Faculty Directory
Heiko O. Jacobs
Associate Professor
Education
- D.Sc., ME, 1999, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
- D.Sc., EE, 1999, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland
- M.S., EE, 1995, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
- B.S., EE, 1993, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
Contact Information
- 5-163 EECS
- Telephone: (612) 626-7193
- E-mail: hjacobs
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- Personal Web Site
Honors/Awards
- 1/2004 McKnight Land-Grant Professor, A professorship program awarded to the most promising tenure-track assistant professors to strengthen the University's faculty for the future.
- 4/2003 3M Junior Faculty Award, for work on self-assemble based manufacturing. The 3M grant supports junior faculty and is targeted to higher education in science, technology and business.
- 2/2003 National Science Foundation CAREER Award for work on the Directed Assembly of Nanoparticles to enable the Fabrication of Nanoparticle-Based Devices.
Synopsis
Micro- and Nanotechnology. In modern science and engineering, the borders between existing fields provide some of the best opportunities for research. In my research program I will focus on multidisciplinary, exploratory research in three areas: Non-Traditional Nanofabrication, Self-Assembly-Based Manufacturing, and Nanometer-Scale Charge-Based Printing (NanoXerography).
Non-Traditional Nanofabrication. In my earliest work in this area we concentrated on the development of scanning probe microscopy and scanning probe lithography to study and modify electrical properties on a nanometer scale. Today scanning probe allows fabricating prototypes of devices such as single electron transistors. As a new direction, I suggest a parallel strategy that is 5 orders of magnitude faster. Instead of using a single contact to expose the surface we use a flexible conductive stamp to form multiple contacts of different size and shape.
Self-Assembly-Based Manufacturing. Nature employs self-assembly to create life. Self-assembly to generate materials from atomic, molecular, or supermolecular structures is well-known in materials science, chemistry, and biochemistry. Compared to the extensive studies in these areas, little work has been reported on employing self-assembly on a larger length scale. Our goal is to develop, study, and exploit self-assembly processes as a new manufacturing element in engineering to assemble and package functional hybrid devices in two- and three-dimensions.
Nanometer-Scale Charge-Based Printing (NanoXerography). In xerographic printers, toner particles become trapped in charged areas. In NanoXerography we study the limits of xerographic printing, i.e. fabricate high-resolution charge patterns and investigate their use to organize nanoparticles on surfaces. In the first experiments we achieved a resolution of 2.5 micrometers (20 times the resolution of the best xerographic printer).
Selected Publications
- Jacobs, Heiko O., A. R. Tao, A. Schwartz, D. H. Garcias, and G. M. Whitesides. "Fabrication of a Cylindrical Display by Patterned Assembly". Science, 296 (2002): 323.
- Jacobs, Heiko O., and G. M. Whitesides. "Sub-Micron Patterning of Charge in Thin-Film Electrets". Science, 291 (2001): 1763.
- Jacobs, Heiko O., and A. Stemmer. "Measuring and Modifying the Electric Surface Potential Distribution on a Nanometer Scale: a Powerful Tool in Science and Technology". Surface and Interface Analysis, 27 (1999): 361.