Vietnamese-led invention makes breakthrough in semiconductor sector
A research team led by Vietnamese national Nguyen Trong Hieu from the Australian National University (ANU) have successfully developed a new tool to help manufacturers spot defects or unwanted features of mobile phones and solar cells in the production process.
Nguyen Trong Hieu is currently a research fellow and lecturer at the Australian National University (Photo: Australian National University)
Sydney (VNA) – A research team led by Vietnamesenational Nguyen Trong Hieu from the Australian National University (ANU) havesuccessfully developed a new tool to help manufacturers spot defects orunwanted features of mobile phones and solar cells in the production process.
Lead author Dr Hieu said the invention works bycapturing high-resolution images of semiconductor materials, including manypotential defects, within seconds.
The researchers called it “the miracle of speedand space”, noting that it's tens of thousands of times faster than techniquescurrently being used.
Hieu said this opens the door to a newgeneration of ultra-high resolution, precise characterisation anddefect-detection tools for both research and industry sectors.
The team tested this invention extensively onvarious state-of-the-art perovskite solar cells made at ANU and independentlyconfirmed the results with many other low-speed or low-resolution techniques.They matched perfectly, he noted.
He added that they are refining the invention sothat it can be commercialised.
Born in 1988, Hieu received his PhD inengineering (photovoltaics) from the ANU in 2016. In 2017, he was a visitingscientist at the US’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Currently, heis a research fellow and lecturer at the ANU.-VNA
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Nguyen Trong Hieu is currently a research fellow and lecturer at the Australian National University (Photo: Australian National University) 
