CAREER: Silicon and Gallium Arsenide Nanowire Devices

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This paper proposes the development of a research and educational program to further the knowledge and understanding of nanotechnology through laboratory, classroom, project, and demonstration experiences. A directed effort toward the development of nanowire devices and circuits is proposed, utilizing the self-assembly of nanowires through the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique. The merit of this work is in the investigation of an additional control mechanism through the use of electrostatic forces to join individual nanowires, and the development of a procedure for epitaxially interconnecting to the nanowires from macroscopic electrodes. Investigations will include nanowire p-n junctions, field effect transistors, light emitting diodes, and heterojunction devices. Using the VLS technique to fabricate nanowire interconnects may also prove a viable method of interfacing to molecular electronic circuits, for the fabrication of scanning probes used in scanning tunneling microscopy, or atomic force microscopy, and for making micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) such as electrical conductivity probes.This proposal outlines three methods of extending the scholarly impact beyond the students directly involved in the research, to include other graduate students, undergraduate students, and local area schools. A course has been developed around future directions in semiconductor devices including nanotechnology that will be further expanded upon. Second, scanning probe tips will be fabricated as part of this effort, and a group of undergraduates will be assisted in building a working scanning probe microscope (SPM). The third outreach effort includes using the fabricated SPM for both on-campus and off campus demonstrations at local high schools and middle schools.