Todd Major, Phd Email & Phone Number

Niles, Il, Us

Niles, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Niles, Il, Us

On top of my process engineering responsibilities, I now have a role in the Dev/Ops department at MicroLink Devices. My responsibilities are as follows:-Act as MicroLink's lead development engineer. Look for opportunities to improve MicroLink's data structure, including any necessary database remediation.-Assist in upgrading MicroLink's software technology and reduce technical debt of legacy systems.-Solve issues with production code and provide requested updates.My current projects revolve around effectively portraying manufacturing data to my colleagues to be proactive rather than reactive towards issues.

Niles, Il, Us

As a senior process engineer, my responsibilities/roles are as follows:-I function as the primary data expert at MicroLink. I extensively use SQL on a day-to-day basis to query key metrics that determine variations in solar cell device performance and yield. I have set limits on various processes which have improved MicroLink's line yield to over 80%.-I write and deploy code in production for engineers and technicians to write and display production data to and from MySQL database tables. I deploy dashboards for easy visualization of production data in real time. I have also created dashboards to curate and summarize engineering projects to eliminate knowledge drain.-I am one of MicroLink's database architects. I create and adjust tables on MicroLink’s MySQL database to capture production data. I edit and modify database entries when needed.-I drive business decisions by reporting on key yield metrics during production meetings, and I quantify loss profit from main yield excursions to inform engineering of how to best spend their labor hours.-I am responsible for designing, testing, and deploying new or improved processes for the manufacturing of solar cells and other next generation semiconductor products. I have eliminated the biggest fabrication wafer scrap category, saving MicroLink $250k per year.-I own all photoresist coating, adhesive coating, lithography, and development processes in the manufacturing line. I manage the use, preventative maintenance, and documentation of all manual and automated tool sets corresponding to the fore-mentioned processes. I oversee several technicians that run these tools and processes. In total, over 25 kW of cells have been manufactured with my processes.-I establish and monitor statistical process control (SPC) charts for tools and various production processes.-Lastly, I write and am engaged in NASA SBIR projects on behalf of MicroLink Devices.

Niles, Il, Us

My responsibilities included managing lithography equipment and solving production issues at Microlink Devices.

Notre Dame, In, Us

I defended my thesis in November of 2014 (while working at MicroLink Devices as a Senior Process Engineer). The title of my dissertation was "ACOUSTIC VIBRATIONS OF SINGLE SUSPENDED GOLD NANOSTRUCTURES." On a basic level, metal nanoparticles quickly transfer energy to their surroundings through acoustic vibrations. By hitting an individual nanoparticle with an ultrafast laser pulse (called the "pump"), it will heat up and systematically vibrate to cool itself. To detect the vibration, a second laser pulse delayed in time (called the probe) hit the nanoparticles. By probing a known spectral feature of the metal (in this case, the radial surface plasmon mode), the frequency of the vibration can be measured because the changes in particle size will cause the plasmon mode to red and blue shift. My focus was understanding how the local environment of the nanoparticle affects the vibration lifetime. By fabricating trenches in glass coverslips, I was able to separate long nanowires from their supporting coverslip. This position required me to initially design and setup an optical system through a microscope using a commercial pulsed laser and optical parametric oscillator (OPO). I also learned how to fabricate trenches in borosilicate coverslips which was vital for the completion of my projects, and helped me better transition to basic fabrication tasks at MicroLink Devices.

Allendale, Mi, Us

I received a Student Summer Scholar (S^3) grant to study the pressure broadening coefficients for Carbon Monoxide (CO) molecules. At this position, I setup a spectrometer with a IR diode laser to measure fundamental lineshapes for Carbon Dioxide (CO2). I also got hands on experience using many technical pieces of equipment including lock-in amplifiers and function generators which was one of the causes which propelled my towards optics research in graduate school.

Ph.D. In Physical Chemistry, Chemistry

B.S. Chemistry, Chemistry