Phil Swinehart

Dr. Philip Swinehart is currently Chief Science Officer at Lake Shore. He received his BSc degree from Oregon State University in 1967, his MSc from The Ohio State University in 1968, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering (Solid State Materials) from The Ohio State University in 1974. He has been with Lake Shore since 1975 and held the position of Vice President of Sensor R&D from 1984 until 2014.

Dr. Swinehart has led the invention of and development for many of Lake Shore’s key sensor products over his 40-year career with the company. Products include a silicon fast neutron dosimeter, which was successfully produced for use by U.S. and NATO armed forces in the 1980s, as well as robust hermetic sensor packages, rhodium/iron thin film RTD sensors, and negative temperature coefficient thin-film RTD thermistors that operate from 425 K to 0.1 K (Cernox™) or even lower (Rox™). He also developed and built specialized vacuum equipment for thin-film sensor R&D and manufacture. Dr. Swinehart received patents for both the dosimeter and the Cernox products. He is, in all, the author or co-author of twelve patents for optical fiber sensors and methods plus a number on optical filters. At Lake Shore, Dr. Swinehart consults with management and a group of eight scientists and engineers in advanced materials and devices research and works closely with various departments to define future directions for the company.

Select Publications

Review of Cernox™ (Zirconium Oxy-Nitride) Thin Film Resistance Temperature Sensors
S. S. Courts and P. R. Swinehart, in “Temperature: Its Measurement and Control in Science and Industry,” Volume 7, edited by D. Ripple, American Institute of Physics, NY (2003), pp. 393 – 398 (Presented at the Eighth International Symposium on Temperature, Oct. 21 – 24 2002, Chicago, USA). 

Long-Term Stability of a Cryogenic Diode
S. S. Courts and P. R. Swinehart, in “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering,” Vol. 47B, edited by P. Shirron, American Institute of Physics, NY (2002), pp. 1636 – 1643 (Presented at the CEC-2001, 17 – 20 July 2001, Madison, WI).

A New Cryogenic Diode Thermometer
S. S. Courts, P. R. Swinehart, and C. J. Yeager, in “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering,” Vol. 47B, edited by P. Shirron, American Institute of Physics, NY (2002), pp. 1620 – 1627 (Presented at the CEC-2001, 17 – 20 July 2001, Madison, WI).

Stability of Cernox Resistance Temperature Sensors
S. S. Courts and P. R. Swinehart, in “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering,” Vol. 45B, edited by Quan-Shan Shu, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, NY (2000) pp. 1841 – 1848 (Presented at CEC-1999, 12 – 15 July 1999, Montreal, Canada).

Electrical Properties of Metal-Oxy-Nitride Nanocomposites
D. S. Holmes, S. S. Courts, and P. R. Swinehart, in “Proceedings of the Micro Materials Conference, Micro Mat ’97,” edited by B. Michel and T. Winkler, Druckhaus Dresden (GmbH) Press, NY (1996), pp. 678 – 683 (Presented at Micro Mat ’97, Berlin, Germany, 16 – 18 April 1997).

Neutron and Gamma Radiation Effects on Cryogenic Temperature Sensors
S. S. Courts, D. S. Holmes, P. R. Swinehart, and B. C. Dodrill, “Temperature: Its Measurement and Control in Science and Industry,” Vol. 6, Part 2, 1992.

Cryogenic Thermometry – An Overview
S. S. Courts, D. S. Holmes, and P. R. Swinehart, in “Applications of Cryogenic Technology,” Vol. 10, Plenum Press, NY, pp. 55 – 69, 1991.

Performance Characteristics of Silicon Diode Cryogenic Temperature Sensors
B. C. Dodrill, J. K. Krause, P. R. Swinehart, and V. Wang, Applications of Cryogenic Technology, Vol. 10, Plenum Press, NY, 1991.

Demystifying Cryogenic Temperature Sensors
J. K. Krause and P. R. Swinehart, Photonics Spectra, 61, 1985.

Reliable Wide Range Diode Thermometry
J. K. Krause and P. R. Swinehart, Advances in Cryogenic Engineering, 31, edited by R. W. Fast, Plenum Press, NY, pp. 1247 – 1254, 1985.

Behavior of Diffused Planar Germanium Thermometers at Temperatures Below 1 K
G. X. Mack, A. C. Anderson, and P. R. Swinehart, Review of Scientific Instruments 54, 949, 1983.

Solid State Thermal Control for Spacecraft
J. W. C. Harpster, P. R. Swinehart, and F. Braun, Solid-State Electronics, Vol. 18, 6, pp. 551 – 555, 1975.

Proposed Floating-Zone, Immersed-Heater Method for the Growth of Trigonal Selenium Single Crystals
P. R. Swinehart, Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 26, 2, pp. 317 – 318, 1974.