Our staff
Associate Professor Steve Shu
Academic Director
Steve Shu is the Academic Director of Research and Prototype Foundry. He holds a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Melbourne and brings nearly two decades of experience spanning both academia and industry. His career includes key roles at IMEC, a global leader in microelectronics research, and ASML, the world’s foremost supplier of semiconductor equipment. He is committed to advancing RPF's capabilities and fostering innovation through global collaboration. Steve is also an Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.
Professor Sergio Leon-Saval
Academic Deputy Director - Advanced FBG Facility
Sergio is Academic Deputy Director of the Advanced Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) Facility. He is the Director of the Sydney Astrophotonics Instrumentation Laboratory and his background is in the field of specialty optical fibres, astrophotonics and optical instrumentation systems.
Nelson Briones
Facility and Program Manager
Nelson has more than 20 years of experience in the semiconductor industry before joining RPF. He has an aptitude for leading groups of technical workforce providing equipment and process engineering support within high-volume fast-paced manufacturing and research environment.
Alison Robertson
Operations Manager
Alison has significant operations and project management experience gained across research, medical and financial institutions. She has a proven track record transforming work models to enhance efficiencies and improve outcomes for organisations and groups. She looks forward to applying her experience and skills in this role at the Research & Prototype Foundry.
Dr Martin Fueschsle
External Engagement Manager
Martin is a quantum physicist with over 20 years of experience in semiconductor device fabrication and characterisation. He completed his PhD at UNSW in 2011, where he developed the world’s first single-atom transistor—an achievement that earned him the Bragg Gold Medal for the best Physics PhD in Australia. From 2019 to 2024, Martin led quantum technology development at Archer Materials, working in collaboration with institutions such as the University of Sydney and EPFL. He brings deep technical expertise in quantum technologies and maintains strong networks across both academia and industry, supporting strategic partnerships and innovation initiatives.
Aaron Loy
Education Technical Support Officer
Aaron Loy is the Education Technical Support Officer, bringing extensive experience in project management, educational and research administration, and operational coordination. He oversees user training, industry placements, and education programs, coordinates administrative and project activities, and ensures smooth delivery of education services while providing strategic support to enhance organisational performance.
Lars Goran Edvell
Senior Process Engineer: Advanced FBG Facility
Goran Edvell has 20+ years of experience in the photonics industry with special interest in R&D, design, and manufacturing of application specific Fibre Bragg Gratings. Goran has a MSc in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering from Linkoping University, Sweden.
Dr Liguo Luo
Senior Process Engineer: Advanced FBG Facility
Liguo has more than 20 years’ R&D, engineering, and production experience in photonics. His expertise is in photonics devices including fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs), planar lightwave circuits, and fibre lasers. He worked extensively on development of fabrication processes for high performance and high quality FBG devices. As a senior process engineer, he is responsible for developing, engineering and fabricating processes at the Advanced FBG Facility. Liguo received his PhD in Optics from Shandong University.
Dr Jason Hwang
Senior Process Engineer: Quantum Technologies
Jason has expertise in nanofabrication of quantum electronic devices, particularly in electron beam lithography, metal deposition, and liftoff. He completed a PhD at UNSW where he focused on building silicon CMOS quantum devices for spin-based quantum computing. Jason is responsible for various tools and processes including electron beam lithography, SEM, ellipsometer, ALD, evaporator, sputterer, HF wet etch, wire bonding and die bonding.
Roger Ackroyd
Senior Process Engineer: Thin Film Deposition
Roger is a Senior Process Engineer: Thin Film Deposition at ANFF-NSW, University of Sydney. He spent four years working as a nanofabrication process engineer for Microsoft Quantum. In this role, and prior to this at UNSW, he worked on several devices and materials systems, including superconductors, semiconductors, qubits, microwave resonators, Josephson junctions, and SQUIDs. His focus is on process development, process improvement, and scale-up.
Derui Yin
Senior Process Engineer
Derui Yin is a Senior Process Engineer specialising in packaging at the University of Sydney. With extensive experience in the semiconductor industry and a Master's degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, he brings advanced knowledge in 2.5D, 3D-IC, and wafer-level packaging. His expertise includes managing packaging capabilities, providing technical support to researchers, and ensuring proper facility maintenance.
Matthew Rendell
Senior Process Engineer
Matt is a Senior Process Engineer responsible for the dry etching capabilities at RPF. He has previously worked as a researcher at UNSW (where he also completed his PhD) and has significant experience in the fabrication and measurement of quantum devices in Ge, Si and GaAs/AlGaAs.
Lawrence Farrar
Process Engineer: Metrology and Characterisation
Lawrence is a process engineer specialising in metrology and characterisation. He is an experienced electron microscopist and has expertise in a variety of equipment and techniques from his PhD research at RMIT University. Lawrence’s focus is on characterisation utilising the suite of metrology equipment in the RPF.
Desmond Lum
Process Engineer: Advanced FBG Facility
Desmond is a Process Engineer at the Advanced FBG Facility. He holds a Physics degree from Macquarie University, where he specialised in photonics, fibre optics, and communications. Desmond brings experience from his previous role as a Senior New Product Introduction Engineer at Baraja, where he developed expertise in Design for Manufacturability, ERP system management and pilot manufacturing.
Jayanthi Ramiah
Process Engineer: Wet Process
Jay holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Sydney and has a robust background in both Semiconductor and Quantum device fabrication. She brings valuable experience from A-STAR (Singapore) and UNSW’s Silicon Quantum Computing.
Dr Sruthi Kuriakose
Process Engineer: Optical Lithography
Sruthi holds a Master’s and PhD in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from RMIT University, where she researched black phosphorus and 2D materials for advanced electronic and neuromorphic applications. She completed postdoctoral research in Madrid on 2D material strain engineering and later worked at CSIRO on quantum devices and antimicrobial materials. Named one of Australia’s Top 30 Innovative Engineers (2020), Sruthi now brings her expertise to the Research & Prototype Foundry, where she supports the development and optimization of optical lithography processes.
Steve Moody
Senior Technical Officer: Characterisation
Steve's expertise is in characterisation, having come to us from a role with Microscopy Australia. As Senior Technical Officer: Characterisation, he is particularly focused ion beam (cross-sectioning, manipulation, lift-out) and multi-beam nanofabrication.
Justin Digweed
Technical Officer: Fibre Fabrication
Justin manages the polymer optical fibre draw facilty. Justin's experience has been gained from manufacturing Specialty Optical Fibres at the University of Southampton from 1989 until 1994 when he came to Australia to help set up the Optical Fibre Technology Centre at Sydney University. His background covers MCVD systems, equipment support and high volume electronics manufacturing in a mass production environment in Asia.
Angela Tanesha
Technical Officer: Micro and Nanofabrication
Angela is a Technical Officer specialising in Micro and Nanofabrication. She holds a Master of Science in Physics from the University of Melbourne and has prior experience at Archer Materials. Angela has expertise in device fabrication, milling, and characterisation, with proficiency in advanced techniques such as Electron Beam and UV Lithography, etching, and SEM, HIM, and AFM operation. She also has programming skills in Python and MATLAB.
Dr Gloria Qiu
Senior Process Engineer (On leave)
Gloria received her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Houston, USA. Her expertise is in magnetic thin film deposition and nanostructure patterning for bit-patterned media application. She has also worked extensively on magnetic biosensors. As Senior Process Engineer, Gloria is responsible for the deposition and dry etching tools.
Selvaraj Nagarajan
Senior Equipment Engineer
Raj has significant equipment maintenance and installation experience gained across semiconductor research and manufacturing industries. He has a proven track record of providing equipment and process engineering support to enhance best outcomes for organisations and groups. Recent roles at Microsoft Quantum involved contributing to and managing the day-to-day Microsoft cleanroom equipment operations and improvements projects.
Saw Saw Nyi Nyi Latt
Cleanroom Equipment Officer
Saw is a Cleanroom Equipment Officer responsible for process tools and equipment maintenance at ANFF-NSW University of Sydney. He worked at A*STAR, Singapore’s leading research facility for more than 7 years supporting the installation and maintenance of SPTS’s DRIE and PECVD tools.