The University of British Columbia

November 5, 2019 | Featured, Graduate Student Achievements, Student Achievements

Two Awards for the Nojeh Nanostructure Group!

In May, students Casimir Kuzyk, Gabriel Robinson-Leith, Alexander Dimitrakopoulos, and Mike Chang, working with Alireza Nojeh and collaborators, received the best overall poster award for their paper titled “AweSEM: Removing Barriers to Innovation with a Tabletop, Low-Cost SEM” at the 63rd International Conference on Electron, Ion, and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication (EIPBN 2019) held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. EIPBN is the premier international conference of micro/nano patterning and related imaging technologies.

The AweSEM research project aims to develop a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for about 100 times less than the cost of a commercial SEM. Through frugal engineering concepts, the team intend to make high resolution imaging and analysis technology more accessible to students, researchers, companies, and clinics around the world.

This novel device is based upon a fundamentally new thermionic cathode, which consists of an optically heated carbon nanomaterial. This cathode has a small electron emission area, making it possible to greatly simplify the electron optics downstream. The system also avoids costly and bulky vacuum pumps by permanently sealing the electron column, and having the electron beam pass into atmosphere where the specimen is scanned by a mechanical stage. AweSEM opens up an abundance of new applications in healthcare, education, materials analysis, and environmental monitoring.

Earlier this summer, Casimir and the team also entered AweSEM into the Create the Future Design Contest (https://contest.techbriefs.com/), a contest to promote engineering innovations, sponsored by Tech Briefs. They were awarded an honorable mention in the Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation category.

About the lead author, Casimir Kuzyk

Casimir came to UBC with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Waterloo. As a master’s student here in ECE, Casimir has shown a great aptitude for entrepreneurial activities. He has participated in the e@UBC Lean Launch Pad program, and was a finalist in the Innovation on Board, RBC Get Seeded, and UN World Challenge competitions. On top of his entrepreneurial activities, Casimir strives to give back to the UBC community by acting as the Electrical and Computer Engineering Graduate Student Association (ECEGSA) VP Social Internal, and volunteering for the Canadian Engineering Education Association Conference, UBC Applied Science Turkey Trot, and Science Rendezvous.

Reference to the paper

C. Kuzyk, E. Blankenburg, G. Robinson-Leith, A. Dimitrakopoulos, H. Li, M. Chang, M. Cen, B. Ye, G. Hu, K. Jessen, A. Nojeh, and R. F. Pease, “AweSEM: Removing Barriers to Innovation with a Tabletop, Low-Cost SEM,” 63rd International Conference on Electron, Ion, and Photon Beam Technology and Nanofabrication (EIPBN 2019), Minneapolis MN, USA (28-31 May 2019)

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In addition, postdoctoral fellow Shreyas Patankar, working with Alireza Nojeh and collaborators, won the best poster award for their paper titled “Cathodoluminescence spectro-microscopy of carbon nanotube forests,” at the Microscopical Society of Canada (MSC-SMC) Annual Meeting held in Vancouver.

The paper talks about how the study of light-matter interactions can provide insights into quantum mechanical properties of materials. However, the diffraction limit of visible light places a fundamental limit on the smallest structures that can be studied using purely light-based techniques. Cathodoluminescence microscopy is a technique that allows one to beat the diffraction limit by using the superior spatial resolution of an electron beam to stimulate light emission from materials on the nanometer scale. The paper reports the first ever detection of cathodoluminescence from carbon nanotubes that are isolated from their substrate. The team intends to study the spatial variation in the cathodoluminescence spectrum to understand energy transport in carbon nanotubes via collective channels like plasmons.

About the lead author, Shreyas Patankar

Shreyas Patankar is a physicist with expertise in optics and materials characterization. In 2018, he completed his PhD in physics from UC Berkeley, with a dissertation on nonlinear optics and quantum materials. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Alireza Nojeh’s group at the Quantum Matter Institute working to understand heat conduction in carbon nanotubes and their applications in energy technology.

Reference to the paper

S. Patankar, A. Maigné, G. Williams, G. Sawatzky, and A. Nojeh, “Cathodoluminescence spectro-microscopy of carbon nanotube forests,” Microscopical Society of Canada (MSC-SMC) Annual Meeting, Vancouver BC, Canada (22-24 May 2019)

Learn more about the Nanostructure Group!