Phani Kiran Vabbina is a doctoral candidate in electrical and computer engineering at Florida International University with a GPA of 3.75/4.00. He has expertise in various micro/nano-fabrication and material/device characterization techniques. His research has included fabricating and characterizing ZnO core shell LEDs, photodetectors based on ZnO/Graphene and MoS2/Graphene hybrid structures, and electrochemical immunosensors for cortisol detection. He has published 5 journal articles and organized a nanofabrication workshop for teachers.

1. PHANI KIRAN VABBINA
1921 SW 107 Avenue Apt # 508 Miami, FL 33165;
Ph: (786) 556-7518; E-mail: pvabb001@fiu.edu
www.linkedin.com/pub/phani-kiran-vabbina/5a/630/a22/
“Either be the first or be the best”
Doctoral student with expertise in various material, electrical, optical
characterization techniques and microfabrication techniques in class 100 clean
room, with emphasis on opto-electronic and electrochemical devices.
EDUCATION
 Doctoral Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Florida International University, Miami, USA (GPA: 3.75/4.00) 07/2016
 M.S. in Electrical Engineering
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA (GPA: 3.53/4.00) 07/2009
PROCESSING & ANALYTICAL SKILLS
 Micro/Nano-fabrication: Contact lithography, E-beam deposition, Thermal evaporation,
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD), Physical vapor deposition (PVD), Sputtering,
Sonochemical synthesis of nanoparticles, Wet and dry etching (RIE), Mask design and
fabrication, Wire bonding.
 Material & Device Characterization:
 Electrical characterization using Four-point probe station, Semiconductor parameter
analyzer, Keithley 2400, and noise measurement of transistor using Spectrum analyzer.
 Mobility measurements in 2d electronic materials using Hall measurement system.
 Electrochemical analysis using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Impedance spectroscopy
(EIS).
 Optical characterization of photodetectors and photovoltaic cells such as Spectral
response measurement, Quantum measurement techniques,
 Material characterization using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission
electron microscopy (TEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), EDS, Raman
Spectroscopy.
 Software: TCAD Simulation: Silvaco Atlas, COMSOL, MATLAB, Multisim, PSpice,
Layout Editor, Origin, NI LabView, C and Microsoft Office.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
INSYST Lab, ECE, Florida International University 09/2009 – Present
Research Assistant
 Fabricating, testing and characterizing ZnO core shell LEDs
 Successfully achieved for the first time n-type and p-type doping in ZnO nanorods using
Sonochemical methods
 Fabricated and characterized, photodetectors based on ZnO/Graphene and MoS2/Graphene hybrid
structures which show photoresponsivity of 1.26 A/W and a noise equivalent power of 7.8 x 10-12
W/√Hz and wide bandwidth.

2.  Fabricated and characterized ZnO-ZnS core shell Dye sensitized solar cells which exhibit more
stability when compared to Dye sensitized solar cells based on ZnO.
 Fabricated a label free, highly sensitive and selective electrochemical immunosensor based on ZnO
nanorods and nanoflakes for Cortisol detection. The fabricated sensor exhibited a very high
sensitivity of 11.86 µA/M and a lowest detection limit of 1 pM which is 100 times greater than
ELISA.
 Model and analyze the performance of ZnO/Graphene, Graphene/MoS2 transistor using TCAD
simulations: SILVACO Atlas
 Electrical characterization of ZnO/Graphene, Graphene/MoS2 transistors using Hp Semiconductor
parameter analyzer, Keithley 2400, LCR meter.
 Optimized process settings for growth of ZnO & CdS nanostructures using Sonochemistry and
CVD process
 Showcased my organizational skills by organizing a workshop on nanofabrication for Miami Dade
teachers under NSF program.
 Showcased leadership skills in leading FIU cricket team at National Championships for two years.
Complex Materials Optics Network Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Graduate Research Assistant, 08/2008 – 08/2009
Measuring thickness and other optical parameters of SiN antireflection film on polysilicon solar
cells using IR Ellipsometry
RELEVANT COURSEWORK
Digital electronics, Advanced Solid State theory, Semiconductor Device theory, Electro optical
devices and systems, Advanced electronics, Theory of Super Conductivity, Advanced
Nanofabrication, Digital integrated circuits, Plasma semiconductor theory, Digital and Analog
communications.
JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
 Vabbina, PhaniKiran, et al. "Highly Sensitive Wide Bandwidth Photodetector Based on Internal
Photoemission in CVD Grown p-Type MoS2/Graphene Schottky Junction." ACS applied materials
& interfaces 7.28 (2015): 15206-15213.
 Vabbina, P. K., Karabiyik, M., Al‐Amin, C., Pala, N., Das, S., Choi, W.& Shur, M. (2014).
Controlled Synthesis of Single‐Crystalline ZnO Nanoflakes on Arbitrary Substrates at Ambient
Conditions. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 31(2), 190-194.
 Vabbina, Phani Kiran, et al. "Electrochemical cortisol immunosensors based on Sonochemically
synthesized zinc oxide 1D nanorods and 2D nanoflakes."Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2014).
 Pokhrel, Nimesh, Phani Kiran Vabbina, and Nezih Pala. "Sonochemistry: Science and
Engineering." Ultrasonics Sonochemistry (2015).
 Al-Amin, C., Vabbina, P., Sinha, R. and Pala, N. , "Bandgap Engineering of Single Layer Graphene
by Randomly Distributed Nanoparticles," Journal of Material Science (Submitted) (2016)