Zak Clark
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Zak began working as an undergraduate researcher with Dr. Susan Burkett in the fall of 2001. There he worked as a technician on a chemical-mechanical planarization (CMP) process in the development of Cu through wafer interconnects.
After Dr. Burkett left the university, the project was continued under the guidance of Dr. Amy Moll. Zak continued on the project working in CMP, branching out to gain experience on surface characterization equipment such as scanning electron micrscopy (SEM), stylus profilometry, 4-point probe techniques, and atomic force micrscopy (AFM). Zak has focused on becoming proficient in AFM and, as a result, has transferred to work with Dr. William Knowlton.
Zak works almost exclusively on the scanning probe microscopes (SPM’s) in the SPM systems and Nanofabrication Lab. This work includes, but is not limited to, the development and application of AFM imaging, tunneling AFM (TUNA), conductive AFM (CAFM), scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM), phase imaging, imaging in fluidic environments, nanoindentation, nanolithography and nanomanipulation techniques.
Currently Zak works for Micron Technology.
Favorite Quote:
"You know how Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, mine are even worse!" - Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson.