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%.

Selected HRL algorithm and software work ↗

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; contributed to four U.S. patents.

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.

Open the undergrad lab archive ↗

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 U.S. patents. Recognition includes HRL company and department awards and three Intel Division Recognition Awards.

Doctoral dissertation: Engineering Magnetic and Topological Properties in Epitaxial Heusler Compounds ↗

Download dissertation (PDF, 38 MB)

Peer-reviewed articles

  1. 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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  2. 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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  3. 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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  4. 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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  5. 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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  6. 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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  7. 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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  8. 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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