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

9307986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继续减小和先进异质结构器件的发展将是至关重要的。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研究原子或近原子分辨率材料性质的能力。与用于探测半导体原子和近原子尺度特性的其他技术相比，扫描隧道显微镜有几个优点，如X射线衍射、透射电子显微镜和光致发光。我们建议使用截面扫描隧道显微镜来研究新型半导体结构的电子和结构性质。扫描隧道显微镜和相关技术提供了非常高的空间分辨率和对电子结构的敏感性，使我们能够以纳米级的分辨率探索带边能量和载流子浓度分布、外延生长界面的结构、合金成分和结构有序，以及可能的异质结带边不连续等特征。我们非常感兴趣的是研究合金和异质结界面处的结构和局域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. ***