Dr. Xavier Maeder

Dr. Xavier Maeder is the group leader for research in nano-analyses and microstructure at the Laboratory of Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures at EMPA. His expertise is on electron and X-ray diffraction techniques, SEM/FIB/TEM micro- and nano-analyses, and deformation mechanisms of materials.  He studied geoscience at the University of Lausanne and earned his PhD in 2007 at the University of Mainz in Germany, where he worked on the physics of deformation of rocks and minerals. In 2007-2008 he did one year post-doc at the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Utrecht, where he studied the microstructure and deformation mechanism of highly deformed limestone. He joined Empa in 2008, where he did three years post-doc working mainly on the microstructure and mechanical properties of thin films and coatings. In 2011, he took a first assistant position at the University of Lausanne, working on the deformation mechanism and microstructure in shear zones. He moved back to materials science in 2012 as a post-doc at CSEM in Neuchâtel, where he conducted several applied project on microsystems and coatings using advanced X-ray diffraction techniques.