Career guidance after PhD in experimental condensed matter

[pen-e-wise]

I am looking for career advice, including good entry points into industry.
I have background in materials engineering and masters in physics. PhD in scanning tunneling microscopy so I have expertise in (ultrahigh) vacuum systems, cryogenics as far as instrumentation is concerned. I have worked in surface science with probe methods on physics of 2D materials/superconductors/semiconductors etc.

What do you think are my best trajectories in eg. scientific instrumentation vs device physics? I am looking for inputs from people in said fields, pros and cons of market, prospects etc.

Thanks

 

[Vanadium 50]

Now is a heck of a time to be thinking about this. You should have been thinking about this when still finishing your PhD and had plenty of connections. As it stands, it is far, far too broad for a bunch of strangers to answer.

Can you discuss this with your advisor?

 

[pen-e-wise]

Well, that is a gross assumption to make that this is the first time I am thinking about it, or that I do not discuss it with relevant advisors/mentors. Also, you do not have any information about my current status so please lay off unwarranted hate.

I am looking for a wider pool of inputs. I would appreciate people with experience in said fields to give me their insights into the market as they see it. I am particularly interested to hear the trajectories of people who had a similar background as me. After all, this is the purpose of these threads.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Ah, it's one of those messages. Use your telepathic abilities to figure out what I have previously asked and what the answer was, and then use your precognitive abilities to determine which one I shall like best.

All I can say is "Good luck". This is beyond my skill set.

 

[CrysPhys]

OP: Career guidance needs to be tailored to locale. Your profile lists your country as Germany. Let's start with the countries in which you plan to seek employment. My background, decades ago, was similar to yours. In addition to the two fields you mentioned, I'll add a third: there are companies that specialize in materials analysis. The instrumentation has become so specialized and so expensive that only the largest companies (e.g., device manufacturers) can afford to maintain in-house facilities and staff; hence, many companies contract out work to specialized materials analysis companies.

 

[pen-e-wise]

CrysPhys:
Thanks for the input. I am looking at options in Europe and US, with a slight preference to Europe.
Typically instrumentation companies here (like Apeeva, Aixtron etc) do materials analysis in addition to developing instruments. But it's good to have in mind that there might be (relatively) smaller companies that focus on analysis.

 

[CrysPhys]

I don't know anything about the companies in Europe. In the US, there are major companies that perform a wide range of materials analysis for a wide range of clients. E.g., Exponent, Inc. (https://www.exponent.com/). Two other major companies were EAG Laboratories and Nanolab Technologies. Both of these companies are now owned by the same European company, Eurofins; so you might want to check them out:

https://www.eurofins.com/
https://www.eag.com/
https://www.eag.com/nanolabtechnologies/

 

[CrysPhys]

OP: Besides your experience and expertise in apparatus, instrumentation, and materials analysis, do you have any experience or interest in device fabrication; in particular, epitaxial crystal growth (such as MBE, CBE, MOCVD)?