J. Alexander Liddle is Chief of the Microsystems and Nanotechnology Division. He received his B.A. and D. Phil. degrees in Materials Science from the University of Oxford. After his appointment in 1990 as a postdoctoral fellow at Bell Laboratories, he spent the next decade there, where his primary efforts were directed towards the research, development, and eventual commercialization of a novel electron-beam lithography technology. He then spent four years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the Center for X-ray Optics, and then as Lead Scientist of the Nanofabrication Facility in the Molecular Foundry.
At NIST, his division works in a variety of areas, ranging from quantum nanophotonics to biometrology. His personal research focus is on nanofabrication, self-assembly for nanomanufacturing, and single-molecule super-resolution microscopy for materials metrology. He has published over 275 papers, in areas ranging from electron-beam lithography to DNA-controlled nanoparticle assembly and holds 19 US patents. He is a fellow of the APS and the Washington Academy of Sciences, and a member of the AVS and MRS. He has served on numerous advisory and program evaluation committees, including those for NSF, DOE, and the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and as chair of several advanced patterning and metrology technology conferences.
AVS-Nanoscience and Technology Division Nanotechnology Recognition Award, 2022; Fellow Washington Academy of Sciences, 2017; APS Fellow, 2012; MNE best poster award, 2009; LBNL outstanding performance award, 2005; SRC Outstanding Industrial Mentor Award, 1998