Blake Eliasson, Ph.D.

I have been involved with Metal-Insulator tunneling devices for over a decade, beginning with my Ph.D. Thesis in 1998 which resulted in the core technology of start-up company, and continuing today through consulting services. I have at various points throughout this time directed all aspects of tunnel-diode creation: conception, tunneling device simulation software development, fabrication, test, data-analysis (software development and interpretation), equivalent circuit modeling, transport mechanism identification, parameter extraction, and device improvement. I continue to specialize in design, modeling, simulation, and interpreting the measurements of quantum transport devices.


In addition I am the owner and winemaker at a small commercial winery. I have a graduate certificate in Enology & Viticulture from UC Davis. The entanglement of my engineering and enology worlds results in close monitoring of my traditional winemaking techniques in an effort to produce world-class wines that express varietal and place. In addition to producing the wine of Settembre Cellars I offer consulting services in winemaking, wine analysis, and research in enology & viticulture.


I currently reside in Boulder, CO and am seeking new consulting or part-time opportunities.

- First named inventor of the Metal-Double Insulator-Metal structure for ultra-high speed optoelectronics
- Phiar Corporation: Co-Founder. Developed tunnel junction devices which formed the base of Phiar technology. Core Researcher.
- Electronic/Photonic Device Design, Modeling, Simulation, Test & Measurement, Automation, Fabrication.
- Settembre Cellars: Owner & Winemaker

Engineering Education
- Ph.D. Electrical Engineering Solid State (2001) University of Colorado at Boulder
Thesis: Metal-Insulator-Metal Diodes For Solar Energy Conversion
- M.S. Electrical Engineering Solid State (1997) University of Colorado at Boulder
- B.S. Electrical Engineering (1995) Montana State University - Bozeman
- Graduate Certificate in Winemaking (2008)UC Davis Extension

Educational Honors
- Eta Kappa Nu - National Electrical Engineering Honor Society
- Tau Beta Pi - National Engineering Honor Society
- Honorable Mention Gold Medal Award - Montana State University
- Graduation Honors: Highest Honors - Montana State University

Professional Membership
- IEEE (Electron Device, Computer)
- American Society for Enology and Viticulture
- Colorado Association of Viticulture & Enology: Board Member & Chair of Education Committee

Patents
- Metal-Oxide Electron Tunneling Device for Solar Energy Conversion: Pat. No. 6,664,562, issued 12/16/03
- Method for Fabricating a Metal-Oxide Electron Tunneling Device for Solar Energy Conversion: Pat. No. 6,762,071, issued 07/13/04
- Device Integrated Antenna for Use in Resonant and Non-Resonant Modes and Method: Pat. No. 6,664,562, issued 12/16/03.
- High Speed Electron Tunneling Devices and Applications: Pat. No. 6,563,185, issued 2003.
- High Speed Electron Tunneling Devices and Applications: Pat. No. 6,756,649, issued 06/29/04.
- High Speed Electron Tunneling Devices and Applications: Pat. No. 7,105,852, issued 2006.
- Terahertz Device Integrated Antenna for Use in Resonant and Non-Resonant Modes and Method: Pat. No. 6,835,949, issued 2004.
- Thin-Film Transistors on Tunneling Structures and Applications: Pat. No. 7,173,275, issued 2007.

Publications
- Characterization and Modeling of Metal/Double-Insulator/Metal Diodes for Millimeter Wave Wireless Receiver Applications: S. Rockwell, D. Lim, B. Bosco, J. Baker, B. Eliasson, K. Forsyth, M. Cromar, IEEE RFIC Honolulu June 3-5 2007
- Macroelectronics: Perspectives on Technology and Applications: R. Reuss, with B. Eliasson, et al., Proc. IEEE 93 (7), 1239-1256 (2005)
- Detectors at the Intersection of Photons and Electromagnetic Fields or Where Einstein Meets Maxwell: Materials Research Symposium 2005 - Blake Eliasson and Garret Moddel
- Optically Addressed Spatial Light Modulator Incorporating an a-Si:H Heterojunction: OSA 1999 - Spatial Light Modulators
- Continuing Development of an Infrared Optically Addressed Spatial Light Modulator: OSA 1997 - Spatial Light Modulators

Research & Engineering
Consultant - Eliasson LLC: April 2008 to Present
Director of Research & Development - Phiar Corporation: June 2006-March 2008
Directed research activities at Phiar. Directed purchasing and setup of new Test & Measurement Lab to perform: Reliability Testing (CVS, CCS, SILC), Low Temperature Measurements, Automated IV, CV, Temperature, s-parameter measurements to 65 GHz, responsivity. Technical lead for joint development agreement with Motorola. Successfully led development and testing of diode to perform at customer specification. Led research efforts focused on the development of a 3-terminal Metal-Insulator hot-electron transistor.
Director of Engineering - Phiar Corporation: July 2004-June 2006
Directed device development and carried out design and analysis of the tunnel junction devices which form the core of Phiar's technology. Directed research, processing, and test activities. Worked closely with antenna and optical engineers on interpretation of high-frequency/optical measurements. Simulated and calculated expected optical and thermal results. Performed MIIMIM transistor modeling. Investigated impact of materials choices: energy band, electrical, chemical, and structural. Guided oxide reliability testing procedures and result analysis. Guided capacitance-voltage (and small signal resistance) testing on leaky MIM capacitors. Provided guidance for research activities.
Device Engineer - Phiar Corporation: July 2001-July 2004
Responsible for design, simulation, optimization, process development, fabrication, and electrical measurement of electron tunnel devices. Guided porting of process to new substrates. Simulated device electrical characteristics, optical detection and efficiency characteristics, noise figures, thermal response properties, and impact of material choices on device performance. Managed and directed all aspects of processing, process development, scheduling.
Co-Founder: Phiar Corporation: July 2001:
core technology spin-off from Ph.D. thesis work.
Research Assistant - University of Colorado at Boulder: May 1996-July 2001
Developed and fabricated Metal-Insulator-Insulator-Metal diode. Analyzed antenna coupled metal solar cell devices.
Engineering Consultant:
Carried out wafer level measurement of detector/solar spectral quantum efficiency on self-designed and built automated photospectrometer system.
Research Assistant - University of Colorado at Boulder: May 1996-July 2001
Focused on the design and fabrication issues surrounding Infrared - Optically Addressed Spatial Light Modulators. Investigated potential semiconductor photodiode materials and structures (with particular emphasis on copper indium diselenide & hydrogenated amorphous silicon heterojunctions). Simulated electrical and optical aspects of ferroelectric and nematic liquid crystals. Fabricated and tested device prototypes.  Constructed spectral quantum efficiency measurement system.
Grader - University of Colorado at Boulder: August 1997-December 1997:
Graded for undergraduate semiconductor devices course.
Teaching Assistant - University of Colorado at Boulder: January 1996-May 1996
Managed half of the sections in a digital logic course where circuit design, breadboarding, and debugging skills were taught.
Teaching Assistant - University of Colorado at Boulder: August 1995-December 1995
Responsible for two sections of undergraduate electrical engineering labs on assembly and C programming on the Intel architecture. Graded students' oral presentations and completed work.

Software Skills
Borland C++ Builder developed GUI driven quantum device simulator MIMSIM, GUI interface and hardware control of spectral response system
Mathematica developed quantum mechanical travelling wave device simulation, optical, and thermal modeling of device performance)
Python developed command line and gui software for custom analysis of 3 dimensional data sets, parsing quantum transport simulations results, establish correlation between experimental and simulated data, incorporate non-ideal effects in quantum tunneling simulations (SciPy, NumPy, TVTK, Mayavi, Chaco2)
LabView developed hardware/software interface to control custom atomic-layer deposition system, developed custom electrical test measurement systems
PSpice equivalent circuit models of electron tunnel devices and spatial light modulators and 3 terminal ballistic transport devices
Ansoft Designer equivalent circuit models of tunneling hot-electron transistor
Ansoft HFSS analyzed field penetration/coupling efficiency and device parasitics
AutoCAD photolithography mask design
Excel Visual Basic (and OpenOffice) coupled with Excel data acquisition for device measurements
Microsoft Visual Studio, Intel C++ Compiler, Boost C++ libraries, Matlab, INSPEC, Microsoft Windows XP, Professional/Vista, Linux (desktop & servers), Drupal, PHP, Word/Excel/Powerpoint (and OpenOffice), Amtel AVR Microcontrollers, Touch Screen OLED, USB, Assembly (Motorola & Intel), virtual machines, svn, Trac, Modula-2, Pascal, Simwindows, Suprem, Magic

Hardware Skills
Vector network analyzer (65GHz)
spectrum analyzer
HP4145 semiconductor parameter analyzer
capacitance-voltage systems
oxide reliability test setups
cryogenic measurements
responsivity system
test automation
scanning tunneling microscopy
optical and direct write electron-beam lithography
mask aligner
scanning electron microscope
spectral ellipsometery
surface profiler
interference microscope
thermal evaporation / sputtering systems
four-point probe
spectraphotometer
reactive ion etching.

Education
UC Davis Extension - Graduate Certificate in Enology & Viticulture:
Introduction to Winemaking (2006), Wine Production (2007), Quality Control & Analysis (2008), Wine Stability & Sensory Analysis (2008), Viticulture for Winemakers (2008)

Winemaking
Settembre Cellars LLC: Federally Licensed Commercial Winery: Owner & Winemaker: responsible for all aspects of Winemaking. Red & White varietals. Crush-Destemmer, Stainless Fermentation Tanks, Bladder Press, French Oak Cooperage. Traditional winemaking with careful attention to detail and monitoring to produce handcrafted artisanal CO wines that express varietal and place.

Enology

Analysis:
Aeration-Oxidation
Volatile Acidity (by cash still)
Titratable Acidity
Hydrometry
Refractometry
pH
Blending
Paper Chromatography
Wine Stability

Viticulture
Seminars:
From Vine to Wine: Grape Growing on the Front Range
Organic & Biodynamic Viticulture
Experimental Vineyard:
Experimenting with 15 hybrid vines on the front range (Leon-Millot & Foch)

Engineering
Hardware & Software: Developed custom hardware & software to acquire thermocouple data and log to database for monitoring and control including SMS alert, hardware-software system for remote measurement of temperature in remote sites (vineyards, cellars, tanks, etc.,), Design and construction of temperature & humidity controlled cellar, Turbidity Meter: self-calibrating narrow band photonic scattering/absorption meter with OLED touch-screen interface and USB data logging, Custom software for monitoring the winemaking process, Linux webserver setup and administration (Drupal, SSL)

Wine Appreciation
Library: Extensive collection covering Enology, Viticulture, Wine History, Travel, Appreciation, and Italian Wines

Wine Travel
CO: Boulder, Grand Valley, West Elks
OR: Willamette Valley
Italy: Piemonte, Toscana, Umbria
CA: Napa, Sonoma, Santa Cruz Mountains, Sierra Foothills
VA: Central