High speed metrology for magnetoelectronic devices and models: Research Associate (CHIPS Funded Project)

Overview

This position focuses on developing film-level optical methods of measuring the Heisenberg exchange
parameter in thin films relevant to the magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) industry. These
measurements will be correlated with detailed measurements of device performance made on devices
fabricated at NIST, and these correlations will be used to develop better models of device switching. In
addition, the Associate will work on the development of electrical methods for estimating the attempt
time of MRAM bit cells. In each of these projects the Associate will work closely with NIST staff, but the
Associate must be self-motivated in designing and executing measurements, developing robust data
analysis methods with proper statistical validation, and reporting these results to the group and via
publication. This is a fast-paced, high impact, short-term research position with a maximum duration of
12 months. Note that this is an in-person position located in Boulder, CO.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in Physics, Electrical Engineering, or related field. Several years of post-degree experience in relevant areas preferred.
• Experience with the design and fabrication of magnetic nanostructures including magnetron sputter and e-beam evaporative deposition or molecular beam epitaxy, electron-beam and photo- lithography
• Experience with characterization tools including SQUID, Ferromagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, MOKE, x-ray reflectometry, secondary-ion mass spectrometry.
• Demonstrated experience with micromagnetic simulation tools including MuMAX
• Demonstrated experience in temperature-dependent magnetic simulations, in particular atomistic simulations of the temperature-dependence of magnetization
• Experience developing novel data acquisition platforms to acquire DC and RF data at scale.
• Familiarity with scripting languages including Python and their implementation on GPU clusters for data analysis.
• Ability to develop tools needed to analyze large datasets using Python, MATLAB, or similar programming environments.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Track recording of publishing in peer reviewed scientific journals.

Research Proposal

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Designing, building, maintaining, and using optical measurement systems based on inelastic light scattering
• Developing high speed electronic (microwave) measurements, including pulsed, harmonic, sampled and real-time measurement methods using microwave sources, arbitrary waveform generators, and oscilloscopes
• Analyze heterogeneous data sources including optical spectra, read- and write-error rate datastreams, real-time and sampled high speed electronic traces.
• Analyze temperature-dependent magnetization data using advanced atomistic fitting models
• Fabricating magnetoelectronic devices using optical and electron beam lithography, reactive and physical ion etching methods.
• Presenting results at internal meetings, and occasional meetings with external stakeholders.
• Ensuring that results, protocols, software, and documentation have been archived or otherwise transmitted to the larger organization.