Bo Cui

Dr. Bo Cui is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He currently leads the Waterloo Nanofabrication Group. With 19 years cleanroom research experience, his research is focused on nano- and microstructure fabrication using nanoimprint lithography and electron beam lithography, and thin film deposition and etching techniques, with device applications in biomedical, energy and other areas. In particular, he pioneered the research in bit-patterned magnetic recording area, and very recently his group developed a process for conducting electron beam lithography on irregular, non-planar surface, which is published in ACS Nano. He has also carried out significant research on plasmonic bio- and chemical sensors based on Extraordinary Optical Transmission (EOT), Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR). Such bio-sensors can be employed to detect bio-binding events (DNA hybridization, antibody-antigen binding), with applications in pathogen (disease and crop) detection.
He has published 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, three patents (2 granted, 1 PCT filed), four book chapters, as well as sole-edited one book on nanofabrication. He is the winner of the 2014 Engineering Research Excellence Award (Faculty of Engineering, 3 winners among 295 faculty members). He is the assistant editor for the journal Nanoscale Research Letters. As well, he is member of IEEE and American Vacuum Society.

• Nanofabrication, Nanoimprint lithography, Electron beam lithography, Surface plasmon resonance, Plasmonic devices, Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Tissue engineering, Sensors and devices, Nano-biosystems, Nano-instrumentation, Nanostructure and device fabrication, Nanoimprint and electron beam lithography, Surface plasmon resonance (plasmonic) devices, Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, Nanostructured solar cell and photodetector, Nano-materials, Nanotechnology

• 2003, Doctorate Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, United States
• 2000, Master's Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, United States
• 1994, Bachelor of Science (BS) Physics, Peking University, China

• Pan A., Samaan M., Yan Z., Hu W., and Cui B., Fabrication of ultrahigh aspect ratio Si nanopillar and nanocone arrays, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, Volume 41, Canada, 2023.
• Pil-Ali A., Soltani M., Adnani S., Kayaharman M., Poudineh M., Cui B., and Karim K.S., Improving adhesion quality of SU-8 to gold thin film for absorption grating fabrication in x-ray phase-contrast imaging, Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 127, Canada, 2022.
• Pil-Ali A., Soltani M., Adnani S., Cui B., and Karim K.S., A novel multi-layer grating structure for x-ray phase-contrast imaging, Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging - Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 127, Canada, 2022.
• Ekinci H., Soltani M., Jahed N.M.S., Zhu X., Cui B., and Pushin D., Effect of annealing on the structural, optical and surface properties of chromium oxide (Cr2O3) thin films, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 127, Canada, 2021.
• Ekinci H., Jahed N.M.S., Soltani M., and Cui B., The Role of Oxygen on Anisotropy in Chromium Oxide Hard Mask Etching for Sub-Micron Fabrication, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, Volume 20, 33-38, Canada, 2021.
• Kong Z., Hu W., Jiao F., Zhang P., Shen J., Cui B., Wang H., and Liang L., Theoretical Evaluation of DNA Genotoxicity of Graphene Quantum Dots: A Combination of Density Functional Theory and Molecular Dy, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Volume 124, 9335-9342, Canada, 2020.
• Islam R., Cui B., and Miao G.-X., Dry etching strategy of spin-transfer-torque magnetic random access memory: A review, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, Volume 38, Canada, 2020.
• Gherasoiu I., Man Yu K., Ekinci H., Cui B., Hawkridge M., Kuryatkov V., Gaddy M., Nikishin S.A., and Walukiewicz W., Synthesis of New Nitride Alloys with Mg by Plasma-Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy, Physica Status Solidi (B) Basic Research, Volume 127, United States, 2020.
• Ekinci H., Cui B., and Pushin D., Fabrication of sub-micron trenches with surfactant-added KOH, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Nanotechnology, Volume 127, 172-175, Turkey, 2020.
• Zhang J., Tian P., Tang T., Huang G., Zeng J., Cui B., Shen Z., Wang H., Kong Z., Xi J., and Ji Z., Excellent photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution performance of FeSe2 nanorod/ZnSe 0D/1D heterostructure as efficien, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 45, 8526-8539, Canada, 2020.