WORK EXPERIENCE

asylum-research-logo.944580b6530db09c8a69416376d58b69

Asylum Research

Oxford Instruments AFM

Sr. Manufacturing Service Engineer

November 2019 - September 2021

April 2022 - Present

Asylum Research is the technical leader in AFM/SPM and continually develops bleeding edge instruments. SPM is a remarkably beautiful and intricate tool used for looking at mechanical, chemical, electrical, and physical properties beyond the optical diffraction limit, giving you a view of the world few other machines can. Working in service, I have extensive fundamental experience in using, understanding, and debugging low-noise instrumentation, analog and mixed-signal circuits, high voltage circuitry, amplifiers, optical assemblies and nanopositioning systems. I also created and maintain a knowledge base of factory and field service manuals, fully documented with pictures and revision control, with more than 120 documents actively managed.

home-page-img

Keysight Technologies

Fabrication Manufacturing Engineer

September 2021 - April 2022

Keysight Santa Clara produces interferometers and specialty optical instrumentation, both for in house and customer designs. I acted as the tool manager for the sputtering and evaporation thin film coating equipment. I managed tool use, trained users, maintained the equipment, installed and helped commission a new large capacity HELIOS style sputtering chamber. Additionally while at Keysight I built a database used for tracking hundreds of spare parts and equipment maintenance records, and created a tool that linked spare parts consumption with regular maintenance work to suggest "safety stock" purchases and service schedules to coordinate with production in order to maximize equipment uptime and minimize cost.

Nanoscale Quantum Matter Lab

Research Assistant

Frolov Group

August 2018 - November 2019

I worked with the Frolov Group on several projects involving design, fabrication, and characterization of nanowire (FETs, quantum dots) and qubit (fluxonium) devices. Constructing the devices involved extensive use of the nanofabrication facility at Pitt, the NFCF. I also designed much of the hardware to support upgrading one of our fridge systems with many microwave and DC lines. Additionally, I managed the planning, sourcing, and installation of a new chiller system for the lab instruments.

banner

The Art of Making (ENGR 1716)

Volunteer Teaching Assistant

Spring 2019

The Art of Making doesn't seem like a unique engineering course (prototyping, data-driven decision making being core premises), but it serves to offer one of the only truly independent, hands on experiences that the university has. Volunteering as a teaching assistant for this course was a wonderful opportunity to offer my skills to help students discover and grow their creative, inventive, and functional abilities. 

Nanoionics and Electronics Laboratory

Research Assistant

Fullerton Group

January 2017 - August 2017

 

My research with the Fullerton Group was mainly oriented around characterization of few-layer TMD crystals for use in nano-scale devices. My work involved exfoliation of a variety of TMD crystals, physical characterization of exfoliated flakes using AFM, and simulation of electromechanical behavior of the devices using Comsol Multiphysics. I was able to present my work at several poster sessions.

 

WPTS-FM Radio Station

Engineering Director

University of Pittsburgh

August 2016 - Present

 

WPTS was one of the first extracurriculars that I joined at Pitt after I transferred. I volunteered for two semesters, and served as Engineering Director for two additional semesters. I was responsible for maintaining the station technology and electronics, diagnosing and repairing broken radio instruments, maintaining a catalog of station equipment, setting up and mixing bands for a weekly live show, and managing a staff of students. During my time at WPTS, we were voted as the Best Student Organization at Pitt.

Math Center at Pitt Bradford

Tutor

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Feb 2015 - April 2016

I tutored many different levels of students, from high schoolers taking Fundamentals of Math, through junior and senior students taking Calculus III and Advanced Differential Equations, as well as prepping with some graduating students for the GRE and other graduate exams.

EDUCATION

University of Pittsburgh

August 2016 - December 2018

GPA: 3.4

My education covered all aspects of traditional Chemical Engineering, including Thermodynamics, Transport Phenomena, Reactor Design, Distillation, Control Engineering, and lots of process modeling, as well as peripheral courses (philosophy of science, studio arts, architecture, and product design classes).

University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

August 2014 - April 2016

GPA: 3.3

I attended Pitt-Bradford for two years. While there, I did all my general engineering classes (calculus, chemistry, programming). Attending this branch campus gave me some incredible opportunities that I doubt I would've had or taken if I started at the main Pitt campus.

SKILLS

ikeaman

DIGITAL

Data Acquisition

  • Python
  • Igor Pro
  • Analog/Digital Oscilloscopes, Logic Analyzers, Spectrum Analyzers
  • Arduino, Raspberry Pi

Data Analysis and Processing

  • Python
  • Igor Pro
  • SCPI/ VISA interfacing over LAN, USB, and RS232
  • C, C++, C#
  • MATLAB, Simulink
  • Mathematica
  • Excel

Simulation

  • COMSOL Multiphysics
    • Familiarity with solid mechanics, diluted ion transport, and electrochemical modules for modeling novel devices 
  • MATLAB, Simulink
  • Spartan, Avogadro
  • Aspen

Design

  • Autodesk Inventor, Fusion
  • Siemens NX
  • FreeCAD including StepUp KiCAD ECAD module
    • 3D CAD design suite (FOSS)
  • Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
    • Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere
  • Blender
    • Journal quality renders, 3D modeling, Python scripting (FOSS)
  • Aspen
  • HTML
  • KiCAD
    • Schematic and PCB design software (FOSS)
    • Designed and assemble more than 10 custom boards
    • Produce manufacturable boards
    • Experience in creating manufacturing documentation (BOM, component position files) for third-party stocking and assembly.
  • KLayout
    • Lithographic/PCB design software (FOSS)

Computers and Hardware

  • Microsoft Office Suite, LibreOffice suite, OpenOffice suite
  • Extensive Linux experience
    • Linux as primary OS
      • Comfortable with server hosting, shell scripting, modifying and compiling source code, maintaining systems remotely
  • Also comfortable with Windows, MacOS
  • Single Board Computers
  • Experience with these microcontroller families:
    • AVR
    • STM32 (ARM)
    • RP2040 (ARM)
  • Experience in website, server hosting
    • LAMP stack
    • Hosting through cloud, local dedicated server hardware, and microcomputer environments (headed, headless)

PHYSICAL

Nanofabrication Instrumentation

  • Maskless Alignment
  • Spincoater
  • Photolithography and development
  • Plasma Asher
  • Wirebonder
  • Nanowire manipulation and positioning 
  • Cryostat, dunk tank, dilution fridges
  • Electron Beam Evaporation
  • Sputtering
  • Vacuum Ovens and other vacuum processing equipment

Characterization Instrumentation

  • Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)
    • Experience operating outside and inside of glovebox
    • Experience with multitudes of operating modes:
      • air and liquid imaging 
      • contact, tapping
      • force pulls, force mapping
      • conductive (C-AFM)
      • piezo-force microscopy (PFM)
      • variable field microscopy (VFM)
      • high-frequency modulation (AMFM)
      • contact resonance
  • Probe Station
  • Oscilloscope (digital and analog)
  • Logic Analyzer (timing and state analysis)
  • Spectrum and Vector Network Analyzer
  • Optical microscopy
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
  • Multimeter

Comfortable working in cleanroom environments

Glovebox & Chemical Hood (SACHE certifications)

Amateur Electronics

Soldering (THT, SMD components), rework, troubleshooting and component level diagnosis/repair, circuit design, breadboarding, radio, motors/mechanical components, computer hardware, programming microprocessors and memory chips, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Photon (IoT)

Schematics & Drawings

Can both create and read electrical schematics and mechanical engineering drawings, experience designing both in tandem

Power & Hand Workshop Tools

Drill press, bench grinder/sander, hand/table/band/scroll saws, screwdrivers/allen keys, across all materials (metal, wood, plastic, fabrics)

Audio Equipment

3D Printing

Screenprinting

Sewing 

RESEARCH

PIRE:HYBRID Conference on Materials for Quantum Computing

Fall 2018

A poster session hosted by PIRE:HYBRID, an international quantum computing partnership, as part of the 2018 Conference on Quantum Computing Materials. 

Science 2018

Fall 2018

A poster session in conjunction with Pittsburgh Quantum Institute (PQI) and the Pittsburgh Science 2018 event.

PQI 2018

Spring 2018

I presented my work during the poster session portion of the PQI 2018 event, a 3 day research fair.

American Vacuum Society Meeting

Spring 2018

I presented my research at a symposium at Carnegie Mellon University, sponsored by AVS.

Omega Chi Epsilon Undergraduate Research Fair

Spring 2018

First Place

A research symposium for chemical engineering students at the Swanson School of Engineering. All students that research in the ChE department are required to present. I placed in first at this event.

 

Science 2017 

Fall 2017

A poster session hosted by Pittsburgh Quantum Institute (PQI) as part of Pittsburgh's Science 2017 event.

Duquesne Undergraduate Research Program Symposium

Summer 2017

A poster session hosted by Duquesne University in Downtown Pittsburgh.

Blender Molecular Modeling

Summer 2017

I am currently working on implementing a script originally written by Patrick Fuller into a native Blender addon.

HOBBIES, PROJECTS, AND AWARDS

Asset 23

matei repair blog

Summer 2019

I like talking about my hobbies and what I'm working on. I was previously using this portfolio to show off some of that stuff, but it began to clutter the site. I want this site to be more professionally oriented, and more structured, and I think that putting my projects and ideas into a more casual space will work better. You can find this new site at blog.mateijordache.info, and it contains a bunch of migrated project documentation from here, as well as new projects, ideas, discussion, and work.

Asset 14

matei repair lab

Summer 2019

After many good experiences in fixing and teaching people about fixing, I decided to try and formalize my effort a bit more. matei repair lab is my shot at helping friends and the local community through the most direct way I can, fixing.

pcb

PCB design, fab, and assembly

Starting with my need for a specific breakout layout for a Raspberry Pi, I learned how to design PCBs. To date, I have designed, printed, and assembled more than 10 unique designs, ranging from simple GPIO breakouts to 6502 cartridge based hardware interfaces (SNES bootleg carts) to my own custom keyboard. I have implemented all sorts of hardware, from modern microcontrollers to vintage EPROM chips, from THT to SMD components. I am comfortable in the workflow from schematic design to PCB layout, to fabrication and BOM lists, to hand and machine assembly.

circuit

SNES cartridge reverse engineering

Spring 2019

The SNES has probably the best library of games from any early game system. After reading around on the NesDev forums, I became interested in learning more about how the SNES interacts with the cart, and trying to reverse engineer it to play a game that I could make or modify. Part of this project was inspired by Tom VII, who created a really interesting video on "reverse emulation" using SNES games on a NES. This was my first true digital design project and involved learning to work with the 6502 CPU.

IBM BlueHack Hackathon

Fall 2018

Third Place

This hackathon was the first IBM BlueHack in the US, and it was also the first at a university! Me, my roomates and a friend decided to make a team to participate. Our proposal was for an AI-powered recommendation engine framework that could be embedded into social messaging platforms, with a specific use case for vacation planning. Our idea, wAIfr, placed third at the event.

IMG_20180515_213300

Bike mechanic

I routinely do work on my own bike, as well maintenance and repair on others (with no charge other than materials). I also try and hold workshops to teach other people about how their bikes work and how to properly maintain them. My current bike is built entirely from scratch parts, down to the ball-bearings. I typically bike anywhere I can get to within an hour.

download

The Who's "Tommy" Pinball Cabinet Restoration

Fall 2017

This was an old pinball machine received by WPTS. While still ongoing, we have made good progress towards a full restoration. Over several months, I diagnosed core issues, educated a team on how to diagnose and repair the issues, and was never quite able to set a high score.

674fb7_f1d77313506243a29a7b32a323347957-mv2_d_4096_3084_s_4_2

HP 42s  repair & restoration

Summer 2017

As a dedicated user of reverse polish notation (RPN), I've always had an interest in HP's flagship calculator, the 42s. With a going price of several hundred dollars, my best option was to buy a broken one and fix it up. I diagnosed the issue and was able to test my ideas using university electronics equipment. I was able to successfully revive the calculator in great condition.

pic2760834

Eurogames

Eurogames are a distinct subset of boardgames, specifically focusing on strategy and efficiency (as compared to luck or other random variables). Due to the small amount of random factors, they tend to play more like a puzzle that you compete with other players to solve in the most efficient manner. When I have time, I get together with friends and we hammer one out. Some of them can take upwards of 6 hours to finish!

REFERENCES

Available upon request- I don't post my colleague's emails here for privacy reasons.

ABOUT

CONTACT

Untitled-1

I studied chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh. I currently work at Asylum Research, an AFM design and manufacturing business. It's a really unique place to work, and always exciting- we do research so that other people can do research. My research and career interests lie in electronic materials, instrumentation, and making things better.  I love fixing things and am always interested in learning about how things work, new and old. I like to think that I can fix anything (may not be true).

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any interesting projects or would like to learn more about me.

Invalid Email