Yee Takes Second Place with Scanning Tunneling Microscope Research

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Shannon Yee, a graduate student in nuclear engineering, won a second place award and $1,500 at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE) in Seattle, Washington. Yee is also a U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative National Fellow at Ohio State.  

As an undergraduate in mechanical engineering, Yee designed and built a more cost efficient Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) under his advisor, Professor Vish Subramaniam. His research and device won first  place at the 2007 Denman Undergraduate Research Forum and was well received at the local and regional ASME Student Professional Development Conference; taking first place at both. Along with Yee's regional win, he was awarded $500 and a trip to Seattle-where he would participate in the ASME IMECE.

The STM is a type of electron microscope that can produce near atomic resolution images of electrically conducting surfaces. In the STM, the surface topology is studied using a stylus that scans the surface while maintaining a constant quantum mechanical tunneling current by varying the stylus' distance from the surface. In his design, Yee had to consider vibration isolation, circuit design, feedback control, piezoelectric actuation, and various software components for the microscope itself.  

Yee's design of the STM was part of his undergraduate honors research project, supported in part by the College of Engineering and Lockheed Martin Corporation. The first STM was developed in 1981 and is available now for commercial use, although fairly expensive. Yee estimates his design would cost an individual approximately $500, excluding the cost of equipment such as a computer and monitor typically found in research laboratories.

Category: Undergraduate