Stefan is currently studying an integrated MSci degree in chemistry with molecular physics at Imperial College London, having just finished his third year.
“I applied to intern at Paragraf as I wanted to experience working in the industry, but at the same time working at the forefront of an exciting, new technology. Graphene is a material that I have been excited about for some time. In the final year of my secondary education, I wrote a literature review on the structure, properties and manufacturing of the material. The conclusion I came to back then was that although graphene has a great potential to revolutionise many industries, consistency and scalability in manufacturing makes it very difficult for this to be achieved. Paragraf provides the much-needed solution to these problems through its MOCVD recipes and methods. In my time here I am most excited about helping the company, as much as I can, to achieve this dream of bringing the technology to the public. While at the same time, learning industry standard characterisation and analysis techniques which will help me in my career path moving forward.”
Stefan’s summer internship is 9 weeks long and will be focused on providing characterisation and evaporation support to the growth team for the electro-optic modulator and high frequency transistor projects.
Stefan adds: “During my chemistry degree, I used similar spectroscopic and imaging techniques to the ones I am using here, and I have learned about the theory behind them extensively. The Python® programming language is another skill which I learned during my degree that proved to be very useful when analysing the data gathered through characterisation. Since there are many projects happening simultaneously in the company and everything is moving at a fast pace, I have found that asking questions and communicating are sometimes the most useful skills. There is a lot of freedom in a research job, and you end up doing things that have not been attempted before – some of which leading to unexpected results that must be discussed with people across multiple teams. Overall, I have really enjoyed my time working here. I think the company and the team manage to create a friendly environment which, even when there is lots to do, makes it easy to forget that you are working and keeps you focused and excited on what you’re working on.”
