Trev Talks

On June 11th, 2024, I met with Daniel Penley, a grad student at the University of Michigan currently getting his PhD in Mechanical Engineering as he studies nanomanufacturing specifically Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD for short). In this interview we discussed both his engineering journey as well as the technical specifics of his work.

Daniel got his undergrad degree at UT Austin after growing up surrounded by engineering. With his passion for building and assembling things, engineering seemed like a logical route. He chose mechanical engineering due to its broad nature and flexibility. After being introduced to the field of nanotech through a church friend, Daniel did some research on “optical tweezers” and
“catalysis”. Although he found these topics interesting, the lack of practical applications in his studies were frustrating. When applying to grad schools, he met someone who worked in the intersecting fields of material science, energy, and manufacturing, which led him to nano manufacturing and SALD.

We later discussed nanomanufacturing and spatial atomic layer deposition, a process of applying very thin films of a material to a substrate. This is done by sequentially reacting two gases with the surface of the substrate, keeping them separated with a barrier of an inert gas. While it is often used to make solar panels, this ability to control thickness and composition of these films so precisely allows us to enhance objects with thermal, electrical, chemical, optical, and acoustic properties. Most interesting to me were the acoustical implications that SALD technology could have as I could envision numerous possibilities: soundproofing, clearer noise canceling, novel instruments with augmented properties, unique listening spaces, and perhaps even advancements in auditory assistance, such as hearing aids.

Even though this was such a small (figuratively and literally) and specialized field, I genuinely had a good time learning about this novel technology. Daniel emphasized that his work was only a small slice of mechanical engineering. If that’s really true, I can’t even imagine what else is out there to discover and explore.