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We are seeking motivated graduate students to develop computational tools for multiscale imaging of electronic devices. Work with the CCEM and collaborate with academia, government, and industry.
Areas of focus: algorithm development, multiscale data integration, computational optimization, and software/GUI development.
Qualifications: background in a related field; experience with algorithms, image processing, or machine learning; strong programming skills; strong communication and teamwork.
Apply: Send your CV and cover letter to S. Andrew Gadsden (gadsdesa@mcmaster.ca)
More Details in the job posting: Graduate Student Opportunity Job Posting
Job Title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Location: McMaster University Main Campus (Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy) with international travel/collaboration
Job Type: 2-year appointment (renewable based on performance)
Start Date: April 2026
Salary: Annual salary of $75,000-85,000 plus benefits provided in accordance with McMaster University guidelines, and commensurate with experience
Position Overview:
Prof. Nabil Bassim in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow to lead research on the development of novel ionic liquid ion source (ILIS) technology for next-generation semiconductor delayering and etching.
This position is part of a larger program focused on transformative advances in multiscale, correlative imaging of advanced electronic devices, in close collaboration with industry and government partners. The successful candidate will play a lead scientific role, bridging source physics, chemical formulation, and instrument development.
Research Focus:
While traditional liquid-metal alloy ion sources (LMAIS) and gas-assisted etching rely on positive ionic charges and complex gas injection systems, this project seeks to revolutionize the field using ILIS. ILIS technology utilizes molten salts to deliver individual ions or complex clusters of both positive and negative valence by changing the polarity of the ion extractor.
The PDF will work to eliminate the need for gaseous etching by developing sources capable of delivering ions specifically designed to etch silicon, copper, and other semiconductors (III-V, SiC). This work builds upon proprietary technology and research into space propulsion applications (Ion-X) to create enhanced etch-specific formulations.
Project goals:
- Developing new ionic liquid chemistries and formulations for specific etching targets.
- Building and testing an ILIS-based broad ion beam (BIB) and subsequent focused ion beam (FIB).
- Mitigating depletion and polarization issues associated with dual-valent sources.
- Tunability of mass spectra to create large cluster ions for planarization.
This research involves close collaboration with international partners. The PDF will work with international researchers and test ILIS sources at CNRS C2N (Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies) France to develop and refine these source technologies.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead the development and testing of new ionic liquid formulations for semiconductor etching.
- Design and build ILIS-based BIB and FIB instrumentation.
- Investigate and mitigate physical challenges such as source polarization and depletion.
- Collaborate with international partners for source testing and validation.
- Optimize source parameters to etch specific materials (Si, Cu, III-V, SiC) without external gas injection.
- Mentor graduate students and contribute to team supervision.
- Publish results in high-impact journals and present at international conferences.
Qualifications:
- PhD in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or a related discipline.
- Demonstrated expertise in ion beam physics, plasma physics, FIB/scanning electron microscope instrumentation, or source development.
- Experience with electrochemistry or ionic liquids is considered a strong asset.
- Strong experimental skills, particularly in vacuum systems and instrumentation hardware.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Willingness to travel for international collaboration (e.g., to CNRS C2N).
- Experience with instrument design, prototyping, or customization is considered an asset.
Application Process:
Applicants should submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae to Prof. Nabil Bassim (bassimn@mcmaster.ca).
Job Title: PhD Student
Location: McMaster University Main Campus (Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy) with international travel/collaboration
Start Date: September 2026
Salary: $25,000-$35,000 total annual funding (including research stipend, TA income, and scholarships)
Position Overview:
Prof. Nabil Bassim in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University invites applications for a fully funded PhD position to join a collaborative research project with government and industry partners. The tasks will be focused on pushing the limits of focused ion beam nanotomography (FIB-nt).
This student will work at the intersection of beam control, ion scattering modeling, and metrology. As part of a larger program focused on transformative advances in multiscale imaging of electronic devices, this research aims to overcome the current information limits of FIB-nt caused by surface topography and signal interaction artifacts.
Project Goals:
The primary objective is to refine current approaches to make 2–3 nm resolution routine while prototyping new hardware and workflows to reach 0.5 nm to 1.0 nm voxels.
Key Responsibilities & Research Activities:
- Methodology Development: Prototype new approaches to capture voxel data with concomitant information limits in the 0.5–1.0 nm range.
- Sample Fabrication: Develop prototypical test samples (including semiconductor samples, deliberate fiducials in silicon, and embedded nanoparticles) that reveal 3D information changing on the 1.0 nm scale or less.
- Modeling & Metrology: Model and measure depth information from energy-filtered electrons, utilizing energy-selective backscattered electrons (BSE) and secondary electrons (SE) to determine the exact location of the electron signal.
- Signal Deconvolution: Use simultaneously acquired BSE and SE signals to deconvolve depth information from electron information.
- Advanced Analysis: Analyze mixed/subtracted simultaneous images (building on existing signal interpretation software) to increase precision regarding the depth resolution of these signals.
- Machine Learning: Investigate the use of machine learning with electron signal imaging to aid in deconvolving depth information.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline
- Strong interest in electron microscopy, ion beam systems, and metrology
- Experience or interest in computational modeling, image processing, or machine learning (e.g., Python, MATLAB) is highly desirable
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work in a collaborative research environment
Application Process:
Applicants should submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae to Prof. Nabil Bassim (bassimn@mcmaster.ca).
Job Title: PhD Student
Location: McMaster University Main Campus (Canadian CentAtore for Electron Microscopy) with international travel/collaboration
Start Date: September 2026
Salary: $25,000-$35,000 total annual funding (including research stipend, TA income, and scholarships)
Position Overview:
Prof. Nabil Bassim in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University invites applications for a fully funded PhD position to join a collaborative research project with government and industry partners. The student will work with state-of-the-art atom probe tomography (APT) and correlative microscopy tools at CCEM, including correlative-transfer infrastructure, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and advanced focused ion beam (FIB) systems tailored for semiconductor device analysis.
Accurate dopant mapping and feature measurement in semiconductor materials is becoming increasingly critical as device architectures evolve, particularly for both logic and power electronics. As scaling continues and wide-bandgap materials enter commercial use, understanding dopant distributions, processing, and geometry, on device function is essential.
APT provides unparalleled, near-atomic-scale quantitative information on 3D features and dopant species and is uniquely positioned to help characterize and understand semiconductor devices. However, interpretation of APT data in semiconductor systems requires a deep understanding of the effects of:
- Sample preparation artifacts (especially in device cross-sections and nanoscale structures)
- Instrumental variability and detector response
- Experimental conditions including laser/voltage pulsing, evaporation fields, and cryogenic workflows
Project Goals:
This PhD project will systematically deconvolve these effects to develop high-confidence APT methodologies for semiconductor devices, including logic and power electronics, enabling:
- Development of APT as a reliable metrology tool for 3D semiconductors, enabling accurate measurement in complex geometries and inclusion as an offline tool in semiconductor device manufacturing and analysis
- Quantifying dopants across techniques and removing measurement artifacts in logic and power sample devices
- Evaluation of dopant behaviour in wide-bandgap power materials (e.g., SiC, GaN,)
- Support of correlative workflows combining APT, focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS).
Key Responsibilities & Research Activities:
- Prepare semiconductor device structures using advanced FIB workflows
- Perform and optimize APT experiments for dopant quantification in semiconductor devices
- Characterize the influence of preparation, instrument variability, and experimental conditions
- Develop standardized metrology protocols for device-relevant dopant analysis
- Integrate APT results with complementary TEM and 4D-STEM datasets
- Publish high-impact scientific papers and present at international conferences
- Collaborate with industrial, academic, and government partners in the semiconductor ecosystem
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Engineering, Nanotechnology, or a related field
- Strong interest in semiconductor materials, device physics, and high-resolution microscopy
- Experience in semiconductor device fabrication or characterization, sample preparation (APT, TEM, SEM, or FIB), or data analysis, statistics is highly desirable
- Excellent communication skills and ability to work in a collaborative research environment
Application Process:
Applicants should submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae to Brian Langelier (langelb@mcmaster.ca) and Nabil Bassim (bassimn@mcmaster.ca)
Job Title: PhD Student
Location: McMaster University Main Campus (Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy) with international travel/collaboration
Start Date: September 2026
Salary: $25,000-$35,000 total annual funding (including research stipend, TA income, and scholarships)
Position Overview:
Prof. Nabil Bassim in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at McMaster University invites applications for a fully funded PhD position to join a collaborative research project with government and industry partners.
This project offers a unique opportunity to create new methodologies, uncover fundamental structure–property relationships, and contribute to the future of both next-generation microelectronics and emerging quantum technologies. This student will work at the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy (CCEM), home to Canada’s most advanced electron microscopy infrastructure, including a ThermoFisher Spectra 300 TEM equipped with specialized precession electron diffraction (PED) hardware.
Project Goals:
The primary objective is to characterize the material crystallography and local strain within devices and interconnects to enable direct correlation between materials structure and chemistry and device characteristics.
The student will deploy modern 4D STEM methods for characterizing strain.
Key responsibilities & Research Activities:
- Method Development: Developing next-generation 4D-STEM workflows, including multi-slice electron ptychography, and integrating them with smart scanning strategies.
- Advanced Characterization: Use STEM – PED techniques for local strain in devices and crystallography of interconnects and compare with existing methods.
- Correlative Microscopy: Correlate TEM structural data with spectroscopic measurements (electron energy loss spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), quantitative chemical measurements (atom probe tomography) and electrical data.
- Data analysis: Develop advanced data-processing methods and interpret complex datasets influenced by multiple interacting physical phenomena.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Materials Science, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related discipline
- Strong analytical skills and creative problem solving, particularly in designing experiments, developing advanced data-processing methods, and interpreting complex datasets influenced by multiple interacting physical phenomena
- Background in crystallography and diffraction physics, hands-on experience with TEM/STEM, or experience with Python or MATLAB is highly desirable.
Application Process:
Applicants should submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae to Prof. Nabil Bassim (bassimn@mcmaster.ca).