By Yonry Zhu
B.S. HTC Engineering Physics, Class of 2017
I worked during the summer of 2014 in Dr. Arthur Smith’s lab and designed a pulsed laser deposition system for fabricating semiconducting thin films. The system is meant to be a test bed for components that will ultimately be integrated into an existing molecular beam epitaxy system, also for fabricating thin films.
The previous people working on this project all graduated two or more years ago, so while I had existing parts that they had purchased, I had no idea how they were supposed to be used (finding the parts was actually problematic). I eventually was able to get in touch with previous graduate students who helped me determine what had happened with the project up to this point.
I mainly worked with Dr. Smith, but also talked briefly to Dr. Eric Stinaff. We meet roughly once a week. Much of my summer was spent learning how ultra-high vacuum systems are assembled and designed. I also dramatically improved my CAD abilities.
The best part of the internship experience is the independence I was given, and being able to essentially turn something that was just an idea in my head into reality. We finally received all the parts and are beginning to construct the system. I look forward to being able use the system to fabricate some real samples, which will form the basis of my honors thesis.
Yonry Zhu – 2014 Intern with Dr. Arthur Smith – sophomore at Ohio University – Honors Tutorial College – engineering physics major
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