Semiconductor metrology
Contactless multi-axis stages and parallel nanoscale imaging systems for inspection, alignment, advanced packaging, and precision assembly.
A newly established research group at IIT Kharagpur
Precision instruments for semiconductor metrology, advanced manufacturing and medical research.
PIC Lab develops contactless positioning systems, high-throughput scanning probe microscopes, micro-robotic instruments, and intelligent control architectures for semiconductor metrology, mechanobiology, and engineering education.
PIC Lab is currently being established. The image presents a public-safe concept direction rather than a photograph of current IIT Kharagpur facilities.
From physical principles to working instruments
We co-design the complete instrument.
Modern precision systems often require compromises among range, resolution, bandwidth, footprint, payload, and degrees of freedom. PIC Lab addresses these limits by designing the physical architecture, actuator, sensor, electronics, estimation methods, and controller together.
Our long-term objective is to create compact and reconfigurable instruments that reduce friction, wear, backlash, moving mass, and unnecessary hardware complexity while improving throughput and repeatability.
Research pillars
Three translations of one instrumentation philosophy
Mechanobiology instrumentation
Automated force stimulation and electrophysiological measurement systems for studying cellular mechanics and chronic-pain mechanisms.
Open instrumentation
Modular teaching platforms that expose actuation, sensing, electronics, communication, and control layers for hands-on learning.
Current research directions
View all current researchBuilding the founding research program
All three flagship programs are at the concept stage and are recruiting PhD and postdoctoral researchers.
Concept stage · Recruiting
Contactless Multi-Axis Precision Positioning
Passive support, programmable actuation, and optical feedback for semiconductor metrology, OSAT, precision assembly, and optical alignment.
Six-axis motionMachine visionControl
Concept stage · Recruiting
Parallel Atomic Force Microscopy
Scalable multi-probe instrumentation with shared hardware, parallel feedback, and coordinated topography reconstruction.
AFMMEMSSemiconductor metrology
Concept stage · Recruiting
Chronic-Pain Mechanobiology Instrumentation
Automated mechanical stimulation, force feedback, patch-clamp acquisition, and synchronized experiment control at the single-cell scale.
Force sensingPatch clampAutomation
Selected previous research
Explore all five projectsPublished foundations for the new laboratory
Completed doctoral work at IISc Bangalore and postdoctoral work at UT Dallas established the technical lineage for PIC Lab.
Six-DOF Diamagnetic Nanopositioning
6-DOFmotion
5 mmtravel
<1.88 nmprecision
Planar EM Actuators & Force Metrology
100×force density
1000×stiffness density
<15%model error
Hybrid NFAL–EM Nanopositioning
<20 nmRMS resolution
1.42 mmXY travel
171 HzZ bandwidth
Automated AFM Tip Replacement
10 sreplacement
<0.3 µmerror
Restoredimaging
Parallel Active MEMS Cantilevers
3×throughput
12 nmsampling
10 µmZ range
Completed foundations
Diamagnetic six-axis stages
Electromagnetic actuator optimization
Hybrid acoustic–electromagnetic positioning
Automated AFM maintenance
Parallel active MEMS probes
Current PIC Lab directions
Contactless multi-axis positioning
Parallel atomic force microscopy
Chronic-pain mechanobiology instruments
Education and open hardware
Founding team in formation
Help build instruments that do not yet exist.
PIC Lab is actively recruiting PhD students and welcomes expressions of interest from postdoctoral researchers in precision instrumentation, control, AFM, MEMS, machine vision, embedded systems, and micro-robotics.
Latest updates
View all newsResearch news
Hybrid NFAL–EM dynamics presented at AIM 2026
Prof. S. O. Reza Moheimani presented the team’s work on modeling and control of vertical dynamics in Genova, Italy.
Parallel active microcantilever article accepted
The three-probe MEMS AFM architecture was accepted in IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
Three-axis hybrid nanopositioner published
The platform combines acoustic support, electromagnetic actuation, and eddy-current damping.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Vikrant Kumar Singh
Assistant Professor · Department of Electrical Engineering · IIT Kharagpur
Dr. Singh develops precision instruments that combine advanced actuation, integrated sensing, machine vision, electronics, and feedback control. Before joining IIT Kharagpur, he conducted postdoctoral research at UT Dallas and completed his PhD and MS by Research at IISc Bangalore.