PhD Student Mani Kuntal Sen Receives Award

Mani Kuntal Sen, a Materials Science and Chemical Engineering PhD student from Dr. Tad Koga’s group won the second place poster award at the “14th International Conference on Surface X-ray and Neutron Scattering (SXNS-14),” held from July 10-14 at Stony Brook University. The conference was co-sponsored by SBU and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).

Mani Kuntal Sen receives his award.

Sen received the award for his poster on “Block copolymer adsorbed layers on solids.” This award was presented by Dr. Ben Ocko (BNL), the chair of the organizing committee for SXNS-14.

Over the last few decades, block copolymer (BCP) thin films have offered a simple and effective route to fabricate highly ordered periodic nanoscale structures with length scales ranging from 10 to 100 nanometers. This material can be used for nanolithography, nanoparticle templates, nanostructured membranes, photovoltaic cells, and high density data storage media. For most of these applications, the long-range lateral order and orientation of these structures are of great importance.

Mani’s research presented at SXNS-14 answered a fundamental, yet unsolved question in this field of research: Does the orientation of these periodic structures persist even near the substrate interface? This research is crucial to improve directed self assembly in BCP thin films. It would also reduce defects in BCP thin films, thereby improving nanofabrication for microelectronics, nanolithography and semiconductor industry.

SXNS-14 is a premier conference to showcase novel X-ray coherent scattering techniques, cutting edge X-ray and neutron scattering instruments and sources for surface X-ray and neutron scattering. Researchers and scientists from around the world discussed interdisciplinary topics involving X-ray and neutron scattering including in-situ and operando surface studies, atomic and molecular systems, nanostructured surfaces and interfaces, biological and biomaterials interfaces and interfacial magnetism.