Research System
In fiscal 2000, Samukawa Lab was operated by just two people: myself and one graduate student. Beginning in April 2001, assistant Kumagai Shin'ya (28) and technician Takuya Ozaki (25) , joined the team, as well as three more graduate students and two undergraduate students, bringing the total to eight—a fairly large contingent. Kumagai was placed primarily in charge of plasma spectroscopy and monitoring, EEDF control, and device testing, while Ozaki was placed in charge of supervising and maintaining the experimental equipment in the laboratory as a whole, managing the budget and conducting experiments in special-material etching.
Staff cherry blossom viewing picnic (April 2001)
We actively pursue collaborative research with universities and national laboratories (which are now independent corporations). In the field of device development, we are engaged in projects with groups led by Professor Mitsumasa Koyanagi and Professor Masayoshi Esashi at Tohoku University, and with the group led by Professor Kazuo Tsubouchi at Tohoku University's Research Institute of Electrical Communication. In the field of plasma, we are strengthening our ties with Professor Toshio Goto's group at Nagoya University, Professor Toshiaki Makabe at Keio University, Associate Professor Toshiki Nakano at the National Defense Academy; Professor Tetsu Mieno of Shizuoka University, and
Associate Professor Satoshi Hamaguchi of Kyoto University. With regard to nanotechnology, we plan to establish links with Japan's National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).
We have also started joint research projects with several corporations, and researchers from private corporations frequently visit our laboratory for discussions and joint experiments. In addition to receiving direct instructions
from me, the students are stimulated through their contact with collaborating researchers from other universities and corporations. Such opportunities help them to stay focused and learn how to be professional, as well as to clearly understand the meaning and aim of their research, and thus become fully and enthusiastically engaged.
