Shinji Yamakawa
Associate Professor | Ph.D. in Engineering
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Materials Engineering Course
Materials and Synchrotron Radiation Engineering Program, Synchrotron Radiation Nanotechnology Field
I do not currently teach specialized lecture courses and mainly supervise student laboratory classes. In these classes, I emphasize what students should think about through their experiments and how to write reports. At the NewSUBARU synchrotron radiation facility, a large-scale facility operated by the University of Hyogo, my research combines the chemical synthesis of plastics with the physical evaluation of their characteristics and performance.
Development of Photosensitive Plastic Materials for Semiconductor Circuit Patterning
What students can learn
Creating any tangible product requires an understanding of the characteristics of its materials. Students can learn about the characteristics of plastic materials and methods for evaluating them.
Semiconductor chips, the brains of smartphones and computers, contain countless circuits. Their circuit patterns are formed using photosensitive plastics that undergo chemical changes when exposed to special light. Improving the performance of these plastics not only enhances the performance of smartphones and computers but also lowers their cost. We therefore work to create and evaluate new photosensitive plastics in our effort to bring better materials into practical use.
