Projects

Every project I have worked on, newest first. During the PhD I worked on eleven and led six.

Postdoctoral, 2026 to now

  • Self-healing first-wall coatings with embedded radiation diagnostics

    Lead. Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mutlu group. 2026 to now.

    • Combinatorial thin-film growth of high-entropy alloy coatings that tolerate radiation damage and recover part of it, with a composition gradient covered in a single deposition run.
    • Graphene nanoribbon devices embedded in the same stack so the wall reports its own condition while the reactor runs.
    • Presented at the Arizona Livermore Days Workshop, 2026.

  • Graphene nanoribbon radiation sensors

    Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mutlu group. 2026 to now.

    • Molecular beam epitaxy synthesis of nine-atom-wide armchair nanoribbons and their integration into transistor structures.
    • Mapping the electrical response to gamma exposure against dose and ribbon geometry, for fusion first-wall and spacecraft monitoring.

  • Armchair graphene nanoribbon transistors for logic

    Mutlu group. 2026 to now.

    • Two-dimensional transistors from the same ribbons, aimed past the scaling limits of silicon.
    • Fabrication and electrical characterization: contact resistance, gate control, on-off ratio, alignment and yield.

Doctoral, 2017 to 2026

  1. Antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions

    Lead. NSF Future of Semiconductors (FuSe2). 2022 to 2026. Team of one graduate and two undergraduate students.

    • Fabricated by PVD, photolithography and ion etching; characterized by MOKE, VSM, XRR and XRD; tested electrically.
    • Fourth research group worldwide to fabricate, characterize and test antiferromagnetic tunnel junctions.
    • Reported the bias dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance and its dependence on Mn ratio in PtMnx junctions; extended to Mn3Pt and Mn3Ga with spin-orbit torque switching.
    • First-author paper on momentum-dependent spin polarization in PtMnx hybrid junctions in preparation.

  2. Magnon-assisted spin-transfer torque switching

    Lead. DARPA FRANC program. 2022 to 2024. One graduate and one undergraduate student. Patented.

    • In-plane and perpendicular MTJs with an antiferromagnetic NiO barrier, patterned down to 150 nm.
    • Optimized the oxygen ratio in NiO by reactive RF sputtering to reach the target stoichiometry and perpendicular anisotropy.
    • Record 26 percent room-temperature tunneling magnetoresistance among NiO-based MTJs.
    • US Patent 12,096,698. IEEE Neil Smith Award at TMRC 2026. Paper under review at IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

  3. Computational random-access memory and exchange-coupled MTJs

    Collaboration with the University of Minnesota and NIST. NSF. 2022 to 2023.

    • Growth by PVD and characterization by XRR and MOKE of spin-transfer torque switching perpendicular MTJs.
    • Two articles: the CRAM demonstration in npj Unconventional Computing and L10 FePd perpendicular junctions in AIP Advances. The CRAM work was covered widely in the press.

  4. Perpendicular anisotropy and interface characterization in MnPd3

    Collaboration with Stanford University, Mahendra DC. 2022.

    • TEM measurements on thin films to examine the interface and crystallization.
    • Contributed to the Nature Materials paper on anti-damping spin-orbit torques in MnPd3.

  5. Exchange-coupled top electrode

    Collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wei Zhang. 2022.

    • MTJs with a fixed top electrode built from (Co/Pt)x multilayers.
    • Growth by PVD, characterization by XRR and MOKE.

  6. Spin-orbit torque devices with (Co/Pd)x multilayers

    Collaboration with the University of Delaware, John Q. Xiao. SRC. 2021 to 2022.

    • Growth and characterization of (Co/Pd)x multilayers, reaching the perpendicular anisotropy required for the devices.

  7. Boron-doped Heusler alloy MTJs

    Lead. 2021. One undergraduate student.

    • Co2FeAl electrodes with boron doping for industry-compatible fabrication.
    • PVD, photolithography and ion etching; MOKE, VSM, XRR, XRD and AFM.
    • 50 percent increase in tunneling magnetoresistance with boron doping. Published in Journal of Applied Physics.

  8. Interlayer exchange coupling

    Collaboration with Purdue University, Sunil Bhave. NSF. 2020.

    • Growth by PVD and characterization by XRR and VSM to reach the target coupling and magnetic properties.

  9. Voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy with a high-k barrier

    Lead. SRC. 2019 to 2020.

    • MTJs with a SrTiO3 barrier to study voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy.
    • Tunneling magnetoresistance stayed below 1 percent, too low for applications, which settled the question for this barrier.
    • High-k dielectric fabrication.

  10. Two-dimensional insulators for thermal stability

    Lead. SRC. 2018 to 2019.

    • h-BN barriers with ferromagnetic electrodes to improve the thermal stability of MTJs.
    • Showed that PVD is not suitable for growing 2D layers for MTJs.

  11. Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions

    Partial lead. Published 2022 and 2026.

    • Record 256 percent tunneling magnetoresistance with industry-compatible fabrication.
    • Optimized the Ta/CoFeB and CoFeB/MgO interfaces by controlling oxidation and the magnetically dead layer.
    • PVD, photolithography, ion etching, XRD, XRR, VSM and electrical transport.

Undergraduate, 2013 to 2017

  1. Radial vortex, a new skyrmion type

    Undergraduate research assistant to Ozhan Ozatay, Bogazici University. 2015 to 2017.

    • Deposited and characterized (MFM, VSM on a Dynacool) devices hosting the radial vortex.
    • MFM under in situ magnetic field to resolve features near the 10 nm resolution limit.
    • Published in Scientific Reports, confirming the state predicted computationally by Giovanni Finocchio.

  2. Anti-vortex magnetic configurations

    Undergraduate research assistant to Ozhan Ozatay, Bogazici University. 2013 to 2015.

    • AFM and MFM characterization and electrical testing of micro-devices with anti-vortex states.
    • Designed and machined magnet holders to add in situ field to the MFM.
    • Built DC and high-frequency measurement setups and their LabVIEW control.
    • Electrical testing through anisotropic magnetoresistance; presented at the APS March Meeting 2015, my first conference.