MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange
Dr. Paul Sunal is a Senior Engineer at the MEMS and Nanotechnology
Exchange. Dr. Sunal graduated with his bachelor's degree from the
University of Florida in Materials Science and Engineering with a
specialty in ceramic engineering. Following his bachelor's degree,
he completed a Master of Science degree program in Engineering
Science and Mechanics at the Pennsylvania State University. Employed
as a process engineer for the MEMS Exchange in the Solid State
Electronics Laboratory at the University of Michigan, he worked for
three years before returning to the Pennsylvania State University to
complete his Ph.D., also in Engineering Science and Mechanics.
During his time at Penn State, Dr. Sunal investigated various aspects of engineered thin film morphologies. Specifically, micro- and nanostructured thin films such as sculptured thin films (STFs) and metal/nitride nanocomposites were studied. His work focused on determining the level of control over the resulting structure at all length scales (macro-, micro-, nanoscale) and methods of thin film characterization. Part of the time at Penn State was spent fabricating Pd hydrogen gas sensors upon permeable, heated MEMS platforms that allowed regeneration of the sensors, thereby increasing their lifetimes and sensitivity.