1. Tsai resume, 1
Tsungchan Tsai (Cliff Tsai), Ph.D.
Email: tctsai@gmail.com ● Website: https://clifftsai.wordpress.com/portfolio/ ● Phone: 979-422-8798
1294 Buckingham Gate Blvd, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221 ● Fully authorized to work in US (green card holder)
HIGHLIGHTS
 3+ years of industrial experience in leading/managing R&D projects and working with cross-functional
teams, including experts from marketing, regulatory, chemistry in a startup company.
 6+ years of experience in non-thermal plasma technology development and fundamental research (e.g.,
characterization of plasma physical/chemical/optical/electrical properties).
 Hands-on experience in ultra-high vacuum system for nanofilm deposition and nanoparticle fabrication.
 Thin film/semiconductor fabrication including photolithography, wet etch, PVD, and PECVD.
 CMOS-MEMS device design (mask layout), simulation, fabrication, and testing.
 Software engineering, including application development, data processing, and GUI design using C++.
 Numerical modeling, image processing, controller design, and programming using MATLAB/Simulink.
EDUCATION
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA Dec 2012
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering (Advisor: Dr. David Staack) GPA: 3.89/4.0
National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan Jul 2006
Master of Science, Power Mechanical Engineering (Advisor: Dr. Rongshun Chen) GPA: 4.0/4.0
National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan Jun 2004
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering GPA: 3.5/4.0
EXPERIENCE
Senior Scientist – Plasma Engineer, EP Technologies LLC, Akron, OH Dec 2012-present
 Founding Team Member
o Joined company as the 2nd
employee, set up the lab, led and participated in hiring processes, and
demonstrated technical feasibilities of key focused areas by intensive hands-on experiments.
o Create intellectual properties for new/unique biomedical devices or applications.
 Technical Project Lead
o Led technical team to develop new surface modification and functionalization process on polymers
using atmospheric-pressure cold plasma.
o Lead technical team to develop novel decontamination approaches using plasma technology.
o Work with marketing to define system specification, develop requirement, and test plans.
o Participated in mapping out EPA and FDA regulatory pathways.
 Key Technical Contributor
o Invent/develop/scale up various lab prototypes and design/execute studies using the prototypes.
o Investigate the effect of plasma-induced electric field and chemical species on plasmaporation.
o Measure pulsed-driven plasma electrical properties, including voltage/current pulse duration, rising
time, amplitude, frequency, and charge transfer, using high-speed oscilloscope.
o Characterize plasma-produced long-lived and short-lived chemical species using FTIR, UV-Vis,
colorimetric assay, and fluorescent dyes and model the chemical reactions using MATLAB.
o Characterize the adhesion property of plasma-deposited films on polymer parts using tensile testing.
o Evaluate various chemical formulations (e.g., acid/H2O2/NO2 system) for rapid sporicidal efficacy.
o Investigate the interaction between chemical species and cells (mammalian and bacterial cells).
o Developed a Windows desktop application with required algorithm to automatically modify G-code
files for 3D printing using C++ and MFC.
o Incorporated JMP (DOE/Statistics software) in projects to randomize experiments and conduct
significant tests.
Key Accomplishments:
− Drove company growth from 4 people to 17 people.
− Pioneered rapid sporicidal methods with efficacy 90 times faster than the current technology.
− Lead inventor for 1 granted patent & 8 patent applications.

2. Tsai resume, 2
Graduate Research Assistant, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Dec 2009-Dec 2012
 Dissertation: Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) on Living Substrates:
o Developed a new thin-film deposition technique (AP-PECVD) to grow polymer films (e.g., PMMA)
and metal film (e.g., copper) in open air conditions on temperature-sensitive substrates, such as porcine
skin and fingernail, using helium plasma jets.
o Characterized plasma deposited films using SEM, AFM, XPS, and FT-IR and correlated film properties
to plasma processing parameters e.g., gas flow rate, power, and precursor concentration.
o Measured ionization wave propagation, plasma breakdown phenomenon, excited species, and
rotational/vibrational temperature using ICCD camera imaging and optical emission spectroscopy.
o Investigated the effect of the precursor type and reactor configuration on the plasma mode change.
o Performed voltage, current, and charge measurement using high-speed oscilloscope and created
Lissajous curves for plasma power computation.
o Applied plasma jets onto agar cultured with E. coli or B. glumae to study the antimicrobial efficacy and
the bacterial inhibition property.
 Other Projects:
o Fabricated carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, and microstructured metal/polymer composite films.
o Developed multiple plasma systems for continuous or batch processes to disinfect plant seed.
o Modeled argon plasma using COMSOL and calculated particle motion, kinetics, and reaction rate in
non-thermal plasma systems.
o Determined process parameters in photolithography processes for fabrication of ultra-high frequency
plasma switches.
o Developed a GUI using Labview to read plasma-produced ozone concentration in an HVAC system.
Key Accomplishments:
− Research results led to 1 granted patent and 4 peer-reviewed journal papers.
− Awarded NATEA-Dallas 2011 Scholarship Honorable Mentions.
Full-Time Research Assistant, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Jan 2008-Jul 2009
 Tool Owner of Ultra-High Vacuum Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) System
o Dissembled and cleaned a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) system which had severe oil contamination.
o Upgraded the MBE by purchasing a cryopump and installing it to the system.
o Tested vacuum leakage on all the flanges and baked out the chamber to release the adsorbed particles.
o Troubleshot any issues related to hardware such as manipulator, pump and ion gauge.
 Study of Magnetic Properties of Nanomaterials
o Fabricated semiconductor (e.g., silicon, antimony, and bismuth) nanofilms and nanoparticles using e-
beam evaporation and low-temperature K-cells in the MBE system.
o Characterized the dimensions and structures of the nanomaterials using SEM and XRD, and
investigated their room-temperature ferromagnetism using VSM (vibrating sample magnetometer).
Key Accomplishments:
− The upgraded MBE can reach down to 10-10
Torr with liquid nitrogen and can be used to grow
materials with low evaporation temperature.
− Published 1 journal paper.
Graduate Research Assistant, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan Sep 2004-Jul 2006
 Thesis: Design and Control of 2D Vertical Comb-Drive Micromirrors in an Optical-Tweezers System
o Designed mask layouts for 2-D CMOS-MEMS vertical comb-drive micromirrors using Cadence.
o Fabricated micromirrors using wet etching processes to remove the sacrificial layers.
o Modeled micro-devices using CoventorWare and ANSYS to simulate their static, dynamic, and
electrostatic performances.
o Analytically modeled the micromirror system and designed and developed its non-linear controller
based on sliding and adaptive control methods using MATLAB/Simulink.
o Designed and developed a GUI software with a real-time image processing function for cell recognition
in the optical-tweezers system using MATLAB.
Key Accomplishments:
− MEMS layout designs accepted and implemented by TSMC 0.35µm 2P4M CMOS MEMS technology.
− Honored with 2006 Phi Tau Phi Member (1st
place in Mechanical Engineering master’s program).

3. Tsai resume, 3
Undergraduate Researcher, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan Feb 2003-Dec 2003
 Project: Development of an Excimer Laser Based Submicron Fabrication System and Its Application to
Manufacturing of Metallic Free-Form Micro Mold
o Developed a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software which can display 3D models, allow
users to zoom in/out and rotate the model, and simulate fabrication processes for an excimer laser
micromachining system using C++/MFC with OpenGL.
Key Accomplishments:
− 3rd
place in the National Contest of Student Project.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Programming/Design/Modeling Software
C/C++, Python, MATLAB/Simulink,
LabVIEW, Arduino, Cadence Virtuoso,
AutoCAD, Pro-E, COMSOL,
CoventorWare, ANSYS, PSPICE, PartSim
Semiconductor/Thin-Film Process
Mask Design, PECVD, Physical Vapor
Deposition, Molecular Beam Epitaxy
(MBE), Ultra-High Vacuum Technology,
Wet Bench, Photolithography
Metrology
Oscilloscope, High-Speed ICCD Imaging,
Profilometer, SEM, AFM, XRD, FTIR,
XPS, UV-Vis Spectroscopy, Optical
Emission Spectroscopy, Photomultiplier
Relevant Courses/Trainings
Fundamental Material Science Engineering,
Thin Film Science & Technology,
Polymer Physical Properties,
MEMS Design, JMP
PUBLICATIONS
 Y.-K. Jo, J. Cho, T.-C. Tsai, D. Staack, et al., “A Non-thermal Plasma Seed Treatment Method for
Management of a Seedborne Fungal Pathogen on Rice Seed,” Crop Science, vol. 54, pp. 796 (2014).
 T.-C. Tsai, J. Cho, K. Mcintyre, Y.-K. Jo, and D. Staack, “Polymer Film Deposition on Agar Using a
Dielectric Barrier Discharge Jet and its Bacterial Growth Inhibition,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 101, pp.
074107 (2012).
 T.-C. Tsai and D. Staack, “Characteristics of Precursor-Dependent Breakdown in Helium Dielectric
Barrier Discharge Jet,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, vol. 40, pp. 2931 (2012).
 T.-C. Tsai and D. Staack, “Low-Temperature Polymer Deposition in Ambient Air Using a Floating-
Electrode Dielectric Barrier Discharge Jet,” Plasma Processes and Polymers, vol. 8, pp. 523 (2011).
 T.-C. Tsai, Y. M. Lan, Y. C. Chi, M. S. Lee, K. L. You, and Y. Liou, “Magnetism in Semiconductor
Nanoparticles: Ge Nanopartilces for Example,” Taiwan Nano Newsletter (2009).
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
Reviewer, Cellulose
Guest Reviewer, Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry
PUBLISHED/GRANTED PATENTS
 Kalghatgi S, Tsai T, Antonakas D, Gray R, inventers; EP Technologies LLC, assignee. Method and
apparatus for intracellular and intercellular delivery of molecules, drugs, vaccines and the like. United
State patent application, US20150209595 A1. 2014 Jan. 30.
 Kalghatgi S, Antonakas D, Tsai T, Gray R, inventers; EP Technologies LLC, assignee. Methods and
apparatus for delivery of molecules across layers of tissue. United State patent application,
US20150094647 A1. 2013 Sep. 27.
 Tsai T, Kalghatgi S, Antonakas D, Gray R, inventers; EP Technologies LLC, assignee. Methods and
solutions for rapidly killing or deactivating spores. United State patent application, US20160022850 A1.
2013 Mar 15.
 Tsai T, Kalghatgi S, Antonakas D, Gray R, inventers; EP Technologies LLC, assignee. Methods and
solutions for killing or deactivating bacteria. United State patent application, US20140271354 A1. 2013
Mar. 15.
 Staack D, Tsai T, inventers; The Texas A&M University System, assignee. Plasma Treatment and Plasma
Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition onto Temperature Sensitive Biological Materials. United States
patent, US8920361 B2. 2011 Apr 5.