Colin Myers, 2023 NIST Research Intern

Biography

SPS Chapter: Millersville University

My name is Colin Myers and I am a Junior at Millersville University (PA) pursuing a B.S. in Physics and a B.S. in Mathematics. I plan on applying to a PhD program in condensed matter physics. I have had a strong interest in physics since high school which has only grown since my enrollment in college. I quickly discovered how challenging this field is, but also how incredibly rewarding it can be. My research interests include solid state physics, electronics, thermal physics, and quantum theory.

The SPS has had a major impact on my college career. SPS has been crucial towards connecting my peers and I with other physics students as well as outreach opportunities. The collaboration the organization inspires is an incredible asset to the physics community. Additional thanks to the physics and math faculty of Millersville for preparing me for this experience.

Outside of physics, I am an avid musician. I am passionate about music, movies, and many other forms of art! And more than anything, I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to intern at the National Institute of Standards and Technology!

Internship

Host: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

Project

Abstract

Diamond has several electrical properties of interest to scientists. Classified as a wide band-gap semiconductor, its high breakdown voltage, thermal conductivity, and resistance to radiation damage makes diamond ideal for electronic devices subjected to harsh conditions and large power intakes. Over the past 20 years, scientists have experimented on reducing diamond’s natural resistivity to levels more consistent with contemporary semiconductor materials. Varied methods of surface termination and substitutional doping have been explored to accomplish this. I examined a method of thermal hydrogenation using forming gas, followed by atmospheric exposure. Results of this relatively simple and inexpensive method have been promising and hold industrial potential.

Final Presentation

Internship Blog

Week 1: Opportunity

Hello! My name is Colin Myers, and I am a research intern at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The first week of this internship has been one of the most exciting times of my life. Meeting the other interns has been fantastic! Everyone is incredibly friendly and excited to see what the summer holds. Tuesday was orientation for all of us at the American Center for Physics (ACP). While there, we all met several of the amazing people responsible for holding together AIP and the many sub-organizations involved in the national physics community. Brad discussed some expectations for the summer as well as possible opportunities for the future after the internship. His excitement for our futures was infectious, and I say that because we’ve all been talking about our work every day.

I arrived at NIST on Wednesday, and it was very little like what I expected. I met my mentor, Dr. Kolmakov at the start of the day, and he began by showing me around the campus and making sure I had made all the necessary arrangements to work efficiently at NIST. Wednesday and Thursday we’re primarily consumed with formalities and safety training for the workplace. NIST takes extensive care to ensure experiments are conducted with upmost safety. Luckily, I was able to start working in the laboratory for part of Thursday and most of Friday!

Although I knew my work would be experimental, I figured I would be doing some sort of data analysis or computer work early on, but I was completely wrong. I got to do a lot of experimental design and setup, more specifically, I was shown how basic vacuum technology and gas lines function. With the help of my mentor, we set up a pumping system capable of achieving micro-Torr levels of pressure! The goal of my summer is to hydrogen terminate the surface of diamond to alter its intrinsic properties. As a physics student with a strong interest in the solid-state field, this project is more than I could have hoped for. I look forward to everything this summer holds for me and my fellow interns!

Week 2: Challenge

Week 2 as a NIST intern has been some of the most personally challenging physics I’ve dealt with! I thought that the last 3 years of rigorous classes could have prepared me for anything, but I was severly mistaken. I think I expected NIST to be a lot more standing in front of whiteboards and solving physics problems, but I actually spent the last week doing heavy experiment setup. And I must say that this is a nice change of pace. I’ve had so much interest in thermodynamics and energy processes, and I finally get to see them applied. Massive thanks to my mentor, Dr. Kolmakov, for his patience with me. “A day in the lab is worth more than a week of lecture.”

My mentor and I finished the bulk of our vacuum system early on monday. When we tested our pumping system and quickly released we were not reaching the low levels of pressure we expected. Met with a problem, my mentor and I had to troubleshoot our system. First, we used a helium leak detector to check all the junctions and pipes in vacuum. I could go on about how cool this piece of machinery is (like many of the machines at NIST) but I’ll spare you that. Making no conclusions with the leak detector, we narrowed our issue down to one or both of vacuum pumps we were using. After testing them individually, we realized we had to scrap one of them and just use the one. The reason I’m telling you all this is to show that things can go wrong during an experiment. There were times where even my mentor was momentarily at a loss for what to do and asked my opinion. I had assumed that my project would be along the lines of step 1, then step 2, then step 3, and then done. Like building a LEGO set. But my week shaped up more like step 1, then step 2, then step 1.5, then step 4, if that makes sense.

This week was full of firsts for me. I soldered (annoyingly) small wires for the first time. I also realized my hands are far too shakey for me to consider surgeon as a career. I did sketchy electrical work for the first time. I don’t mean sketchy as in unsafe, but I had to hookup scrapped PC fans to a (not exactly comapatible) battery. Speaking of shakey hands, I learned just how hard glass cutting is. This was to create a sort of “basket” to hold our very small sample. The most exciting news of the week is that our initial experiment was successful! I’m already excited as to what this means for the coming weeks and the next stages of my project.

Outside of NIST, spending time with the other interns has been a blast! We’re all starting to get to know each other pretty well and learning each others personalities. We got together at least 2-3 of the five week nights for some kind activity. And over the weekend almost all of us went to a pride celebration here in DC. It’s been really great getting to know everyone, and I’m looking forward to everything else we’ll do now that we all know each other better.

Week 3: Acclimation

Week 3 of this internship has a very strange feeling to it. The first week was very chaotic since nobody really knew each other, and the second week is basically just introductions to what we’ll be doing for the rest of the summer. In this way, the past week was the first where all of us really knew what we were doing with clear goals. This is incredibly exciting, but also nerve wracking as we all need start taking our work very seriously. Fortunately, it seems each one of us is finding success in some way.

My week began quite smoothly. My mentor was out of town so I could work from home for two days! I started writing a paper on the work my mentor and I have done together. Now I have written lab reports before, but my mentor wants me to try and write a much more scholarly paper on our subject material. I was certainly not prepared for him to give me several dozen papers to review and reference. I’m hoping that by the end of the summer I will have a really impressive work of physics literature to possibly publish! I will keep you all updated on the progress of that paper as the summer goes on.

As for the rest of the week, my mentor decided to move our project into a new stage. He wants the post-doc he’s working with and myself to combine our projects! This has been a really nice change to the previous two weeks, because I got to work with someone completely new. The post-doc I’m working with, Trey, has been really kind and helpful during this process, and I’ve been able to shadow him during some of his more materials intensive work. He showed me how to spin-coat materials! One of the more important practices in lithography and materials science is using a special polymer called “resist” to help with micro-material etching, shaping, separating, eroding, and many other applications. One of the ways this polymer is applied is with spin-coating, which takes advantage of centrifugal forces. Also, it may not sound like much but I was really happy with the work I did this week. One of the turbo vacuum pumps in our setup was faulty, so my mentor tasked me with dismantling it, and setting up a new one. This was definetly a lot more engineering than physics, but experimental design is a skill I wanted to improve this summer, and this work has gone a long way towards that.

This week was also packed socially. On thursday, we all got to meet members of the SPS national committee, as well as a few past interns. This was a great networking opportunity, as well as being a really fun event with awesome people and terrific food. Then on saturday, we all went to see the NOI Orchestra perform at UMD. I am obssessed with music of all kinds and music critique especially so this was a fantastic experience. We got to hear Joan Tower, one of the most incredible composers of our lifetime, speak about music and what it is to her. We got to hear one of her pieces played during the concert: 1920/2019. In addition, incredible modern interpretations of George Gershwin’s music was played. That concert has easily been the highlight of my three weeks here in DC. I cannot wait for what else is in store.

P.S. - I got to see hydrogen plasma up close for the first time. It was a floating ball of purple light, and like nothing I’ve ever seen before!

Week 4: Admiration

This week was not quite as high octance as the past weeks, although still exciting. We all had off on monday for Juneteenth which was refreshing. That night we even had an Italian themed potluck! Everything was absolutely deliclious, and I really hope we do another soon. My work in the lab this week was not too intensive this week either. We suffered a slight setback in our latest experiment, so we had to restart it on Tuesday. Even after finishing our second experiment later in the week, our results were not what we had been hoping for this time. On a more exciting front, I got to use a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the first time! It seriously still blows my mind that we can zoom down to the level of a few nanometers, which is on the scale of the separation of atoms in some materials! Actually using the SEM was a little more tricky. At such a small scale, you really have to take your time zooming in and out to contiously check where you are on the sample or to see what you’re even looking at. After a few hours of analysis we noticed a few irregularities on our sample’s surface which may be the cause of our strange results.

We wrapped up the week with the start of a new experiment which we’ll see the results of next week. In case you’ve forgotten, the experiments I am doing with my mentor usually take between 40-70 hours to fully hydrogenate. Also, I finished up the first draft of my paper on the subject! I’ll let you know what the feedback is next blog!

The high points of the week were the luncheon with John Mather and Astronomy (kind of) on the Mall. On thursday, we all got to sit down for lunch at ACP with Nobel Prize winner John Mather. Cosmology and Astronomy are not exactly my forte, but listening to him talk about science was a spectacle. It was really inspiring how much he was also interested in learning about us and hearing about our experiences. It’s strange to wonder things like “Am I capable of standing where he stands? Am I able to do the things he can?” when you meet someone that well-known and respected. They’re difficult questions to come to terms with, but also motivating in a way. It’s hard to picture myself as a scientist sometimes. Plenty of kids say they want to be a “scientist” when they grow up, but what does that really entail? I often feel like I’m not smart enough for that role or that I’ll never have the opportunity. There’s always someone smarter or more qualified than you. Someone who seems to out perform your greatest accomplishments. Achieving anything in the face of that seems insurmountable. Although, if you had asked me five years ago if I thought I would be where I am now, or if I would have been strong enough to take on such endeavors, I would have told you its just a fantasy. Maybe dreams do come true.

Astronomy on the Mall was also really fun (and exhausting). Huge thanks to the SOCK intern Emily who spearheaded a lot of what we did that night. The night was a great reminder of how foreign and interesting physics is to some people. It’s easy to take something for granted or for it to lose its luster when you study it for 3 years. I hope I never fully lose sight of why I want to be in the position I am.

Week 5: Half-life

Little bit of physics in my title for all you nerds out there. Anywho, here we are halfway through the internship, and it certainly is going by quick. Although that isn’t an awful thing. The past five weeks have been some of the busiest of my entire life, and I’m sure the next five weeks will be equally if not more hectic. Tomorrow is the Nationals’ baseball game, and then Thursday is an ACP workshop event, so this week is already packed not including the fireworks that’ll be happening July 4th!

I spent the first few weeks really trying to grasp the theory of my work at NIST, and now for these intermediate weeks I’ll be mainly focusing on collecting as much data as possible. This week alone, my mentor and I wrapped up two experiments. The first experiment showed partial success with a conducting diamond sample but not to the magnitude we had hoped. In response, my mentor and I setup a much larger experiment, running several samples at once. Once that finished up on thursday, we tested all four samples with our two probe and new four probe setup. In summary, all of our samples were conductive with mixed success! We spent the day running electrical characterization on all of them. After we had documented results we started debating what our next steps should be. We could change our experiment and try to enhance results, or perform lithography on the conductive samples, or investigate the polishing factor of each sample. I’ll be sure to let you know the direction we decided to pursue next week.

I also became aquainted with two new machines this week! The first was a ion beam “gun” of sorts. This machine lets us almost “shave” the surface of small materials with micrometer position to smoothen them. The other machine I got some experience with was an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy or XPS machine. I really found this one interesting because it can basically tell you the exact elemental makeup of any material! It might just be me but I think that’s so cool.

Also, huge thanks to the capitol hill intern Ruthie for setting up a tour of their workplace and the capitol in general. I had never been to the capitol before so this was a really cool experience. I don’t know why, but I was surprised at how interesting the architecture was. I guess I assumed the capitol would look like one expensive office building, but it was filled with all sorts of statues and artwork. We even got to see some of the tunnels that run underneath the capitol. It was a little spooky!

Week 6: Spectacle

Salutations! This week was jam-packed with events, although I didn’t get to spend too much time at NIST.

As far as the work I did this week, I did recieve some feedback on the paper/report I have been writing on my research project. My mentor’s feedback was really helpful! This was the first really scientific piece of literature I have ever tried writing, and there were many standards and unspoken rules to this process I was not aware of. My mentor really emphasized how I needed to keep as much of my writing to the point and informative. This style of very direct non-flashy writing is something I’m not quite used to, but I plan on revising and adding to my report in the coming weeks. As far as the next steps in my project, my mentor wants to move onto producing more concrete results, and expose me to some new science. Now that we have some conductive samples, he wants to look at lithography and actual device fabrication with me! To do this, we need to deposit a layer of gold onto the surface of one of our diamond samples. This acts as a sort of protective coating which can be dissolved after later steps. He explained to me that we’ll sort of “carve” a electrical channel into our sample using a variety of techniques. I spent the remainder of the week helping my mentor design and test a method of gold deposition. By friday, our efforts had been somewhat unsuccesful, but we’ll continue working on it in the coming week.

The real highlights of my week were the National’s baseball game, July 4th, and Science Trust workshop this past thursday.

I had never been to an MLB game before, so this was very new to me! I definitely think watching baseball in person is a lot more fun than on TV. I think all of us had a great time, and it was especially fun spending time with Brad and several other core SPS members. Ballpark food was surprisingly good too. July 4th was incredible though. It was terribly hot out, but the firework show at the Washington monument was breathtaking, and easily the longest and biggest show I’ve ever seen. I suppose that should be expected from a July 4th firework show in the nation’s capital. Shoutout and huge thanks to the APS Public Engagement Intern, Jenna, who put a lot of work into a fantastic workshop on thursday as well! It was a really fun and engaging event!

Looking forward to what the next week will hold for all of us.

Week 7: Development

It’s still surprising how quickly the summer is moving by. I’m conflicted on how I feel about it. This has easily been the most eventful summer of my life, however I can’t help but think of how much I’m starting to miss home and Millersville University. I’ve got senior year coming up, and I’m really excited to apply a lot of the things I’ve learned to the upcoming year. Not only that, I need to start preparing my path to graduate school. I need to reach out to schools and see what programs would be strong fits. I’m not excited about the prospect of doing more applications, but it’s necessary.

My work is beginning to wind down, since my mentor and I met the primary goals we set out to acheive. We developed a method to turn make diamond electrically conductive, tested several different samples, and analyzed them. The past week was largely us trying to extend to project. We wanted to move onto lithography, and needed to deposit gold onto our samples to do this. I believe i mentioned last week that our first filament design burned out, so we spent the early part of this week designing a new one. I got to do a bit of metalworking and create a custom piece of equipment that would handle a higher power input. By thursday, my mentor and I were able to test it and observed a perfect layer of gold coating our sample. With this done, the next step in lithography would be to coat the surface with a special polymer that helps with carving. An electron gun can be used to then carve an electrical channel on the diamond surface, which is perfect to act as sort of gate for an electronic device. However, my mentor is taking a vacation next week, and I cannot continue the work on my own, so I am a little limited in what I am able to do. For now, I’ll need to update my paper/report on everything we have done in the past two weeks, and add a bit more discussion.

Before my mentor left for vacation, him and I sat and talked for about an hour. He gave me a lot of advice for the future concerning careers and school. I always enjoy listening to those more experienced share said experience and how I can take advantage of the opportunities all around me. He really stressed how many opportunities there are in physics, and how many options there are. He also really stressed the importance of diversifying yourself, and I can understand why. I used to think it was best to become an expert in one specific thing, but now I’m starting to realize it’s better to have a variety of skills. The more skills you have, the more options, and employement opportunities there are.

Spent a good bit of time with the other interns this week! Went shopping, had a game night, and had a few parties including another potluck! Now that a few weeks have passed I’ve started to connect with more of them and open up too! I’m really thankful for the awesome group of people we have with us here in DC :)

Week 8: Calm

This summer has truly been moving by at a break-neck pace, and I am starting to feel the exhaustion. Lucikly, I’ve been able to take a little break from all the action this internship brings. My mentor is currently away, so I was able to work from home this week. Not having to make the commute to and from NIST everyday has been fantastic. That commute is really draining, not to mention expensive. Having a lot more control of my workdays and movement this week was really refreshing. It was nice to be able to sit at my computer and get things done whenever and wherever I wanted. No doubt my fellow interns who work from home are a little tired of that, but the freedom is certainly nice. Unfortunately, with a lot of my work being dependent on me being in the lab, I didn’t have too much to do related to NIST. I’ve been re-reading my paper and making slight additions here and there. I have also been adding more to my presentation and started to work on a script. It’s been years since I took my speech class, so I am a little nervous about this presenation, but I generally enjoy public speaking. I also finished up my title and abstract!

As far as what I did unrelated to my internship, I took some time this week to look into graduate schools. Senior year is coming up quick for me, and I need to start preparing my applications before too long. I looked over some of my old application statements and found so much I could improve on already. I am still not really sure what my top schools are or precisely what field I’d like to pursue, but I’m enjoying the process of narrowing everything down. I believe there’s a resume workshop coming up this week which sounds exciting! Writing a good resume is seriously one of the most important things anyone can learn. The NIST tour is also coming up soon, and I am extremely excited to show my fellow interns where myself and the other “NISTerns” have been working. I am really happy to see how succesful everyone has been so far this summer, and I am excited to see everyone’s presentations in two weeks!

Week 9: Anticipation

Just one week remains. The second half of this summer certainly flew by much faster than the first half. There’s of course a lot of mixed emotions that come with this. I think just about everyone is ready to go home for some reason or another. I certainly am. I miss my family and my dog immensly. I also miss some of the low prices on things back home! I still have a fair bit of work to do on my presenation as well. I’m usually not bothered by public speaking, but I think this might be the first time it really matters. I’ve stood up in front of people and talked about physics in front of fellow students and a few professors before, but this will be in front of all sorts of individuals far more knowlegeable than myself. Plannig on spending the coming week reviewing as much literature in my subject area as I can. Realistically, 8 minutes of talking and 2 minutes of questions is hardly anything, but it does seem an apt amount for new scientists such as ourselves. I’m also really excited to hear everyone else presentations! I’ve tried to talk to a lot of other interns about their work, but it’s difficult to keep track of what each person is working on at what time.

On friday we all got to take a tour of several facilities at NIST! It was really fun and I defintely felt a sense of pride being able to show the other interns my place of work. Our first stop was a sort of additive manufactoring lab. Their fabrication machines were really incredible and we got to see some of the things they produce. They had all sorts of intricate 3D sculptures displayed, including a few chess pieces! Next up was a forensics lab, and that might have been the highlight of the day. The scientist working there was really excited to share some demos with us. He showed us some setups that could let you visualize the heat that radiates off of our bodies. He also showed us a really cool system that security often uses to detect substances off of almost anything. Next up was the one million pound force press. It is the only one in the world of its kind and it was massive! I was really surprised by the amount of industries that work with these NIST labs. A lot of companies will go to NIST to use their facilities. Even the lithography lab, which was at the end of the tour, lets other scientists come in and use their equipment for a price. Although I wish the tour guides at the lithography lab were a bit more enthusiatic because that’s my area of interest. The NIST library was also very cool and housed a lot of old scientific equipment, as well as the world’s smallest soccer stadium! This weekend is a busy one for me, and I still need to get some work done on my presentation, so I’m going to cut it here. I’ll let you all know how the presenations went in my final blog next week!

Week 10: Finale

And here we are. Writing a blog from my home in Pennslyvania feels incredibly strange, and it does not help that this is the final blog. I will undoubtely panic this time next week thinking I have another blog to write. I feel like there’s so much I want to say here, but at the same time it feels like there is little else to say. The internship and a large majority of the summer is over. All of the presentations were fantastic. I think the rehersal was really beneficial for everyone. While everyone seemed prepared, there was something for all of us to improve on, and our final presentations were very strong for it. Friday was a very long day. The presentations started early in the morning with everyone nervous as expected. However, one by one, each of us got to talk about what we did this summer, and as the presentations went on, we all became a bit more relaxed. The support from SPS and all the attendees was superb. I was not expecting Brad, Kayla, and Mikayla to gift us all books either which was so sweet of them. They even signed them, which inspired us all to sign each other’s books! I got a little emotional reading everyone’s messages. And speaking of emotional, Brad told us all that we would be his last group of SPS interns. He has been such a massive source of inspiration and admiration, and I don’t think SPS will be the same without him.

Saying goodbye to everyone friday night was such a struggle. All of the interns were such amazing people, and I didn’t want to say goodbye to a single one of them. I really hope I’m able to see them again at a conference this year, or anytime in the future really. Being by myself without them in PA is such a strange feeling. I feel like Jaden and Devin should be right next door. It almost hurts to look back on the summer a bit because I’ll miss it all so much.

Looking forward, I have my senior year at Millersville coming up. I definitely feel like I am taking a step back by going back to undergrad classes after this internship, but the fact remains I still have a lot to learn. I am really excited to apply what I have learned at NIST to my lab courses at Millersville. I will also be an officer for my local SPS chapter. I really want to devote a lot of my time to increasing my SPS chapter’s presence at Millersville, as well as encourage more underclassmen to join! Graduate school seems so close yet so far. Although I’m sure that’s how undergraduate felt as a highschool senior. I still struggle to see myself as a future scientist sometimes, but I’ve come this far, and there’s no telling how far I’ll go from here. The same goes to all the other interns. They all hold very promising careers ahead of them. It’s hard to say goodbye, but all good things must come to an end. Until we meet again!