Advent calendar - December 10 th - Luc Assink

In the Zernike Institute Advent Calendar, we are presenting 24 short spotlights in December. In these specials, we highlight PhD students, postdocs, support staff and technicians of our research groups and team - providing a glimpse in their typical day at work. In Episode 10 meet Luc Assink, PhD student in the Ion Interactions group of Ronnie Hoekstra. This group is affiliated with both the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials as well as the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) in Amsterdam.

I work as a PhD student in the Ion Interactions group of Ronnie Hoekstra. This group is affiliated with both the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials as well as the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) in Amsterdam. ARCNL is a public-private partnership founded in 2014 by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), both Universities in Amsterdam, and semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML. In 2022, the University of Groningen became an associate partner.

EUV light powers the cutting-edge lithography machines produced by ASML, which are crucial for semiconductor giants like Intel and Samsung to manufacture increasingly smaller and faster computer chips. The light sources consist of laser-pumped plasma of tin ion. However, many of these ions are ejected from the plasma, posing a risk of damaging parts of the source. To prevent this, the source is flushed with hydrogen gas, which helps to thermalize the energetic tin ions before they can cause harm. The unique ion facility ZERNIKELEIF in Groningen enables us to study the interactions of tin ions in precise detail on the atomic scale

My research involves experiments conducted in both Groningen and Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we measure the energy and charge state distributions of the tin ions emitted from those laser-pumped plasmas. In Groningen, we can select a mono-energetic ion beam of a single charge state and investigate its interaction with gas targets or solid surfaces.

What I enjoy most about my job is the time spent in the lab, especially designing and building new experimental additions tot the ZERNIKELEIF facility, preferably fully from scratch. On a typical day, you'll most likely find me in our lab at the Feringa Building - except from most Wednesdays, when I usually work in Amsterdam. My days also involve analyzing data, preparing a manuscript, supervising students and last but not least collaboration meetings with ASML. Our group dynamics is what I value most. In addition to discussing ions, we take daily lunch walks and compete monthly in a pub quiz. So far we never won.. Luckily in Physics research we are more successful.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

See all Advent Calendar items 2024 here!