J. C. Sit – Research – Overview

General research description

The Engineered Nanomaterials Laboratory provides opportunities for research work, in a mainly experimental-based environment, on thin film materials and devices at the interface between microfabrication and nanotechnology.  While the name of our laboratory emphasises our expertise on materials, our research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning materials engineering, physics, chemistry, and even some biology, all from the engineer’s perspective.  Our group has conducted research on:

• materials and structures — metals, semiconductors, insulators, polymers, liquid crystals, composites
• processes — thin film deposition, patterning, etching, cell fabrication
• devices — optical filters, chemical sensors, microfluidic systems

Research interests

Some examples of our areas of research interest include:

• optical filters and photonic band gap devices based on porous films, including hybrid optical materials (thin films embedded with polymers/liquid crystals)
• chemical functionalisation of porous, high surface area thin films to alter surface properties; bio-functionalisation to make bio-active materials for sensors
• micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) as a platform for sensing, particularly in combination with chemically derivitised thin film materials as above