mason group

We create customized microscale and nanoscale materials to probe the phenomena of self-assembly, jamming, and phase transitions. By employing automated stepper lithography, we mass-produce particles having unique shapes and submicron features in a top-down fashion. Once in solution, these shapes become thermally dispersed and exhibit Brownian motion.



In order to generate particles that have a desired shape with high fidelity, we use a multi-step process: spin-coating a photosensitive resist onto a wafer, exposing to UV light with a stepper, developing, and lifting-off the particles from the wafer's surface. By repeating this process using robotic automation, we create dispersions containing billions of shapes in a matter of minutes.




Research on a variety of new phenomena related to dispersions of custom-shaped particles is currently underway.