About

Maarten de Boer has been a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University since 2010, serving in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His background includes employment as an integrated circuit process engineer at Hewlett-Packard from 1983 to 1991 and as a principal member of technical staff at Sandia National Labs from 1996 to 2010. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1996. His research group explores the processing and nanomechanical behavior of new materials, focusing on the design, fabrication, testing, and characterization of micromachined test platforms to study the interplay between processing, environment, and properties such as strength, fracture, fatigue, creep, residual stress, adhesion, and friction. His work is funded by agencies including the Department of Energy, NSF, NASA, and the Army Research Laboratory. De Boer has published extensively, with over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, an h-index above 30, and holds seven US patents. His teaching spans courses in mechanical behavior, solid mechanics, materials selection, microelectromechanical systems, thermodynamics, dynamics, and electronics.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Composite material
• Metallurgy
• Optoelectronics
• Nanotechnology
• Electrical engineering

Selected publications

• Optimization Study of Rare Earth-Free Metal Amorphous Nanocomposite Axial Flux-Switching Permanent Magnet Motor

  Energies · 2025-01-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Metal amorphous nanocomposite (MANC) soft magnetic materials exhibit remarkably low iron loss and high saturation magnetization. However, they have not been widely used in electric motors largely due to a lack of demonstrated manufacturing processing methods and an absence of proven motor designs well suited for their use. Recent developments in these two areas have prompted the optimization study of flux-switching with permanent magnet motor topology using MANCs presented here. This study uses population-based optimization in conjunction with a simplified electromagnetics model to seek rare earth-free designs that attain or exceed the state of the art in power density and efficiency. To predict the maximum mechanically safe rotational speed for each design with minimal computational effort, a new method of quantifying the rotor assembly mechanical limit is presented. The resulting population of designs includes motor designs with a specific power of up to 6.1 kW/kg and efficiency of up to 99% without the use of rare earth permanent magnets. These designs, while exhibiting drawbacks of high electrical frequency and significant manufacturing complexity, exceed the typical power density of representative state-of-the-art EV motors while increasing efficiency and eliminating rare earth elements.

  PublisherDOI

• First-Principles Investigation of Surface Mechanochemistry of Transition Metal Phosphides under Oxygen and Benzene Atmospheres

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2025-04-03 · 2 citations

  article

  Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have aroused widespread research interest in the past decade due to their excellent electrical and mechanical properties. Nonetheless, their application in micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) has not been investigated. Here, we use density functional theory (DFT) to explore the potential of four transition-metal phosphides to act as contact materials of MEMS/NEMS switches. Specifically, we first investigate the thermodynamic stability of Ru2P, RuP, Rh2P, and TiP under an oxygen environment. Then, using benzene as the background gas, the mechanical contact cycle is modeled to examine the process of tribopolymer formation on the surface of the contacts, which has been reported as the major reason for conductance loss after repeated actuation. The results show that Ru2P and Rh2P are excellent choices for avoiding friction-induced polymerization, making them promising contact materials for MEMS/NEMS switches.

  PublisherDOI

• Anisotropic reactive ion etching of 2.5 micrometer thick alpha phase tantalum films for surface micromachining

  Micro and Nano Engineering · 2025-06-23

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  An etch parameter study is conducted with the objective of achieving high anisotropy for tantalum thin films of more than 1 μm in thickness. The gases explored are Ar, CF 4 and O 2 . The effects of composition, flow, pressure, and power are investigated. Optical emission spectroscopy is used to interpret the etch results. While the addition of oxygen adversely affects anisotropy, it is improved with lower pressure. An Ar:CF 4 ratio of 5:1 is found to enable good etch rate and sidewall passivation. As power increases, the etch rate increases but there is no observable enhancement in anisotropy. Using a common parallel-plate RIE configuration with common low toxicity gases, a vertical sidewall is achieved for 2.5 μm thick α -Ta films with an optimum Ar to CF 4 ratio, power and pressure. • Anisotropic sidewall for thick α -Ta films (>1 μm) films is achieved by reactive ion etching in a simple parallel plate configuration. • Only low toxicity gases, CF 4 and Ar, are used for etching. • Ta etch rates and anisotropy are investigated for Ar to CF 4 ratio, pressure, power, and addition of oxygen. • Optical emission spectrometry data supports the etch mechanisms under different conditions.

  PublisherDOI

• Constraint Active Search in Process Window Optimization for Powder Feed Directed Energy Deposition

  Integrating materials and manufacturing innovation · 2025-03-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Optimizing process parameters for directed energy deposition is crucial to achieve high-quality printed parts. However, this optimization process often entails significant time and cost investments. An initial investigation into the process window can be conducted through the examination of single tracks. In this work, we investigate the utility of constraint active search (CAS) to efficiently identify process window that yield 4340 low-alloy steel single tracks with desired geometrical features. The effectiveness of the CAS method was assessed through experiments with physical and interpolated measurement. Fifty single tracks from randomly sampled process parameter combinations with different power, scan velocity, and laser spot size and ten single tracks from CAS-generated parameters were produced and analyzed. The results demonstrate that our search method outperforms random search, with 80% of parameter sets identified as desirable compared to only 4% in the case of random search. Moreover, an interpolated ground truth in input spaces of various dimensionalities was built in order to assess repeatability without excessive experimental cost. The results indicate that the CAS achieves higher precision compared to grid search and random search, especially in higher-dimensional process parameter spaces.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Anisotropic Reactive Ion Etching of 2.5 Μm Thick Α-Ta Films for Surface Micromachining

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Data from: First-principles investigation of surface mechanochemistry of transition metal phosphides under oxygen and benzene atmospheres

  Open MIND · 2025-12-11

  dataset

  Transition metal phosphides (TMPs) have aroused widespread research interest in the past decade due to their excellent electrical and mechanical properties. Nonetheless, their application in micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS) has not been investigated. Here, we use density functional theory (DFT) to explore the potential of four transition-metal phosphides to act as contact materials of MEMS/NEMS switches. Specifically, we first investigate the thermodynamic stability of Ru2P, RuP, Rh2P, and TiP under an oxygen environment. Then, using benzene as the background gas, the mechanical contact cycle is modeled to examine the process of tribopolymer formation on the surface of the contacts, which has been reported as the major reason for conductance loss after repeated actuation. The results show that Ru2P and Rh2P are excellent choices for avoiding friction-induced polymerization, making them promising contact materials for MEMS/NEMS switches.

  DOI

• Anisotropic Reactive Ion Etching of 2.5 Micrometer Thick Alpha Phase Tantalum Films for Surface Micromachining

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Inhomogeneities in directed energy deposition of refractory metals with widely different melting temperatures and mass densities

  Additive manufacturing · 2025-09-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• A reversible solvent segregation transition at grain boundaries in gold-platinum alloys

  Scripta Materialia · 2025-08-05 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Solute segregation to grain boundaries in polycrystalline metals and ceramics is a well-known phenomenon that reduces the total energy of the material. In this letter, the segregation of the solvent (Au) to grain boundaries in a binary Au 1-x Pt x ( x = 0.15 to 0.18) alloy is demonstrated. After heating in the range of 500 °C to 600 °C and quenching to room temperature, grain boundaries in the alloy are enriched in Au at a mean level of ∼ 4 atoms/nm 2 . When the alloy is annealed at 300 °C and quenched, the mean grain boundary composition is closer to the bulk composition. When the alloy is reheated to 500 °C, the segregation is reestablished, demonstrating that the transformation from the strongly segregated complexion to the weakly segregated complexion is reversible. The driving force for the solvent segregation is likely the lower grain boundary energy of Au in comparison to Pt.

  PublisherDOI

• A Reversible Solvent Segregation Transition at Grain Boundaries in Gold-Platinum Alloys

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Achieving Theoretical Property Limits in Polymer Nanofibers: Stiffness, Strength and Thermal Conductivity

  NSF · $411k · 2013–2017

• LEAP-HI: Ultra-Low Power Computing: A Disruptive Approach Through a New Integrated Nanomechanics Framework

  NSF · $2.0M · 2019–2024

• Collaborative Research: Stick-slip Dynamics of Micromachined Interfaces

  NSF · $381k · 2010–2014

• Creep of Temperature Stabilized Nanocrystalline Metals - a High Throughput Approach

  NSF · $420k · 2016–2019

• DMREF/Collaborative Research: High-Throughput Discovery, Development, and Demonstration of Material Systems to Enable Low-Power NEMS-Based Computation

  NSF · $750k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Soichiro Tsuda

  252 shared

• Ryan M. Pocratsky

  Carnegie Mellon University

  140 shared

• Murat Okandan

  134 shared

• Tad S. Whiteside

  Savannah River National Laboratory

  133 shared

• Luigi Preziosi

  133 shared

• Masayoshi Esashi

  133 shared

• Paolo Allia

  Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica

  133 shared

• Jit Muthuswamy

  Arizona State University

  133 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering

  University of Minnesota

  1996

• M.S., Electrical Engineering

  University of Colorado, Boulder

  1982

• B.S., Electrical Engineering

  Cornell University

  1981

Awards & honors

• Manufacturing Futures Initiative (MFI) award