The annual Frater Awards provide ANFF staff, engineers and administrative professionals alike, with the opportunity to foster technical and professional growth through both national and international experiences. Named in honour of Dr Robert Frater AO, ANFF’s first chairman and a pioneering figure in advanced microelectronics and former Deputy CEO of CSIRO, these 7 awardees continue his legacy of developing technical excellence. This year, ANFF also recognized one outstanding staff member with the prestigious Career Development Award. 

‘The quality of the Frater Award winners and the diversity of their projects is a testament to the talent of the ANFF team. From AI projects to international science diplomacy, our Award winners will be developing new ways in which to provide even better service to our clients, all while improving their own skills. I look forward to seeing their reports at our Gala dinner next year,’ said ANFF CEO Jane Fitzpatrick.

On receiving a Frater Award, Matthew Bergin reflected: ‘ANFF-Materials is one of a few facilities worldwide hosting a scanning helium microscope (SHeM). Training at the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory will help me gain expertise in advanced semiconductor devices to kickstart innovative surface measurements of them using SHeM. I’m honoured and very grateful for my Award that enables this opportunity and am looking forward to what’s in store.’

Frater Awardees: 

Naiyin Wang, The Australian National University – Visits to Samco, Oxford Instruments and KAUST Core Labs for training and comparative evaluation of atomic layer etching tools  

Matthew Barr, University of Newcastle – PRINCE2 Foundation training for project management 

Minh Hoa Huynh, Adelaide University – Transformation of unrealized instrument operating data into predictive analytics by applying AI Programming with Python 

Matthew Bergin, University of Newcastle – 2DM device fabrication and characterisation with SHeM 

Siqi Deng, Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication – Building international collaborations: Benchmarking Chinese nanofabrication platforms for ANFF 

Vahid Adineh, Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication – Advanced online training to scale client-centric AI systems at MCN and ANFF

Dang Khoi Nguyen, University of Wollongong – KUKA robot training at the Melbourne head office

Career Development Awardee: 

Michal Zawierta, University of Western Australia – Development of processes for AFM tip fabrication 

‘This award provides an exciting opportunity to explore the applications of large language models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML) in the micro- and nanofabrication domain, opening new possibilities for how we approach marketing and client engagement. It also enables me to develop tool-agnostic AI agents for use in micro- and nanofabrication facilities,’ said awardee Vahid Adineh.

These awards highlight ANFF’s commitment to fostering professional growth and innovation within the organization. Congratulations to all the awardees! 

To view video highlights from the 2024 Frater Award winners, go to this link.