 Clara
Asmail
Physicist
National Institute of Standards and Technology
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 B.S. Physics; Fordham University
M.S. Physics; Tulane University
M.D. Optics; University of Arizona |
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Physicist, using a bidirectional scattering metrology system, measuring
light scatter from surfaces. |
Asmail: "I
measure light scatter from surfaces, from any kind of surface, whether it
be a mirror, as I had intended it when I first developed the instrument or
whether it's a window or a silicon wafer. It doesn't really matter. I'm
able to characterize the distribution of scatter from the surface and from
that measurement can infer conditions on the surface. For example, the
micro-roughness, the topography of the surface as well as any particular
contamination on it or subsurface damage in it. And that's crucial for the
yields in IC manufacturing fabs where they spend a lot of money and time
on processing silicon wafers that come in."
Asmail: "I
work part-time. I work three days a week and that's unique. Before
children, I used to spend all my time on the design of an instrument, the
assembly of the instrument and getting the lab ready. I was full time and
I worked on average 10 to 12 hours a day. And I came in many times on the
weekends. I traveled a lot more then, than I do now. Now I, I have to
think fifteen times before I accept an invitation to a meeting. There's a
lot more planning involved because it's not just get up and go with my
view graphs and all my notes, it's, you know, making sure that I have the
baby sitter set up and I cook all the dinners in advance and all that
stuff."
Asmail:
"I
love coming into work. When I got out of school, it was at a time when
optics was raging and there were many opportunities to go work for places
where I could have made a lot more money than as a civil servant. But it
wouldn't have been as fun. The thing about working at NIST is that we are
impartial. We're an honest broker for industry and we can help in a real
way, not just for the sake of making a buck but for improving the U.S.
economy and making the U.S. industries more competitive on a global scale.
And it sounds so big -- and it is, it truly
is. We're only 4,000 people here but I truly believe that we do have an
impact on the U.S. economy."
Asmail:
"When
you're all psyched and you've got an experiment in mind that you want to
get accomplished by the end of the day or by the end of the week and
you're all set, you've designed it, you've got it all aligned, and then
you turn on a switch and it fails. You know, the laser stops lasering, you
don't why. Or pump on your vacuum stops. Or you know, somebody had been
borrowing something and you need it back and they say oh, I'm sorry, I
can't, I'm in the middle of a calibration right now and I just can't give
it back to you. Something always goes wrong. You can always count on
something going wrong."
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