theFIT
Spectra Inference Spectra Generation

About the Author

Loay Madbouly

Loay Madbouly is a materials scientist and engineer working at the intersection of materials characterization, machine learning and scientific software.

LinkedIn ORCID
Loay Madbouly speaking beside a blackboard at a science event.

Current work

Surface analysis and scientific software

Since October 2023, Loay has been a doctoral researcher in Chemistry at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and a scientist at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin.

His work regularly uses XPS, SEM, EDX and machine learning. He is currently working on his brainchild, theFIT Science: an AI that assists in analyzing scientific spectra.

theFIT grows from this combination of surface-analysis practice, machine learning and scientific-software development.

Loay is involved in various international scientific collaborations.

Education and career

Science. Fabrication. Analysis.

  1. Since October 2023

    PhD candidate in Chemistry

    Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

  2. Since October 2023

    Researcher

    Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin

    At BAM, Loay contributes to the EU Horizon Europe project ACCORDs, which develops imaging-based characterization methods and standards for the safe and sustainable use of graphene and related two-dimensional materials. His work there focuses on the chemical analysis of graphene-family materials.

  3. February 2020–September 2023

    ODTÜ-GÜNAM

    Center for Solar Energy Research and Applications, METU, Ankara

    Research on oxide-based ultrathin films and crystalline-silicon solar-cell technologies, including a new implementation of Ti₃C₂Tₓ MXenes in solar cells.

    Loay worked extensively with thermal evaporation, electron-beam evaporation and sputtering systems; served as a super-user for multiple high-vacuum and ultra-high-vacuum deposition systems; used ALD, lithography and cleanroom fabrication; and supervised solar-cell fabrication processes. His characterization work included XPS, SEM, EDX, XRD, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry.

    Publication: Annealing-free, electron-selective ohmic contacts using zirconium oxide and aluminum for n-type crystalline silicon solar cells (Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing, 2024).

  4. 2019–2022

    Master of Science

    Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara

    Graduated with high honors. Thesis (PDF)

    Research involved crystalline-silicon solar cells and ultra-thin oxide passivation layers.

  5. September 2019–February 2020

    NanoLab

    Nanomaterials and Devices Laboratory, METU, Ankara

    Work on a copper-iodide-nanowire UV photodetector and atomic-scale research on transition-metal oxides.

    Loay synthesized silver and copper nanowires and prepared films by spray coating, spin coating and vacuum deposition techniques, including thermal evaporation, sputtering and electron-beam evaporation.

  6. 2015–2019

    Bachelor of Science

    Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara

Engineering experience

Research infrastructure and DevOps

Alongside his materials-science work, Loay worked full-time for one year as a DevOps engineer at Tiga Healthcare Technologies in Ankara, Türkiye. He was a core contributor in the infrastructure team supporting Tiga’s work on healthcare systems for Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health.

His work included Docker, Kubernetes, database administration and inspection using DBeaver, and the configuration and operation of both on-premises servers and Microsoft Azure cloud servers, together with other deployment, infrastructure and operational tooling.

Other technical experience includes silver-nanowire synthesis, HF etching, Keithley electrical measurements, Python, MATLAB, SQL, OriginPro and LabVIEW.

Selected work

Projects and publications

  • theFIT: accurate, AI-assisted XPS peak fitting with clear and auditable results.
  • Research on functionalized graphene nanoplatelets using Raman spectroscopy, XPS, SEM and EDX.
  • Research on annealing-free electron-selective ZrO₂/Al contacts for n-type crystalline-silicon solar cells.
  • Work on oxide passivation layers, ultrathin-film deposition, MXenes in solar cells and a copper-iodide-nanowire UV photodetector.
  • Machine-learning methods for XP-spectrum analysis.
  • Contributions associated with the EU-funded ACCORDs project on characterization of graphene-family materials.

Selected publications

Recognition and communication

Research beyond the laboratory

Loay has received multiple research grants and awards in scientific competitions.

He has delivered or contributed to more than ten talks and poster presentations at international scientific conferences.

For professional or research inquiries, please use the Contact page.