Skills Overview

Skilled with both good theoretical knowledge and research experience on various semiconductor fabrication process technology, material characterization, modeling and simulation programming. Over 4 years of experience with statistical data analysis. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and extensive experience in technical documentation.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Electrochemical Nanofabrication and Nanomaterials Synthesis Laboratory, University of Houston
Houston – Texas, June 2008 – Present
Research lab at UH dedicated towards electrochemical processes in semiconductor fabrication.

– Research aimed to enhance the understanding of planarization of copper interconnects during fabrication using electropolishing which will work alongside of CMP.
– Expertise in Planarization and Electroplating of Copper using novel electrochemical techniques for micro and nanofabrication.
– Modeled Cu Surface Morphology Evolution during Electropolishing and its simulation by image analysis in Matlab.
– Created a toolbox script in Matlab with complete UI handling Fourier analysis of image processing and other parameters.
– Designed and printed sub-micron and nm features using e-beam lithography on Silicon wafers.
– Deposited 10 to 100 nm thin films of Ti, Ta, Au, etc. using PVD (sputtering, thermal and E-beam evaporation).
– Surface morphology analysis using SEM, AFM etc.
– Setup new fab tools: Semitool ECD Raider M.
– Designed custom PMMA recipe and worked with wet etching.
– Worked in Class 10 and Class 100 clean room facility.

STATISTICAL ANALYST

Measurement and Evaluation Center, University of Houston
Houston – Texas, Jan. 2008–Dec. 2008
University initiative to offer consulting on data collection and data analysis for research, surveys and exam scores.

– Performed statistical analysis on research data and surveys conducted at UH using statistical software (SPSS and Excel VB).
– Delivered clear and concise documentation on all data analysis.
– Chi-square tests, reliability tests, factor analysis, regression analysis, etc.

SOFTWARE ENGINEER/BUSINESS ANALYST

Infosys Technologies Ltd.,
Bangalore – India, Nov. 2005–July 2007
Leading global provider of business and technology consulting, and software solutions. Over 100,000 employees worldwide.

– Software application development, maintenance and testing at CMMI level 5 for a fortune 500 client.
– Built test cases and created automated test scripts for mainframe application testing.
– Business requirement analysis and data analysis using DB2, SQL and SAS.
– Coordinated and worked on projects with clients from various locations across time zones.

Instrumental Proficiency

– Electrochemical Methods (Electropolishing, Electroplating, Linear Sweep Voltammetry)
– SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) with NPGS and E-Beam Lithography Tool
– SEM with FIB (Focused Ion Beam) and EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy)
– AFM (Atomic Force Microscope)
– Sputtering System
– Thermal evaporation
– E-beam evaporation
– Resist Spin Coater
– Wet Etching
– Ellipsometer
– Alpha Step Profilometer
– Potentiostat/ Galvanostat with Rotating Disk Electrode (RDE)
– Semitool ECD Raider

Application Software/ Programming

– Matlab, COMSOL
– Microcal Origin, Mathcad
– NPGS (Nanometer Pattern Generation System)
– DesignCAD LT
– C, C++
- Verilog, VHDL
– Pspice, CALP
– MS Office, MS Visio
– DB2, SQL, SAS, and SPSS
– SILOS, Quartus
- COBOL, MVS, CICS, JCL, REXX
– JAVA, PHP, HTML

Operating System/Assembly Language

– Unix, Linux
– Windows
– Mainframe OS/390, z/OS
– INTEL 8085/8086 Microprocessor
– PIC Microcontroller

Publications and Conferences

Symposium Presentation on “Modeling of Copper Surface Morphology Evolution during Electropolishing”, Joel C. Thomas and Stanko R. Brankovic at 38th Semi-annual TcSUH Student Symposium, Houston, TX Dec. 2009.
Symposium Paper and Presentation on “Modeling of Copper Surface Morphology Evolution during Electropolishing”, Joel C. Thomas and Stanko R. Brankovic at First International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Energy and Space, Houston, TX Oct. 2009. [link]
Conference Paper and Poster Presentation on “Modeling of Cu Surface Morphology Evolution during Electropolishing”, Joel C. Thomas and Stanko R. Brankovic at Graduate Research Conference, Houston, TX May 2009. [link]