Acquisition of Instrumentation for Study of Electronic Materials and Nanostructures

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The research of this materials-oriented group of experimentalists is focused on 1) the development of nanometer fabrication and processing through molecular beam epitaxy, scanning tunnel microscopy etching and chemical vapor deposition, and electrochemical underpotential dep-osition, 2) the study of metallization and contact regions to semicon- ductors, 3) development of passivation layers such as metal nitrides and oxides and 4) development of new materials relevant to electronics applications which include high critical temperature superconducting films, thin magnetic films, ferroelectric films and bulk crystals, wide bandgap oxide semiconductors, electrically conductive polymers, and monomolecular layers and nanowires of metal alloys and intermetallics precipitated from soluble metal precursors. The Academic Research Infrastrusture Program funds will be employed to acquire additional instrumentation to augment the present capabilities and to initiate a central materials characterization and fabrication facility. The new instruments will include: 1) Laser Ablation Thin Film Deposition System, 2) AC Susceptometer/DC Magnetometer, 3) Environmentally Controlled Large Sample Scanning Microprobe, 4) Atomic Force/ Scanning Tunneling Microprobe for Elecrochemical Studies, 5) Coin- cidence Counting Mass Spectrometer, 6) High Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectrometer. Item 5) will be custom built from in house designs. This research is concerned with the fabrication and characterization of new electronic materials and devices, in addition to developing an understanding of the fundamental mechanisms associated with their properties and processes. The research spans a broad range of materials from thin films superconductors, ferroelectric and magmetic materials to wide bandgap semiconductors to monomolecular layers and nanowires of metal alloys and intermetallic compounds.