Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Lukas Successfully Completes PhD at RWTH Aachen University

On Friday, June 13th, 2025, Sebastian Lukas successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled “2D Noble Metal Dichalcogenide Based Nanoelectromechanical Sensors” at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at RWTH Aachen University.

His research focused on atomically thin membranes made of graphene and the two-dimensional material platinum diselenide (PtSe₂) for the development of miniaturized, high-sensitivity pressure sensors. Key contributions include correlating the nanoscale structure of PtSe₂ with its electronic properties, developing scalable fabrication methods for 2D membranes, and integrating PtSe₂ into CMOS-compatible sensor devices. A neural-network-based image analysis improved statistical evaluation, and wafer-scale processing was successfully demonstrated. The PtSe₂ sensors exhibited excellent sensitivity. Overall, the technology readiness level (TRL) of PtSe₂-based sensors was raised from TRL 1 to TRL 4 – a significant step toward industrial applicability and scalability for future MEMS technologies.

We extend our sincere thanks to the examiners Prof. Georg Duesberg (University of the Armed Forces, Munich), Prof. Antonello Monti, and Prof. Christian Ebenbauer for their insightful questions and thorough evaluation of the thesis.

We also gratefully acknowledge our collaborators from Kungliga Tekniska högskolan (Frank Niklaus), Infineon Technologies (Stephan Pindl), Thales (Legagneux Pierre), and VTT (Miika Soikkeli), whose materials and expertise were instrumental in achieving these outstanding results.