Expertise built through experimental responsibility.
My metrology and software expertise grew through work I was responsible for delivering: optical experiments, magnetic thin-film epitaxy, industrial deposition-tool ownership, novel film development, and automated optical inspection. In each domain, measurement and software were essential to understanding the experiment, developing the process, and evaluating the result.
I offer consulting on analysis interfaces, physically informed algorithms, and automated workflows that make specialized measurements easier to use.
Selected experience
HRL Laboratories / 2022–present
Metrology Group Lead / Senior Optical Metrology Engineer
Technical leadership across optical metrology and inspection platforms for semiconductor R&D and pilot-line fabrication. Develop optical models, design-aware defect analytics, image-registration tools, and reusable Python/SQL analysis libraries and applications. Connect recipe qualification and statistical monitoring to manufacturing feedback. Automation reduced manual analysis effort by more than 80%.
Transphorm / 2021–2022
Senior Product Engineer
Owned a production optical inspection system and supported wafer characterization and process development for GaN epiwafers. Built automated defect-classification and wafer-grading workflows validated against reviewed defects and wafer dispositions: greater than 95% grading accuracy and more than 1,000 labor hours saved annually.
Intel / 2018–2021
Research Engineer, Components Research
Owned industrial chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) platforms, including tool bring-up, qualification, and process stabilization. Developed novel back-end-of-line (BEOL) films and ellipsometry methods in pilot-line R&D; co-inventor on four patents and patent applications.
UC Santa Barbara / 2013–2018
Graduate Researcher, Materials
Grew and characterized epitaxial magnetic thin films and electronic materials, connecting film growth to magnetic and electrical measurements. Designed and built a custom UHV-compatible MOKE magnetometer with instrument-control and analysis software.
University of Oregon / 2010–2013
Undergraduate Researcher, Atom Optics
Assembled and calibrated laser systems, restored a custom wavemeter, and worked on electronics and instrument-control software.
Tools & methods
Python, NumPy, SciPy, Pandas, OpenCV, SQL, MATLAB, LabVIEW, JMP, and PyQt. Optical modeling, image and signal analysis, experimental design, spatial matching, computational geometry, calibration, and process control. SQLAlchemy data libraries and packaged desktop applications. Git and Docker for software development and deployment.
Education & research
Ph.D., Materials — University of California, Santa
Barbara, 2018.
B.S., Physics, summa cum laude
— University of Oregon, 2013.
Author or co-author of eight peer-reviewed publications in materials science and physics, and co-inventor on four Intel patents and patent applications. Recognition includes HRL company and department awards and three Intel Division Recognition Awards.
Download dissertation (PDF, 38 MB)
Peer-reviewed articles
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R. Bhandia, B. Cheng, T. L. Brown-Heft, S. Chatterjee, C. J. Palmstrøm, N. P. Armitage. THz range Faraday rotation in the Weyl Semimetal Candidate Co2TiGe. J. Appl. Phys. 128, 244303 (2020).
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S. Chatterjee, S. Khalid, H. Inbar, A. Goswami, F. C. De Lima, A. Sharan, F. Sabino, T. L. Brown-Heft, Y-H. Chang. “Weak antilocalization in quasi-two-dimensional electronic states of epitaxial LuSb thin films.” Phys. Rev. B 99, 125134 (2019).
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T. L. Brown-Heft, A. P. McFadden, J. A. Logan, C. Guillemard, P. Le Fèvre, F. Bertran, S. Andrieu, C. J. Palmstrøm. “Epitaxial Heusler Superlattice Co2MnAl/Fe2MnAl with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy and Termination-Dependent Half-Metallicity,” Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 034402 (2018).
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S. D. Harrington, A. D. Rice, T. L. Brown-Heft, B. Bonef, A. Sharan, A. P. McFadden, J. A. Logan, M. Pendharkar, M. M. Feldman, O. Mercan, A. G. Petukhov, A. Janotti, L. Colakerol Arslan, and C. J. Palmstrøm. “Growth, electrical, structural, and magnetic properties of half-Heusler Co2Ti1-xFexSb.” Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 014406 (2018).
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A. P. McFadden, T. L. Brown-Heft, D. Pennachio, N. S. Wilson, J. A. Logan, C. J. Palmstrøm. “Oxygen migration in epitaxial CoFe/MgO/Co2MnSi magnetic tunnel junctions,” J. Appl. Phys. 122, (2017).
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A. P. McFadden, N. S. Wilson, T. L. Brown-Heft, D. Pennachio, M. Pendharkar, J. A. Logan, C. J. Palmstrøm, “Interface Formation of Epitaxial MgO/Co2MnSi(001) Structures: Elemental Segregation and Oxygen Migration.” J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 444, 383–389 (2017).
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J. A. Logan, T. L. Brown-Heft, S. D. Harrington, N. S. Wilson, A. P. McFadden, A. D. Rice, M. Pendharkar, and C. J. Palmstrøm, “Growth, structural, and magnetic properties of single-crystal full-Heusler Co2TiGe thin films,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 121, no. 21, p. 213903, (2017).
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E. C. Cook, P. J. Martin, T. L. Brown-Heft, J. C. Garman, and D. A. Steck, “High passive-stability diode-laser design for use in atomic-physics experiments,” Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 83, no. 4, (2012).
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Patents & applications
Co-inventor on the following patent publications from my work in Components Research at Intel. Each entry identifies the linked publication and its publication date.
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Ribbon or wire transistor stack with selective dipole threshold voltage shifter
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US12183739B2 · U.S. patent grant · December 31, 2024 -
Ferroelectric capacitors and methods of fabrication
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US20240373644A1 · U.S. application publication · November 7, 2024 -
Gate dielectrics for complementary metal oxide semiconductors transistors and methods of fabrication
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EP4020539A1 · European application publication · June 29, 2022 -
Fabrication of thin film fin transistor structure
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EP4016642A1 · European application publication · June 22, 2022