Please join us for our first MAS webinar! Vin Smentkowski will cover various techniques for Surface Microscopy and Microanalysis in the Industrial Research and Development Laboratory at GE.

The live webinar will consist of a 50 minute presentation, followed by a Q&A. The webinar is free but requires a registration.

When: July 15, 2020 at 2 p.m. EDT.

Registration: https://umn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_KfNpMzgxTMqAzO5N7ZTATQ

Webinar description: The top few nanometers of a sample is defined as the surface. The surface is where most chemical reactions take place. There are many instances where the surface of materials are designed/functionalized in order to optimize properties and improve device performance; there are other instances where the surface becomes compromised and the material/device performance degrades.

Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) are the three most common, and commercially available, surface analysis techniques. These techniques provide complimentary information regarding the composition/microstructure of the surface of a sample. In this presentation, I will introduce AES, XPS, and ToF-SIMS, show typical data, and discuss how the data helped understand mechanisms and/or resolve material problems. I will also introduce techniques which we do not have in-house, but have access to via external collaborations.

Keywords:

Surface analysis, Auger electron spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy, atom probe tomography, AES, XPS, ToF-SIMS, APT

VINCENT S. SMENTKOWSKI is a Senior Scientist in the Structural Materials Organization at General Electric Research (GE-R) where he performs surface analysis to support research programs at GE-R, GE businesses, and strategic partners.  Vin obtained a B.S. degree in chemistry from Marshall University in 1987 and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1994) from the University of Pittsburgh, under the guidance of Prof. John T. Yates, Jr.

After completing his degree, Vin accepted a post-doctoral position at Argonne National Laboratory where he was part of a multi-laboratory team that designed, built, and tested a novel reflectron analyzer for real-time, in-situ, studies of surfaces during film growth at mTorr pressures using pulsed ion beam techniques – the work resulted in a 1997 R&D 100 Award.

Currently, Vin’s research is focused on the applications of ToF-SIMS analysis, emphasizing how multivariate statistical analysis tools facilitate data reduction. Vin also collaborates with external laboratories in order to evaluate advanced microstructural characterization techniques such as Atom Probe Tomography and Helium Ion Microscopy and show the benefits these techniques have for industrial materials.

Vin holds 7 U.S. patents, more 97 publications in refereed journals, more than 180 GE-R internal manuscripts, numerous contributed and invited talks.  Vin has co-authored 3 book chapters and edited one book “Surface Analysis and Techniques in Biology” (Springer, 2014). In 2011, Vin served as the first Guest Editor for a Special Issue of Microscopy Today focused on Surface Analysis.  He serves as a mentor to many researchers.

Vin’s first role within MAS was serving as the symposium chair of the first Surface Microscopy and Microanalysis in Materials and Biological Systems symposium at the 2006 Microscopy and Microanalysis meeting; this symposium now runs every other year. Vin was the MAS co-chair for the 2012 and 2013 Microscopy and Microanalysis meetings. Vin was a director of MAS (2016-2018), a 2017 MAS tour speaker, and is now the chair of the MAS Strategic Planning Committee.

Vin has also served many roles within the American Vacuum Society (AVS); he was the founding Chair of the AVS Hudson Mohawk Chapter,  Co-Chair of both the 33rd and 38th Symposium on Applied Surface Analysis, Chair of the Applied Surface Science Division (ASSD), Program Chair for the ASSD, the AVS-60 (2013) Symposium Vice-Program Chair, the AVS-61  Symposium Program Chair, Director (2013-2014), he is currently Co-Chair of the Chapters, Divisions, and Groups Committee. Vin was named a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society (AVS) in 2010; he was also a recipient of the AVS Excellence in Leadership Recognition Award in 2015.