Science Team

Atomate's Science Team is responsible for R&D in electronic devices based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) and other nanoscale materials, and for assisting Atomate customers with process development.

Brian Hunt, Ph.D., Vice President of Advanced Research

Dr. Brian Hunt has over 25 years of experience in design, fabrication, and testing of submicron and nanoscale electronic devices and sensors, including pioneering research in several fields.

Prior to joining Atomate, Brian held various technical leadership and management positions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he initiated a nanotechnology electronic devices effort. Most recently at JPL, Brian was the Principal Engineer responsible for coordinating projects aimed at development of CNT transistors, CNT mechanical resonators, CNT diodes, CNT electron emitters, and nanowire-based sensors. Before working at JPL, Brian worked as a Fellow Scientist at the Westinghouse Science and Technology Center (now Northrop Grumman) on high performance integrated circuit (IC) development for radar applications. Prior to Westinghouse, Brian studied novel heterostructures produced by silicon molecular beam epitaxy, including epitaxial silicide metal base transistors at the General Electric Corporate R&D Center.

Brian earned his Ph.D. at Cornell University in Applied Physics under Professor Robert Buhrman, and a B.S. degree in Solid State Physics at John Carroll University. At Cornell University, Brian was among the first users of the National Submicron Facility (now the Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility), where he developed novel electron beam lithography techniques for fabrication of three terminal superconducting devices.

Brian has been distinguished with appointment as a Principal Engineer at JPL and as a Fellow Scientist at Westinghouse/ Northrop Grumman. Brian's work has also been recognized with a NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Award and a Lew Allen Award for Excellence. Brian has authored over 100 technical papers and holds 11 patents.

back to the top

Michael Bronikowski, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Dr. Michael Bronikowski has over 20 years of experience in nanotechnology. Prior to joining Atomate, Mike worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he developed in-situ instrument technologies based on carbon nanotubes for investigation of extraterrestrial environments of interest to NASA. He has fabricated and characterized arrayed bundles of carbon nanotubes for high-intensity field emitter electron sources for applications including X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction, miniature mass spectrometers, electron-beam-pumped UV lasers, and the nanoklystron. He has also grown long, high-density mats and arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNT) for materials applications requiring high strength and high thermal conductivity, and has investigated methods for enhanced CNT/ substrate adhesion.

Prior to working at JPL, Mike was a Welch Postdoctoral Fellow at Rice University, where he worked directly for world renowned Professor Richard E. Smalley, Nobel Prize winner. Under Professor Smalley, Mike investigated production of and applications for carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNT), ultimately being one of the key team members who invented the high pressure carbon monoxide (HiPco) gas phase process for large-scale production of SWNT by metal-catalyzed disproportionation of carbon monoxide. At Rice, he performed studies of SWNT growth on supported catalyst particles, as well. Mike also performed postdoctoral research at the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in scanning tunneling microscope (STM)-induced CVD of metals from metal organic precursors, electron-beam-induced surface chemistry, and STM-induced surface deposition and modification. Furthermore, Mike was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow investigating atomic-scale surface structure, molecular adsorption, and epitaxial growth on semiconductors using STM.

Mike earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at Stanford University and a B.S. degree with Highest Honors at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

back to the top

Eric Wong, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Dr. Eric Wong has over 14 years of experience in nanotechnology, integrating exotic materials, such as nanoparticles, nanotubes and molecular switches, into nanoscale devices. At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Eric performed nanostructure research by integrating nanotubes and silicon nanowires into microelectrodes for applications such as chemical sensing and RF electronics. He also gained extensive experience using Raman spectroscopy and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for trace detection of organic compounds. He has used SERS to characterize structural changes in organic molecular switch monolayers during electrochemical switching. He developed nanofabrication methods to make SERS active periodic metal lattices that can be integrated into chip architectures, such as for microfluidics. Prior to working at JPL, Eric was a postdoctoral researcher in Jim Heath's Group at UCLA (now at Caltech), where he developed memory devices based on electromechanical molecular switches.

Eric earned his Ph.D. in the world-famous Charles Lieber Group at Harvard University, where he developed methods to grow various carbide nanowires, such as SiC, for high strength applications. He also developed methods to pattern electrical contacts to individual nanotubes and to use conducting atomic force microscopy (AFM) to probe their electrical properties. In addition, he used microfabrication techniques to clamp nanotubes and nanowires for nanomechanical AFM studies in low friction fluid environments.

Eric's excellence has been distinguished with a President's Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA, a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at UCLA, a Harvard Science Prize Fellowship at Harvard, and a National Defense and Engineering Fellowship at Harvard. Dr. Wong has authored over 20 publications, including five articles in the journals Science and Nature, and has several patents.

back to the top

Sunghwan Jung, Ph.D., Senior Scientist

Dr. Sunghwan Jung has over 10 years of experience in nano/ micro technology development. He is currently involved in synthesis optimization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and development of various types of CNT-based device architectures.

Prior to joining Atomate, Sunghwan was a Senior Research Engineer at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), where he was responsible for developing a number of advanced proprietary technologies in the Microfabrication Group. During the tenure with Samsung, he led the Microactuator Team and invented an design that significantly improved the performance of a proprietary electrostatic device. He was recognized with the SAIT Innovation Award for this accomplishment.

Sunghwan earned his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. At MIT, he developed templated assembly by selective removal (TASR) of nano components, which uses adhesion induced by self-assembled monolayers and mechanical forces by sonication. Sunghwan has authored and co-authored over 15 internationally-circulated technical papers and holds several patents.

back to the top