Yuan wins best presentation at Tokyo Tech International Forum

MSE graduate student Chenyun Yuan won the Best Presentation Award among overseas students at the Tokyo Tech Academy for Convergence of Materials and Informatics International Forum, Dec. 5-9, hosted by the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Yuan, who is advised by Professor Christopher Ober, presented research on polypeptoid-based photoresist materials. Different from conventional polymers, polypeptoids can be synthesized with sequence-defined molecular structures, according to Yuan, improving the resolution in lithographic processes previously limited by the stochastics of the photoresist molecules.

“As the size of features to be fabricated in the semiconductor industry keeps shrinking and enters the sub-10nm region, designing the new generation of photoresists is of particular interest and regarded as one of the potential solutions to push the lithographic limits further and enable the fabrication of smaller features,” said Yuan.

Yuan’s presentation included work from others in the Ober Group, including that of postdoctoral research associate Dr. Florian ‪Käfer. He added that the forum was an exciting opportunity to not only present, but to learn about other research by young scientists and engineers from all over the world.

“It was very exciting to share our work with the field and to see our research work being acknowledged by the community.”

Visit the Ober Group website for more information about research being conducted by Yuan and others.