Scott W. Schmucker
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering
Professional Profile
Scott is a research scientist who joined the staff of Sandia National Laboratories following a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Maryland Joint Quantum Institute (JQI)/National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associateship at the U.S. Naval Research Lab. Scott also worked as a nanofabrication research scientist at Zyvex Labs where he helped to develop atomic-scale lithographic processes. Scott earned his doctoral degree at the University of Illinois under the guidance of Professor Joseph Lyding.
Scott co-invented field-directed sputter sharpening for manufacturing atomic-scale probe tips, and has over fourteen years’ experience in scanning tunneling microscopy, nanofabrication, and atomically-precise manufacturing. He has 20 publications and more than 750 citations, 2 issued US patents, and co-authored a chapter in the 2015 edition of the Handbook of Crystal Growth (Elsevier) on the subject of chemical vapor deposition of two-dimensional crystals. Scott has worked extensively with van der Waals heterosystems, including twisted bilayer graphene, the interface between bilayer graphene and its substrates, and the covalent functionalization of graphene and bilayer graphene with fluorine. His area of expertise is atomically-precise manufacturing of quantum and conventional electronic systems through the use of the scanning tunneling microscope, specifically by hydrogen depassivation lithography.
Selected Work Experience
2019 - Present
Principal Member of Technical Staff
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
Senior Member of Technical Staff 2019-2023Principal Member of Technical Staff 2023-Present
2017 - 2019
Postdoctoral Associate
Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD
2012 - 2015
NRC Postdoctoral Research Associate
US Naval Research Laboratory
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeremy T. Robinson, Dr. Cory D. Cress
- Developed a research effort to interface fast ion conductors and two-dimensional materials
- Invented graphene/CaF2 device for the controllable doping and functionalization of graphene
- With Raman spectroscopy, performed the first experimental study of the influence of defects on the electronic and optical properties of twisted bilayer graphene
- Demonstrated growth and transfer of graphene, chemically-modified graphene, and hafnia thin films
Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 2012
M.S. Electrical Engineering, 2009
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Joseph W. Lyding
Ph.D. Dissertation: Scanning tunneling microscopy studies of fluorinated graphene films and field-directed sputter sharpening [pdf]
M.S. Thesis: Sharpening of conductive nanoprobes for scanning tunneling microscopy by field-directed sputter sharpening [pdf]
Case Western Reserve University
B.S. Computer Engineering, 2004
Research Advisor: Dr. Daniel G. Saab
Research Publications
Refereed Journal Articles
P. Namboodiri, J. Wyrick, G. Stan, X. Wang, F. Feik, R.V. Kashid, S.W. Schmucker, R. Kasica, B.M. Barnes, M.D. Stewart Jr., R.M. Silver, "Multi-scale alignment to buried atom-scale devices using Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy," Nanotechnol. Rev. in press (2024)
S.M. Young, A.M. Katzenmeyer, E.M. Anderson, T.S. Luk, J.A. Ivie, S.W. Schmucker, X. Gao, S. Misra, "Suppression of mid-infrared plasma resonance due to quantum confinement in delta-doped silicon," Phys. Rev. Appl. 20, 024043 (2023). [doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.024043] [arXiv:2210.10711]
C. Halsey, J. Depoy, D.M. Campbell, D.R. Ward, E.M. Anderson, S.W. Schmucker, J.A. Ivie, X. Gao, D.A. Scrymgeour, S. Misra, "Accelerated Lifetime Testing and Analysis of Delta-doped Silicon Test Structures," IEEE T. Device Mat. Re. 22(2), 169 (2022). [doi:10.1109/TDMR.2022.3152376] [arXiv:2110.11580]
J.H.G. Owen, Q. Campbell, R. Santini, J.A. Ivie, A. Baczewski, S.W. Schmucker, E. Bussmann, S. Misra, J.N. Randall, "Al-alkyls as acceptor dopant precursors for atomic-scale devices," J. Phys.: Cond. Matter 33, 464001 (2021) [doi:10.1088/1361-648X/ac1ddf]
A. Katzenmeyer, S. Dmitrovic, A. Baczewski, Q. Campbell, E. Bussmann, T.-M. Lu, E. Anderson, S.W. Schmucker, J. Ivie, D. Campbell, D. Ward, D. Scrymgeour, G. Wang, S.Misra, "Photothermal alternative to device fabrication using atomic precision advanced manufacturing techniques," J. Micro/Nanolithog. Microfab. Microsys. 20(1), 014901 (2021). [doi:10.1117/1.JMM.20.1.014901] [pdf]
Q. Campbell, J. Ivie, E. Bussmann, S. Schmucker, A. Baczewski, S. Misra, "A model for atomic precision p-type doping with diborane on Si(100)-2x1", J. Phys. Chem. C, 125, 481-488 (2021). [doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c08919] [arXiv:2010.00129]
J.A. Hagmann, X. Wang, R. Kashid, P. Namboodiri, J. Wyrick, S.W. Schmucker, M.D. Stewart Jr., R.M. Silver, C.A. Richter, "Electron-electron interactions in low-dimensional Si:P delta layers," Phys. Rev. B 101, 245419 (2020). [doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.101.245419] [pdf]
E.M. Anderson, D.M. Campbell, L.N. Maurer, A.D. Baczewski, M.T. Marshall, T.-M. Lu, P. Lu, T.A. Tracy, S.W. Schmucker, D.R. Ward, S. Misra, "Low Thermal Budget High-k/Metal Surface Gate for Buried Donor-Based Devices," J. Phys. Mater. 3, 035002 (2020). [doi:10.1088/2515-7639/ab953b] [arXiv:2002.09075] [pdf]
X. Wang, J. Wyrick, R.V. Kashid, P. Namboodiri, S.W. Schmucker, A. Murphy, M.D. Stewart Jr., N. Zimmerman, R.M. Silver, "Atomic-Scale Control of Tunnel Coupling," Commun. Phys. 3, 82 (2020). [doi:10.1038/s42005-020-0343-1] [arXiv:1905.00132]
J. Wyrick, X. Wang, R.V.Kashid, P. Namboodiri, S.W. Schmucker, J.A. Hagmann, K. Liu, M.D. Stewart Jr., C.A. Richter, G.W. Bryant, R.M. Silver, "Atom-by-Atom Fabrication of Single and Few Dopant Quantum Devices," Adv. Funct. Mater., 1903475 (2019) [doi:10.1002/adfm.201903475]
S.W. Schmucker, P.N. Namboodiri, R. Kashid, X. Wang, B. Hu, J.E. Wyrick, A.F. Myers, J.D. Schumacher, R.M. Silver, M.D. Stewart Jr., "Low-Resistance, High-Yield Electrical Contacts to Atom Scale Si:P Devices Using Palladium Silicide," Phys. Rev. Appl. 11, 034071 (2019). [doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.11.034071] [pdf]
J.E. Wyrick, X. Wang, P. Namboodiri, S.W. Schmucker, R. Kashid, R.M. Silver, “Atom-by-atom construction of a cyclic artificial molecule in Silicon,” Nano Letters, 18, 7502 (2018). [doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02919]
J.E. Rossi, K.J. Soule, E. Cleveland, S.W. Schmucker, C.D. Cress, N.D. Cox, A. Merrill, B.J. Landi, “Removal of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Surfactant from Aqueous Dispersions of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes,” J. Colloid Interface Sci. 495, 140 (2017) [doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.01.117] [pdf]
J.J. McMorrow, C.D. Cress, H.N. Arnold, V.K.Sangwan, D. Jariwala, S.W. Schmucker, T.J. Marks, M.C. Hersam, "Vacuum Ultraviolet Radiation Effects on Two-Dimensional MoS2 Field-Effect Transistors," Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 073101 (2017). [doi:10.1063/1.4976023] [pdf]
J.C. Koepke*, J.D. Wood*, Y. Chen, S.W. Schmucker, X. Liu, N.N. Chang, L. Nienhaus, J.-W. Do, E.A. Carrion, J. Hewaparakrama, A. Rangarajan, I. Datye, R. Mehta, R.T. Haasch, M. Gruebele, G.S. Girolami, E. Pop, J.W. Lyding, "Role of Pressure in the CVD Growth of Hexagonal Boron Nitride Thin Films from Ammonia Borane," Chem. Mater. 28, 4169-4179 (2016). [doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b00396] [arXiv:1605.06861]
A. Friedman, C.D. Cress, S.W. Schmucker, J.T. Robinson, O.L. van 't Erve, "Electronic transport and localization in nitrogen-doped graphene devices using hyperthermal ion implantation," Phys. Rev. B, 93, 161409(R) (2016) [doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.93.161409] [pdf]
C.D. Cress*, S.W. Schmucker*, A.L. Freidman, P. Dev, J.C. Culbertson, J.W. Lyding, J.T. Robinson, "Nitrogen-Doped Graphene and Twisted Bilayer Graphene via Hyperthermal Ion Implantation with Depth Control," ACS Nano 10(3), 3714-3722 (2016) [doi:10.1021/acsnano.6b00252]
H.N. Arnold, C.D. Cress, J. McMorrow, S.W. Schmucker, V. Sangwan, L. Jaber-Ansari, R. Kumar, K. Puntambekar, K. Luck, T. Marks, M. Hersam, "Tunable Radiation Response in Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Gate Dielectrics for Low-Voltage Graphene Electronics," ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8(8), 5058-5064 (2016) [doi:10.1021/acsami.5b12259]
H.N. Arnold*, V.K. Sangwan*, S.W. Schmucker, C.D. Cress, K.A. Luck, A.L. Friedman, J.T. Robinson, T.J. Marks, M.C. Hersam, "Reducing Flicker Noise in Chemical Vapor Deposition Graphene Field-Effect Transistors," Appl. Phys. Lett., 108, 073108 (2016) [doi:10.1063/1.4942468] [pdf]
S.W. Schmucker, C.D. Cress, J.C. Culbertson, J.W. Beeman, O.D. Dubon, J.T. Robinson, "Raman Signature of Defected Twisted Bilayer Graphene," Carbon, 93, 250-257 (2015) [doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2015.05.076] [pdf]
E.H. Lock, D.M. Delongchamp, S.W. Schmucker, B. Simpkins, M. Laskoski, S.P. Mulvaney, D.R. Hines, M. Baraket, S.C. Hernandez, J.T. Robinson, P.E. Sheehan, C. Jaye, D.A. Fisher, S.G. Walton, "Dry graphene transfer print to polystyrene and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene - Detailed chemical, structural, morphological and electrical characterization," Carbon 86, 288 (2015) [doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2015.01.048]
E.H. Lock, S.C. Hernandez, T.J. Anderson, S.W. Schmucker, M. Laskoski, S.P. Mulvaney, F.J. Bezarez, J.D. Caldwell, P.E. Sheehan, J.T. Robinson, B.N. Feygelson, S.G. Walton, "Etch free graphene transfer to polymers," Surf. Coat. Technol. 241, 118 (2013) [doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2013.10.080]
J.T. Robinson, S.W. Schmucker, C.B. Diaconescu, J.P. Long, J.C. Culbertson, T. Ohta, A.L. Friedman, T. Beechem, “Electronic hybridization of large-area stacked graphene films,” ACS Nano 7, 637 (2013). [doi:10.1021/nn304834p] [arXiv] [Editor's Choice, Science Magazine]
S.W. Schmucker, N. Kumar, J.R. Abelson, S.R. Daly, G.S. Girolami, M.R. Bischof, D.L. Jaeger, R.F. Reidy, B.P. Gorman, J. Alexander, J.B. Ballard, J.N. Randall, J.W. Lyding, “Field-directed sputter sharpening for tailored probe materials and atomic-scale lithography,” Nat. Commun. 3, 935 (2012). [doi:10.1038/ncomms1907] [PDF] [Preprint] [IDEALS] [TipTek Startup Company]
J.D Wood, S.W. Schmucker, A.S. Lyons, E. Pop, J.W. Lyding, “Effects of Polycrystalline Cu Substrate on Graphene Growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition,” Nano Lett., 11, 4547-4554 (2011). [doi:10.1021/nl201566c]
Y. Xu*, K.T. He*, S.W. Schmucker, J.C Koepke, J.D. Wood, J.W. Lyding, N.R. Aluru, "Inducing electronic changes in graphene through silicon (100) substrate modification,” Nano Lett., 11, 2735 (2011). [doi:10.1021/nl201022t]
J.N. Randall, J.W. Lyding, S.W. Schmucker, J.R. Von Ehr, J. Ballard, R. Saini, H. Xu, Y. Ding, “Atomic precision lithography on Si,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 27, 2764 (2009). [doi:10.1116/1.3237096] [pdf]
Conference Proceedings
X. Gao, L.A. Tracy, E.M. Anderson, D.M. Campbell, J.A. Ivie, T.-M. Lu, D. Mamaluy, S.W. Schmucker, S. Misra, "Modeling Assisted Room Temperature Operation of Atomic Precision Advanced Manufacturing Devices," International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices (SISPAD) (2020). [doi:10.23919/SISPAD49475.2020.9241610]
J.P. Mendez, D. Mamaluy, X. Gao, E.M. Anderson, D.M. Campbell, J.A. Ivie, T.-M. Lu, S.W. Schmucker, S. Misra, "Quantum Transport in Si:P Delta-Layer Wires," International Conference on Simulation of Semiconductor Processes and Devices (SISPAD) (2020). [doi:10.23919/SISPAD49475.2020.9241610]
A.M Katzenmeyer, S. Dmitrovic, A.D. Baczewski, E. Bussmann, T.-M. Lu, E. Anderson, S. Schmucker, J.A. Ivie, D.M. Campbell, D.R. Ward, G.T. Wang, S. Misra, "Photothermal alternative to device fabrication using atomic precision advanced manufacturing techniques," Proceedings of SPIE Advanced Lithography (2020). [doi:10.1117/12.2551455]
J.D. Wood, S.W. Schmucker, R.T. Haasch, G.P. Doidge, L. Nienhaus, G.L. Damhorst, A.S. Lyons, M. Gruebele, R. Bashir, E. Pop, J.W. Lyding, "Improved Graphene Growth and Fluorination on Cu with Clean Transfer to Surfaces," 2012 Proc. for the IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology (2012) [doi:10.1109/NANO.2012.6322101]
J.N. Randall, J.B. Ballard, J.W. Lyding, S. Schmucker, J.R. Von Ehr, R. Saini, H. Xu, Y. Ding, “Atomic precision patterning on Si: An opportunity for a digitized process,” Microelectron. Eng. 87, 955-958 (2010). [doi:10.1016/j.mee.2009.11.143] [pdf]
H.-S. Choi, M. Huang, J.B. Ballard, K.T. He, S.W. Schmucker, J.W. Lyding, J.N. Randall, K. Cho, "Theoretical and Experimental Study of Tip Electronic Structure in Scanning Tunneling Microscope," MRS Proceedings, 1177 (2009) [doi:10.1557/PROC-1177-Z06-03]
Book Chapters
N. Curson, J. Lyding, R. Silver, S. Schmucker, J.N. Randall. Definition of Atomically Precise Fabrication and Quantum Metamaterials. In: Kirk WP, Randall JN, Owen JHG, editors. 2D Quantum Metamaterials. World Scientific; 2019. pp. 23-32. [info] [doi:10.1142/9789811206061_0003]
Z.R. Robinson, S.W. Schmucker, K. McCreary, E.D. Cobas. Chemical Vapor Deposition of Two-Dimensional Crystals. In: Nishinaga T, Kuech TF, editors. Handbook of Crystal Growth, Vol. III. Elsevier; 2015. pp. 785–833. [info] [Google Books] [Amazon]
Other Publications
D.R. Ward, S.W. Schmucker, E.M. Anderson, E. Bussmann, L. Tracy, T.-M. Lu, L.N. Maurer, A. Baczewski, D.M. Campbell, M.T. Marshall, S.Misra, "Atomic Precision Advanced Manufacturing for Digital Electronics," EDFA Magazine, 22 1:4-10 (2020). [Website] [arXiv:2002.11003]
Patents and Patent Applications
S. Misra, D.R. Ward, D.M. Campbell, T.-M. Lu, S.W. Schmucker, E.M. Anderson, A.J. Leenheer, J.A. Ivie, "Method of Chemical Doping that uses CMOS-Compatible Processes"
U.S. Patent #11,798,808 B1 (2023).
J.W. Lyding, S.W. Schmucker, “Nanometer-scale sharpening of conductor tips”
U.S. Patent #8,070,920 (2011). [PDF] [Google Patents]
U.S. Patent #8,819,861 (2014). [PDF] [Google Patents]
Manuscripts Submitted for Publication
Theses and Dissertations
S.W. Schmucker, “Scanning tunneling microscopy studies of fluorinated graphene films and field-directed sputter sharpening," Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2012). [doi:2142/31038] [PDF] [IDEALS]
S.W. Schmucker, “Sharpening of conductive nanoprobes for scanning tunneling microscopy by field-directed sputter sharpening,” M.S. Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009). [doi:2142/30793] [PDF] [IDEALS]
Selected Research Presentations
[See complete listing of presented work]S.W. Schmucker, E. Frederick, Q. Campbell, J.A. Ivie, E.M. Anderson, K.J. Dwyer, A.D. Baczewski, G.T. Wang, R.E. Butera, S. Misra, "Atomic Precision Advanced Manufacturing and Lessons for Area-Selective Deposition," 21st International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD/ALE), oral presentation, June 2021.
S.W. Schmucker, P. Namboodiri, B. Hu, R. Kashid, X. Wang, J. Wyrick, R.M. Silver, M.D. Stewart Jr., "High yield method for contacting subsurface delta-doped phosphorus devices," American Physical Society March Meeting, oral presentation, March 2018. [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, "Phosphorus Qubits in Silicon: Manufacturing Quantum Systems with Atomic Precision," Saint Louis University Department of Physics Seminar, oral presentation, September 2015. (Invited) [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, L.B. Ruppalt, J.C. Culbertson, J.-W. Do, J.W. Lyding, J.T. Robinson, C.D. Cress, “On-Chip Electrolytic Chemistry for the Tuning of Graphene Devices,” American Physical Society March Meeting, oral presentation, March 2015. [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, “Graphene and its Derivatives: Physics and Applications of Two-Dimensional Materials,” Physics, Astronomy, and Computational Sciences Colloqium, George Mason University, oral presentation, October 2014. (Invited)
S.W. Schmucker, C.D. Cress, J.C. Culbertson, J.W. Beeman, O.D. Dubon, J.T. Robinson, “The Influence of Defects on Interfaces and Interlayer Coupling in Twisted Bilayer Graphene,” International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, oral presentation, July 2014. (Invited) [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, J.C. Culbertson, J.W. Beeman, O.D. Dubon, J.T. Robinson, “Chemically-Modified, Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Tunable Platform for Functionalization and Intercalation Studies,” Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, oral presentation, April 2013. [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, "Exploring Graphene and its Chemical Derivatives by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy", Naval Research Laboratory Electronic Materials Branch Seminar, oral presentation, June 2011. (Invited)
S.W. Schmucker, J.D. Wood, R.T. Haasch, J.W. Lyding, “Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study of Fluorinated Graphene on Copper,” American Physical Society March Meeting, oral presentation, March 2011. [Abstract]
S.W. Schmucker, J.W. Lyding , “Towards Atomic-Fidelity Patterning by Electron-Stimulated Desorption of Hydrogen”, IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, oral presentation, July 2009.
S.W. Schmucker, N. Kumar, J.R. Abelson, S.R. Daly, G.S. Girolami, J.W. Lyding , “Ultra-hard Nanometer-scale Hafnium Diboride Probes for Scanned Probe Microscopy Produced by Field-Directed Sputter Sharpening ,” International Conference on Nanoscience and Technology, oral presentation, July 2008.
Students Mentored
Graduate Students
Eric D. Lee, M.S. Thesis, University of Illinois, "Parallel plasma field-directed sputter sharpening of field emitters" (2009). [IDEALS] [pdf]Undergraduate Students
Tianzi Zhou, "Nanosoldering single-walled carbon nanotubes by using hafnium diboride"Tomasz Kalbarczyk, "Transfer of monolayer graphene films from copper foil to silicon dioxide"
Bryan Walker, "Fabrication of a special p-n diode for investigation of carbon nanotube transport behavior"
Daniel Lukman, "Design of a plasma etching station for tungsten probe sharpening"
Aditya Gupta, "Sharpening of tungsten probes by field-directed sputter sharpening"
* These authors contributed equally to this work