Ama Agyapong

Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)

The Pennsylvania State University

​June 2016 - present

"The Role of Interfacial Reactions on the Contact Resistance of Germanium Telluride"

 

This research aims to identify interfacial reaction products between GeTe and contact metals using X-ray diffraction (XRD). XRD data is compared with electrical measurements of the contact performance to show correlation between reactions at the critical contact phase and contact resistance.

  

Undergraduate Research

​Elizabeth City State University

2013 - present

​"Optical Properties of Vanadium Dioxide Doped with Tantalum"

 

Working on driving down the transitional temperature of vanadium dioxide by doping it with impurities to achieve real world application of its thermochromic properties.

 

Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU)

​Vanderbilt University

May 2015 – August 2015

"Preliminary Application of Optical Trapping: Calculating Forces of Beads in Solution"

 

​Assisted with the preliminary experimental set-up of optical trapping (tweezers) with the purpose of characterizing the mechanical tendencies of cell-cell interactions to better understand growth defects in Drosophila embryos exposed to controlled heat (heat shock) experiments.

 

 

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

May 2014 – July 2014

"Non-destructive Measurement of Through Silicon Via (TSV) Axes Angles using NIST-developed Through-focus Scanning Optical Microscopy (TSOM)"

 

Method​Characterized through silicon vias (TSVs) etched into wafers by measuring the angles of the vias with respect to the normal of the surface using a NIST-developed nondestructive method, Through-focus Scanning Optical Microscopy (TSOM) Method, in detecting vias with improper alignments which can lead to the improper functioning of devices.