Zixiao Pan, Ph.D., P.E.

Dr. Pan specializes in failure analysis, materials science (metallurgy, ceramics, glass, polymer, and semiconductors), fractography, material degradation, and materials testing and evaluation. In particular, she has investigated failures and provided product development support in a variety of industries including portable electronics (e.g., MP3 players, smart phones, LCD displays), consumer products (contamination, corrosion, mechanical failure, materials evaluation, etc.), medical implants, industrial thin films, coatings and paint. Dr. Pan has extensive hands-on experience in advanced materials characterization and micro-fabrication techniques, such as scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM, including environmental SEM), atomic force microscopy, lithography and focused ion beam. She also has specific interests in synthesis, microstructure analysis, and mechanical property measurement of ceramics and ceramic composites as well as mechanical failures of glass and silicon.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Pan attended Northwestern University, where she completed her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering. Dr. Pan’s research focused on nanofabrication and microstructural engineering of piezoelectric and magnetic oxides for memory device applications. Dr. Pan also worked for Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center (NUANCE) as a center associate for 3 years, where she managed laboratory equipment and provided user support and training on various electron microscopes and atomic force microscopes.

Pan Z, Wei W, Li F. LA ICP-MS in microelectronics failure analysis. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronic (Special Issue), Invited Contribution, in press, 2011.

Sun T, Pan Z, S. Xie, Z. Cai, Wang J, Dravid V. Probing subtle strain distribution around individual epitaxial oxide nanoline using scanning x-ray microdiffraction. Applied Physics Letters, in press, 2011.

Pan Z, Joseph R. Case study analysis of coating failure on steel hinge boxes. Metal Finishing 2009; 12.

Pan Z, Dugnani R, Wu M. Comparative study of stress profile measurements on thin, ion-exchanged aluminosilicate glass. Proceedings, Material Science & Technology 2009.

Sun T, Hu H, Pan Z, Li X, Wang J, Dravid, V. In situ real-time investigation of kinetics of nucleation and growth of sol-gel-derived functional oxide thin films. Phys Rev B 2008; 77(205414).

Donthu S, Alem N, Pan Z, Li S, Shekhawat G, Dravid V, Benkstein K, Semancik S. Directed fabrication of ceramic nanostructures on fragile substrates using soft-electron beam lithography. IEEE Trans Nanotech 2008; 7(917793).

Pan Z, Li S, Wang Z, Yu M-F, Dravid V. Patterning-controlled morphology of 0d and 1d functional oxide nanostructures. Appl Phys Lett 2007; 91(143105).

Pan Z, Alem N, Sun T, Dravid V. Site-specific fabrication and epitaxial conversion of functional oxide nanodisc arrays. Nano Lett 2006; 6:2344.

Sun T, Pan Z, Dravid V, Wang Z, Yu M-F. Nanopatterning of multiferroic BiFeO3 using “soft” electron beam lithography (Soft-eBL). Appl Phys Lett 2006; 89(163117).

Pan Z, Donthu S, Wu N, Li S, Dravid V. Directed fabrication of radially stacked multifunctional oxide heterostructures using soft electron beam lithography (soft-eBL). Small 2006; 2:274.

Donthu S, Pan Z, Myers B, Shekhawat G, Wu N, Dravid V. Facile scheme for fabricating solid-state nanostructures using e-beam lithography and solution precursors. Nano Lett 2005; 5:1710.

Donthu S, Pan Z, Shekhawat G, Dravid V, Balakrisnan B, Tripathy S. Near-field scanning optical microscopy of ZnO nanopatterns fabricated by micromolding in capillaries. J Appl Phys 2005; 98(2):024304.

Su M, Pan Z, Dravid V, Thundat T. Locally-enhanced relative humidity for scanning probe nanolithography. Langmuir 2005; 21:10902.

SuM, Pan Z, Dravid V. A convenient and rapid sample repositioning approach for atomic force microscopy. J Microsc 2004; 216:194.

Presentations

Pan Z, Dravid V. Nanoscale patterning and characterization of multifunctional oxides. Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, 2006.

Pan Z, Alem N, Sun T, Dravid V. Patterning and identity of functional oxide nanostructures. The Microscopy and Microanalysis Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2006.

Pan Z, Donthu S, Aslam M, Dravid V. Patterning of hierarchical multiferroic oxide nanostructures using soft electron beam lithography (Soft-eBL), Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2006.

Donthu S, Pan Z, Dravid V. Tailoring the internal microstructure of functional inorganic nanopatterns. Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 2007.

Donthu S, Pan Z, Aslam M, Srivastava AK, Dravid VP. Site-specific nanopatterning of functional inorganic nanostructures for gas sensing applications. Materials Research Society Spring Meeting, 2006.

Donthu S, Pan Z, Srivastava AK, Chang Y, Dravid VP. Site-specific fabrication of functional inorganic nanostructures. 3rd International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, Singapore, 2005.

• Center Associate, NU Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental Center, 2005–2008
• Intern, Founder High-Tech Ceramics Co. Ltd. of China (now Tsinghua Unisplendor Founder High-Tech Ceramics Co. Ltd.), 2000
  

• Materials Research Society
• American Ceramic Society
• ASM International
• Microscopy Society of America