Dr. Carl Smith

Dr. Carl Smith is a faculty member at Hampton University, where his research focuses on plasma physics, RF impedance matching, global plasma models, nuclear fusion and fission technologies. His work centers on the physics and engineering of radio-frequency (RF) driven plasma sources, with particular emphasis on impedance matching, pulsed power delivery, and diagnostic techniques for plasma processing systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Dr. Smith earned both his Bachelor of Science and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University, where he was a Park Scholar and conducted his doctoral research under Dr. Steven Shannon. His dissertation and subsequent publications developed equivalent circuit models for RF-driven plasma sources as well as relevant agile impedance matching techniques such as Matchtiming.

Prior to joining Hampton University, Dr. Smith served as a research scientist at Tokyo Electron’s TEL Technology Center, America located in Albany, NY. His work focused on the design of experimental plasma diagnostics and next generation RF impedance matching networks. Additionally, Dr. Smith also focused on deriving empirical models of various capacitive and inductive discharges. His recent research highlights include impedance match timing for pulsed RF control, deriving global plasma models that incorporate reflected power into the schema for power delivery, characterization of RF matching networks and ultra-short RF pulsing techniques for semiconductor manufacturing processes.

Dr. Smith’s publications span topics from nanofabrication (self-assembled nanoparticle antiglare coatings) to advanced plasma diagnostics and RF engineering for industrial plasma sources, reflecting a research trajectory that bridges fundamental plasma physics with applied semiconductor processing technology. At Hampton University Dr. Smith hopes to expand his skillset by applying the agile RF impedance matching techniques that he refined while in graduate school and would like to apply them to the microwave power delivery infrastructure of the STAR_LITE Stellarator Experiment.

In his spare time Dr. Smith enjoys collecting gemstones, gold coins, radioactive antiques, radiation detectors, building high vacuum/voltage systems as well as tutoring in math and physics.