The long-term objective of our research program is to design, fabricate and comprehensively characterize complex thin film structures, including silicon-based systems, for applications in photonics. We address, in a rigorous research approach and using state-of-the-art research infrastructure (including plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, PECVD), issues with a high potential impact on the science of advanced materials and the manufacturing process. One of the key distinguishing features of the research program is the intimate link between fabrication and characterization. A critical and unique component of the research program is the availability of the McMaster Intense Positron Beam Facility (MIPBF) for depth-profiling of open-volume defects in thin film structures, at the level of single missing or misplaced atoms.
Our current research aims to:
Gain a better understanding of features at the atomic level that determine the optical, electronic, and mechanical properties of specific thin film structures, including the use of positron annihilation spectroscopy,
Design and optimize materials, structures and devices for specific applications in (silicon) photonics and optoelectronics,
Study in detail the plasma processes leading to desired properties of the fabricated structures, and
Provide a strong and direct link between advanced materials science and industry-relevant fabrication technology.
Peter Mascher obtained a PhD in Engineering Physics in 1984 from the Technische Universität Graz (TUG) in Austria and in 1989 joined McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is a Professional Engineer and a professor in the Department of Engineering Physics and chaired the department from 1994 to 2000. From 2003 to 2014 he served as the Associate Dean (Research and External Relations) of the Faculty of Engineering and from 2014 to 2022, he was overseeing McMaster’s International Portfolio as Vice-Provost, International Affairs. He is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and The Electrochemical Society. Mascher holds the William Sinclair Chair in Optoelectronics and leads active research groups involved in the fabrication and characterization of thin films for optoelectronic applications, the development and application of silicon-based nanostructures, and the characterization of defects in solids by positron annihilation spectroscopy. His research work has been continuously funded for more than 35 years by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and also has drawn funding from the Canada Foundation of Innovation (CFI), several federal and provincial Centres of Excellence, and industry, for a lifetime total surpassing $25M. He has supervised more than 85 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, has authored or coauthored close to 250 publications in refereed journals and conference proceedings, and has presented many invited lectures at international conferences and workshops. His publications have been cited more than 5,000 times, leading to an H-index of 31 and an i-10 index of 113. In 2024, he was awarded the Thomas D. Callinan Award of the Electrochemical Society, in recognition of outstanding contributions to the dielectric science and technology field and for advancing the scientific understanding and contributing to the technological development of nanoscale luminescent materials. Mascher is Past Chair of the Dielectric Science and Technology Division of the Electrochemical Society, and since 2017, a Technical Editor for the ECS Journal of Solid-State Science and Technology. He has been the lead organizer of a series of successful ECS symposia on “Nanoscale Luminescent Materials”, with the 9th edition scheduled for the 249th ECS Meeting in 2026 in Seattle, WA. From 2021 to 2023, Mascher served as the Chair of the Senior Leaders’ Group of Universitas 21, is a global network of world leading, research-intensive universities. He currently serves on the International Committee of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, is Chair of NanoOntario, and Chair of the Board of Directors of CALDO, a consortium of Canada’s leading universities focused on Latin America.
Ph.D. (1984) – Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Graz, Austria
Thesis: Investigations of the Behaviour of Positrons in Low-Melting Metals by the Lifetime Technique
M.Eng. (1980) – Technische Universität Graz, Austria
Thesis: Positron Lifetimes in Cadmium
Thomas D. Callinan Award of the Electrochemical Society (2024)
Fellow of the Electrochemical Society (2016)
Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2012)
William Sinclair Chair in Optoelectronics (since 2001)
Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) since 1993
Recent
Refereed Journal Publications (students and researchers under my direct supervision are listed in italics)
166. Bruno L. Segat Frare, Batoul Hashemi, Niloofar Majidian Taleghani, Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Dawson B. Bonneville, Hamidu M. Mbonde, Henry C. Frankis, Peter Mascher, Ponnambalam Ravi Selvaganapathy, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “A thulium-doped tellurite distributed Bragg reflector waveguide laser on a silicon nitride chip”, Journal of the Optical Society of America B42, 1204–1210 (2025); doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.558903
165. Parnia Badkoubeh Hezaveh, Peter Mascher, Zahra Khatami, “Investigation of Terbium-Doped Silicon Oxide Thin Films: Comparison of TEM Images prepared by FIB and Mechanical Methods”, Semicond. Sci. Technol.40, 055010 (2025); doi: 10.1088/1361-6641/adccf2
164. Fahmida Azmi, Brahim Ahammou, Paramita Bhattacharyya, Peter Mascher, “Optical and Mechanical Properties of Europium-doped Silicon Nitride Thin Films deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with magnetron sputtering”, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.14, 043003 (2025); doi: 10.1149/2162-8777/adc23e
163. Hamidu M. Mbonde, Batoul Hashemi, Bruno L. Segat Frare, Thibault Wildi, Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Dawson B. Bonneville, Neetesh Singh, Peter Mascher, Franz X. Kärtner, Tobias Herr, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “Demonstration of passive, nonlinear and active devices on a hybrid photonic platform”, Optics Express33, 1836–1847 (2025); doi: 10.1364/OE.546052 [Editor’s Pick]
162. Paramita Bhattacharyya, Brahim Ahammou, Clarissa White, Fahmida Azmi, Rafael Kleiman, Peter Mascher, “Design Method for Generating Multiple Colors with Thickness Modulated Thin-film Optical Filters for Silicon Solar Cells”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A43, 013101 (2025); doi: 10.1116/6.0003977
161. Cameron M. Naraine, Niloofar Majidian Taleghani, Batoul Hashemi, Jocelyn N. Westwood-Bachman, Cameron Horvath, Bruno L. Segat Frare, Hamidu M. Mbonde, Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Kevin Setzer, Alexandria McKinlay, Khadijeh Miarabbas Kiani, Renjie Wang, Ponnambalam Ravi Selvaganapathy, Peter Mascher, Andrew P. Knights, Jens H. Schmid, Pavel Cheben, Mirwais Aktary, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “A moderate confinement O-, S-, C-, and L-band silicon nitride platform enabled by a rapid prototyping integrated photonics foundry process”, IEEE Photonics Journal16(6), 1–15 (2024); doi: 10.1109/JPHOT.2024.3503287
160. Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Michael Chesaux, Jacek Wojcik, Dino Deligiannis, Peter Mascher, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “Low-Loss and Low-Temperature Al₂O₃ Thin Films for Integrated Photonics and Optical Coatings”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A42, 063402 (2024); doi: 10.1116/6.0003976
159. Hamidu M. Mbonde, Neetesh Singh, Bruno L. Segat Frare, Milan Sinobad, Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Batoul Hashemi, Dawson B. Bonneville, Peter Mascher, Franz X. Kärtner, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “Octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in a thin Si₃N₄ waveguide coated with highly nonlinear TeO₂”, Optics Letters49, 2725–2728 (2024); doi: 10.1364/OL.503820
158. Yuxuan Gao, Ranjan Das, Yanran Xie, Feng Guo, Peter Mascher, Andrew P. Knights, “Si/Ge Phototransistor with Responsivity >1000A/W on a Silicon Photonics Platform”, Optics Express32, 2271 (2024); doi: 10.1364/OE.512228
157. Zahra Khatami, Lukas Wolz, Jacek Wojcik, Peter Mascher, “A comprehensive calibration of integrated magnetron sputtering and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition for rare-earth doped thin films”, J. Mater. Res.39, 150–164 (2024); doi: 10.1557/s43578-023-01207-2
156. Sadman Sakib, Roderick MacLachlan, Yuxuan Gao, Peter Mascher, Andy Knights, Leyla Soleymani, Igor Zhitomirsky, “Catecholate Dye-assisted Decoration of Ag on TiO₂ Nanoparticles for Detection of Cancer-related MicroRNA Biomarkers on a Multiplexed Photoelectrochemical Platform”, ACS Applied Nano Materials6, 20375–20388 (2023); doi: 10.1021/acsanm.3c04438
155. Rashin Basiri Namin, Peter Mascher, Felipe Chibante, Zahra Khatami, “Optical and Structural Properties of Europium-Doped Silicon Oxide Fabricated Using Integrated Sputtering and Chemical Vapour Deposition”, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.12, 106002 (2023); doi: 10.1149/2162-8777/acfc65
154. Bruno L. Segat Frare, Pooya Torab Ahmadi, Batoul Hashemi, Dawson B. Bonneville, Hamidu M. Mbonde, Henry C. Frankis, Andrew P. Knights, Peter Mascher, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “On-chip hybrid erbium-doped tellurium oxide-silicon nitride distributed Bragg reflector lasers”, Applied Physics B129, 158 (2023); doi: 10.1007/s00340-023-08099-4
153. Brahim Ahammou, Paramita Bhattacharyya, Christophe Levallois, Fahmida Azmi, Jean-Pierre Landesman, Peter Mascher, “Mechanical and Optical Properties of Amorphous Silicon Nitride-Based Films Prepared by Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A41, 053113 (2023); doi: 10.1116/6.0002896
152. Paramita Bhattacharyya, Brahim Ahammou, Fahmida Azmi, Rafael Kleiman, Peter Mascher, “Design and Fabrication of Color-generating Nitride based Thin-Film Optical Filters for Photovoltaic Applications”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A41, 033409 (2023); doi: 10.1116/6.0002357
151. A. Abdelal, Z. Khatami, P. Mascher, “A Comparative Study of a:SiCN:H Thin Films Fabricated with Acetylene and Methane”, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.12, 013002 (2023); doi: 10.1149/2162-8777/aca9fb
150. Fahmida Azmi, Yuxuan Gao, Zahra Khatami, Peter Mascher, “Tunable Emission from Eu:SiOxNy Thin Films Prepared by Integrated Magnetron Sputtering and Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A40, 043402 (2022); doi: 10.1116/6.0001761
149. Brahim Ahammou, Aysegul Abdelal, Jean-Pierre Landesman, Christophe Levallois, Peter Mascher, “Strain engineering in III-V photonic components through structuration of SiNx films”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B40, 012202 (2022); doi: 10.1116/6.0001352
148. Yuxuan Gao, Zahra Khatami, Peter Mascher, “Influence of Nitrogen on the Luminescence Properties of Ce-Doped SiOxNy”, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.10, 076005 (2021); doi: 10.1149/2162-8777/ac12dd
147. Dawson B. Bonneville, Jeremy W. Miller, Caitlin Smyth, Peter Mascher, Jonathan D. B. Bradley, “Low-Temperature and Low-Pressure Silicon Nitride Deposition by ECR-PECVD for Optical Waveguides”, Applied Sciences11(5), 2110 (2021); doi: 10.3390/app11052110
146. Jeremy W. Miller, Michael Chesaux, Dino Deligiannis, Peter Mascher, Jonathan D. Bradley, “Low-loss GeO₂ thin films deposited by ion-assisted AC Sputtering for waveguide applications”, Thin Solid Films709, 138165 (2020); doi: 10.1016/j.tsf.2020.138165
145. Zahra Khatami, Lyndia Bleczewski, John J. Neville, Peter Mascher, “X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy of Silicon Carbide Thin Films Improved by Nitrogen for All-Silicon Solar Cells”, ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.9, 083002 (2020); doi: 10.1149/2162-8777/abb2b1
