MRI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for the Production and Characterization of Epitaxial Graphite on Silicon Carbide

该奖项是为了获得用于生产和表征超薄外延石墨薄膜（EG，“外延石墨烯”）的仪器。这种材料对于由佐治亚理工学院（GIT）的研究人员领导的纳米图案化外延石墨烯（NPEG）项目至关重要。NPEG项目是一个多学科研究项目，旨在探索在单晶SiC芯片上生长EG和NPEG的特性。与纳米管不同，无缝连接的功能性NPEG器件可以通过平面EG衬底的合理图案来制造，从而避免了对晶圆上金属互连的需要。因此，石墨纳米电子学的NPEG方法可以消除碳纳米管面临的许多障碍，同时保留高载流子迁移率和准一维输运的优点。参与NPEG项目的积极推广项目——并由仪器推动——包括乔治亚州教师实习奖学金项目（K-12教师）和佐治亚理工学院科学学院教师发展项目（来自非研究机构的教师，代表性不足群体的比例通常很高）。该项目还将通过NSF-REU项目涉及本科生，其中包括西乔治亚州立大学的一个由教师指导的本科生研究项目。此外，通过参与GIT纳米科学与技术（NaST）证书课程，pi和参与教师将把最新的研究成果直接注入到专业的研究生和本科课程中。

This award is for the acquisition of instrumentation for the production and characterization of ultrathin films of epitaxial graphite (EG, "epitaxial graphene"). This material is essential for the nanopatterned epitaxial graphene (NPEG) project, led by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT). The NPEG project is a multidisciplinary research program to explore the properties of EG and NPEG grown on chips of single crystal SiC. Unlike nanotubes, seamlessly-interconnected, functional NPEG devices could be fabricated via rational patterning of a planar EG substrate, obviating the need for metal interconnects on the wafer. Thus, the NPEG approach to graphitic nanoelectronics could remove many of the obstacles faced by carbon nanotubes, while retaining the benefits of high carrier mobility and quasi-1D transport.Active outreach programs involved in the NPEG project - and facilitated by the instrumentation - include the Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers program (K-12 teachers) and the GIT College of Sciences Faculty Development Program (faculty from non-research institutions, with typically high proportions of underrepresented groups). The program also will involve undergraduate students through the NSF-REU program, including a faculty-directed undergraduate research program at the State University of West Georgia. Also, through participation in the GIT NanoScience and Technology (NaST) certificate program, PIs and participating faculty will inject recent research results directly into specialized graduate and undergraduate courses.