Research Scientist, Responsive Soft Materials & 3D Microfabrication

AITEXEL PHOTONICS PTE. LTD.; Singapore; Presencial; SGD 110.000 - 150.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

AITEXEL PHOTONICS PTE. LTD. seeks an early-career PhD scientist to lead hands-on development of stimuli-responsive soft materials, primarily liquid crystal elastomers, and fabricate them into 3D micro-structures by two-photon lithography.

You will own the work from chemistry through printed structure to measured performance. You will collaborate with engineers across mechanical, process and device disciplines to turn lab results into robust, repeatable processes.

Formación

• Design and formulate LCEs and related polymer networks for photo-patterning.
• Develop two-photon lithography processes for LCE and soft resins, including formulation and writing parameters.
• Control and verify molecular alignment in printed micro-structures using anchoring, applied fields or mechanical methods.
• Characterise thermal, mechanical and actuation behaviour and relate it to chemistry and process.

Responsabilidades

• Design, synthesise and formulate LCEs and related responsive polymer networks, using reactive-mesogen and photo-curable chemistries suited to photo-patterning.
• Develop two-photon lithography (direct laser writing) processes for LCE and other soft resins: photoinitiator and resin formulation, writing parameters, development, and feature fidelity at micron and sub-micron scale.
• Control and verify molecular alignment in printed micro-structures, using surface anchoring, applied fields or mechanical methods.
• Characterise thermal, mechanical and actuation behaviour (e.g. DSC, DMA, polarised optical microscopy, SEM, micro-scale force measurement) and relate it to chemistry and process.
• Run designed experiments, map process windows, and document results so others can reproduce them; hand off mature processes to engineering colleagues.
• Help specify, set up and qualify equipment, materials and safe-handling practices for the soft-materials work.
• Keep rigorous lab records and contribute to invention disclosures.

Conocimientos

LCE synthesis

Reactive-mesogen chemistry

Photo-curable chemistries

Two-photon lithography

Direct laser writing

Resin formulation

Molecular alignment control

Herramientas

Two-photon lithography equipment

Photoinitiator formulation

Resin formulation

SEM / polarized light microscopy

Descripción del empleo

You will lead hands-on development of stimuli-responsive soft materials, principally liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), and their fabrication into 3D micro-structures by two-photon lithography. You will own the work from chemistry, through printed structure, to measured performance. You will work closely with engineers across mechanical, process and device disciplines to turn lab results into robust, repeatable processes. This is a bench-heavy role for an early-career PhD scientist who wants their research to end up in real hardware.

What you'll do

• Design, synthesise and formulate LCEs and related responsive polymer networks, using reactive-mesogen and photo-curable chemistries suited to photo-patterning.
• Develop two-photon lithography (direct laser writing) processes for LCE and other soft resins: photoinitiator and resin formulation, writing parameters, development, and feature fidelity at micron and sub-micron scale.
• Control and verify molecular alignment in printed micro-structures, using surface anchoring, applied fields or mechanical methods.
• Characterise thermal, mechanical and actuation behaviour (e.g. DSC, DMA, polarised optical microscopy, SEM, micro-scale force measurement) and relate it to chemistry and process.
• Run designed experiments, map process windows, and document results so others can reproduce them; hand off mature processes to engineering colleagues.
• Help specify, set up and qualify equipment, materials and safe-handling practices for the soft-materials work.
• Keep rigorous lab records and contribute to invention disclosures.