RESEARCH INITIATION AWARD: Characterization of semiconductor Heterostructures by Cross-sectional Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

具有极高空间分辨率的半导体结构的表征对于器件尺寸的持续减小和先进异质结构器件的开发将是至关重要的。 扫描隧道显微镜（STM）及其相关技术的发展极大地提高了我们以原子或近原子分辨率研究材料性质的能力。 STM提供了几个优于其他技术的优点，如X射线衍射，透射电子显微镜（TEM）和光致发光，这些技术已被用于探测半导体的原子和近原子尺度的性质。 我们建议使用横截面STM研究新的半导体结构的电子和结构特性。 STM和相关技术提供了非常高的空间分辨率和灵敏度的电子结构，使我们能够探索，与纳米分辨率，特性，如带边能量和载流子浓度分布，外延生长界面的结构，合金成分和结构顺序，也许异质结带边的不连续性。 我们相当感兴趣的是研究合金和异质结界面的结构和局部电子性质之间的关系。 ***

9307986 Yu Characterization of semiconductor structures with extremely high spatial resolution will be crucial for continued reductions in device size and for the development of advanced heterostructure devices. The development of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and related techniques has dramatically enhanced our ability to study properties of materials with atomic or near-atomic resolution. STM offers several advantages over other techniques, such as x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence, that have been used to probe atomic- and near-atomic-scale properties of semiconductors. We propose to use cross-sectional STM to investigate the electronic and structural properties of novel semiconductor structures. STM and related techniques offer both very high spatial resolution and sensitivity to electronic structure, allowing us to explore, with nanometer resolution, characteristics such as band-edge energy and carrier concentration profiles, structure of epitaxially grown interfaces, alloy composition and structural order, and perhaps heterojunction band-edge discontinuities. Of considerable interest to us will be the investigation of relationships between structure and local electronic properties in alloys and at heterojunction interfaces. ***