Nanopositioning plays a central role in the operation of a scanning probe microscope. The nanoscale spatial resolution achievable in scanning probe techniques is strongly determined by the ability to position the sample relative to the probe. The challenging problem of achieving very high precision at high speed can be viewed from the perspective of the so called four pillars namely, the sensor, the scanner, the controller and the scan trajectory. In this talk, I will present a couple of recent conceptual contributions made to this field.

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Bio

Abu Sebastian is a Research Staff Member at IBM Research - Zurich in Rüschlikon. His research has spanned several topics broadly related to dynamics and control at the nanometer scale. Research interests include scanning probe technologies, enabling tools for nanotechnology such as nanoscale sensing and nanopositioning and emerging memory and cognitive technologies. He has published over 100 articles in scientific journals and conference proceedings on these topics.

Dr. Sebastian received the 2013 IFAC Mechatronic Systems Young Researcher Award for his contributions to the field of mico-/nanoscale mechatronic systems. He is also a co-recipient of the 2009 IEEE Control Systems Technology Award and the 2009 IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award. He is a vice-chair of the IFAC Technical Committee on Mechatronics and serves on the editorial board of the journal, Mechatronics. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).