Joe Kulik
As manager of the MRI transmission electron microscope facility, Joe Kulik, Ph.D., is in charge of four major pieces of equipment that are important to the success of many research projects at Penn State. Three of the instruments are transmission electron microscopes - tools that pass electrons through very thin samples of materials to gather images and chemical data from nanometer-scale regions of the sample. The instruments can collect electron diffraction data, characterize interfaces, such as between a thin film and substrate or the layers of a composite nanowire, detect defects in a material, and reveal the chemistry and morphology of samples. The fourth instrument in his facility is the focused ion beam (FIB), an instrument that is widely used in the semiconductor industry. The FIB uses a tight ion beam to scan the surface of a sample and can etch patterns or build up microstructures on samples such as silicon wafers. These instruments contribute to Penn State's NSF National Fabrication Infrastructure Network.
"I work primarily with graduate students and post docs," Kulik says in his office next to the TEM labs in the Materials Research Institute Building. "But any researcher who wants to use this equipment, whether they have little experience or no experience, I get them started, show them how to use the instrument, and as time permits teach them a little bit about how it works. In some cases I go to great lengths to help them gather their data. We charge an hourly fee, plus we may charge extra for staff time for additional assistance."
Joe Kulik manages the TEM facility in the Materials Research Institute Building.
Kulik has managed the TEM facility since he arrived at Penn State in August 2004. A native of Boston, he earned his undergraduate degree at MIT, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he also did postdoctoral work. Kulik continued his postdoctoral work at the University of Houston, where he also worked as research associate and manager of a TEM lab. Moving to industry, he spent four years with the semiconductor division of Motorola and its spin-off Freescale before accepting his current position at Penn State.
"Joe is a tremendous asset to the materials research and education community at Penn State," says Beth Dickey, an associate director of MRI with responsibilities for Materials Characterization Lab. "His hands-on training and teaching provides researchers the ability to solve complex materials science problems that require structural and chemical information with nanometer-scale spatial resolution. Over thirty different research groups from across campus utilize his facility on a regular basis."
TEMs are extremely powerful and pricey instruments that offer students and post docs important research capabilities. "The newest TEMs, without too many add-ons, can go for $1.5 to $2 million," Kulik remarks. He invites researchers to come and check out their lab and see what it has to offer. "It's a good idea to do a little background reading first, if possible," he suggests.
The transmission electron microscope facility is part of the Materials Characterization Lab (MCL), a fully staffed analytical laboratory, which serves the materials community at Penn State. To learn more about MCL's capabilities, or to contact Joe Kulik, visit the MCL website at www.mri.psu.edu/mcl . MCL is part of the Materials Research.
