Online format of Charged particle optics course (AP3401) quadruples participants number

News - 15 March 2021 - Communication ImPhys

The Introduction to Charged Particle Optics course teaches students the basic principles and design considerations of electron and ion beam machines, such as microscopes and lithography machines. The elective course is already for a long time part of the TUD MSc program. Taking the opportunity of an online course, main instructor Ali Mohammadi Gheidari now decided to advertise the course also outside TU Delft, with great success. Interest in the course increased fourfold. 

The Introduction to Charged Particle Optics course teaches students the basic principles and design considerations of electron and ion beam machines, such as microscopes and lithography machines. The elective course is already for a long time part of the TUD MSc program in Applied Physics and each year draws a limited (8-10) number of students. Like many other courses taught in the third quarter of the academic year, the course had to be hastily transformed into an online format last year.

Taking the opportunity of an online course, main instructor Ali Mohammadi Gheidari now decided to advertise the course also outside TU Delft, with great success. Interest in the course increased fourfold, both with increase of the number of TUD students, but also with PhD students from outside Delft and employees of ASML and Thermo Fisher joining as well. Even one week before the start of the course, interest was expressed from student groups in US, UK, Czech Republic, and Singapore. In the end, Ali, and his colleagues Jacob Hoogenboom and Kees Hagen, decided to not admit these students this year in order to keep the course manageable in its current form. For next year, further extension of the course to participants outside Delft and the Netherlands will for sure be aimed for.