Chemistry and Biochemistry
Professor
Professor Kummel's lab investigates the chemistry of microelectronic processing as well as the coating of cancer drugs. For the investigation of microelectronic chemistry, our primary tools are atomic layer deposition (ALD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), bipolar sputtering, in-situ x-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ex-situ electrical measurements. The lab seeks to correlate the control of the chemical and physical structure of thin films with their practical electrical properties. Projects include selective deposition of oxides, ALD for interconnects/contacts and packaging, ALD of gate oxides for CNTs and TMDs, CVD of low K dielectrics, and deposition of heat spreaders. The lab is funded by industry (Applied Materials, TSMC, EMD, Qualcomm, the Semiconductor Research Corporation, Rasirc, and Samsung as well as DARPA. For the coating of cancer drugs, the lab is developing liposomal coatings of oncolytic viruses in collaboration with Epicentrx.
Bio
Andrew Kummel is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego. Originally from New York City, he earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from Yale University, as well as an MS in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University. He is the Co-Principal Investigator for Cancer Researchers in Nanotechnology (CRIN) and Co-Investigator for the SDSE/UCSD Cancer Center Comprehensive Partnership. Kummel is also the Principal Investigator of the Kummel Research Group, which primarily investigates the chemistry of microelectronics processing using both room temperature (RT) and low temperature (LT) scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) & spectroscopy (STS), molecular beams, laser spectroscopy, impedance spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Over the years, Andrew Kummel has directed a program called ET CURE at the Moores Cancer Center, supporting under-represented minority undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates who are using new technologies in cancer research.