Post-doc and grad student positions available- Colorado School of Mines- fracture & renewable energy focus

Hello fellow mechanicians,

I have immediate and upcoming openings for graduate students and post-docs who have interest and experience in solid mechanics. I am especially in need of someone with Abaqus/FEA experience.

The project deals with intentionally using spalling fracture to exfoliate high-efficiency solar cells from their expensive single crystal substrates. We've achieved some major milesones- scaling to 4" full wafer spalls, device removal with no loss in performance, reusing substrates for growth directly after fracture without surface repreparation. It is super exciting to rip apart a covalently bonded single crystal with your bare hands (once everything else is done right and is in place)-- it makes a somewhat terrifying tinny rip sound, but I digress... The next hurdles are understanding and mitigating the stress fields that cause morphological defects in the fracture surface and associated tool design to accomplish defect-free exfoliations. Do you want to join us?

If you're a recent or upcoming BS grad and don't have experience, but think this is cool and exciting, let's talk. We're willing to train.

Please share this opportunity with anyone who might be interested and contact me by email if you'd like more information. (cpackard@mines.edu). The senior position(s) can be filled either at the post-doctoral researcher or research faculty (soft money) level. The post-doctoral/research faculty posting lists a salary range- in addition to salary compensation, the position comes with a fully paid (no out of pocket premiums!) health insurance plan for individual or family(!!) insurance. Research faculty positions do not require a PhD if there is suitable industrial or work experience.

(see uploaded file for position announcement/details)

Here are some relevant papers (contact me by email if you do not have journal access)-

Controlled spalling-based mechanical substrate exfoliation for III-V solar cells: A review - ScienceDirect

Impacts of Mode Mixity on Controlled Spalling of (100)-Oriented Germanium | SpringerLink

High‐Efficiency Solar Cells Grown on Spalled Germanium for Substrate Reuse without Polishing - Mangum - 2022 - Advanced Energy Materials - Wiley Online Library