as a research associate in 2018. He has extensive experience in photolithographic process development and thin film vacuum coating deposition. Keith’s primary responsibilities include managing NTW’s cleanroom operations, assisting and training its users in developing and characterizing new photolithographic techniques and capabilities, and conducting project work for external customers.

Prior to his arrival at NTW, Keith spent 24 years at Battelle in Columbus, OH where he was a Senior Research Scientist in the Microfabrication Group. Keith developed novel photolithographic processes to photolithographically pattern micron-sized features on to hemispherical domes, large flat windows and complex curved lenses. Under Keith’s leadership, Battelle became the United States leader in aerospace metallic grid thin film coatings applied to infrared or visible windows, missile domes, and windscreens. His primary technical expertise is in photolithography, physical vapor deposition, dry etching, and silicon micromachining. Keith holds a B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from Miami (Ohio) University and an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Phone:
E-mail: staudt.27@osu.edu

Phone: 614.688.3546
E-mail: steffen.8@osu.edu

Paul joined Nanotech West Lab in 2001 after 18 years in the semiconductor industry. He is responsible for lab safety, orientation, Biohybrid/ESH Lab operations, CHA ebeam evaporator (EVP03), furnaces (TUBXX & RTA), chemical hoods, Semitool SAT wafer cleaner, and some metrology tools.

Paul worked at Intel in two positions. First he was a photolithography group leader in magnetic bubble memory. Later in central engineering he improved new wafer fab tools for manufacturing introduction and ran tool users groups focusing on continuous improvements. He moved to Columbus to a start-up, TLA Technology, later purchased by Schlumberger, to work as a product and project manager on test automation equipment for customers including Intel, IBM, Motorola, and Delco.

Paul holds a B.A. in Physics from Oberlin College.

Phone: 614.247.4871
E-mail: xu.4391@osu.edu

Dr. Qingmin Xu joined the Institute for Materials and Manufacturing Research (IMR) of The Ohio State University (OSU) in late July of 2020. She is a PI and IMR member of technical staff, working at Nanotech West (NTW) as well managing the Energy Innovation Laboratory (EIL). Her research interests are fundamentals and applications of renewable energy and advanced batteries. She works with a network of faculty, staff, graduate students and automotive company to discover and develop next-generation energy storage and conversion technologies.

Before joining OSU, Dr. Xu was a scientist and project leader of fluoride ion batteries at Honda Research Institute USA, Inc. She has expertise in electrochemistry, materials sciences, fuel cells, batteries, nanoscience and nanotechnology. Dr. Qingmin Xu received her Ph.D. from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2002.