Physical, optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures

在半导体工业中，为了通信和计算的应用，不断推动更高性能的电子和光电元件，据预测，在10-15年内，这些元件的全球市场每年将达到约3000亿美元。市场份额的增长和性能的提高的关键是能够以越来越小的长度尺度制造半导体结构，现在接近一米的十亿分之一。如此小的结构通常以“纳米”作为前缀，这意味着“十亿分之一”。这项研究的目的是促进科学框架的发展，以理解半导体纳米结构，以及原子水平上的变化如何影响整个器件的性能。为了研究这种微小的结构，高度聚焦的电子探针在样品表面被扫描，产生的电流，产生的光，以及从样品散射和穿过样品的电子被测量。通过研究这些电子如何与原子的独特排列相互作用，可以获得对半导体器件如何工作的有价值的见解。这项研究的主要成果将是增加对纳米级半导体器件操作的理解，这将导致器件功能的改进。此外，人们还期望为表征和理解这些半导体系统而开发的方法将在生物、化学和环境科学的其他纳米系统中找到交叉应用。加拿大将通过培训能够促进加拿大电信和技术工业竞争力的高技能研究人员而受益于这项工作。此外，从政府和工业为基础的协同工作中，预计可以以技术转让的形式为加拿大公司实现直接利益。

There is a continual drive in the semiconductor industry towards higher performance electronic and opto-electronic components for applications in communications and computing and it has been projected that the world-wide market for these components will be about $300 billion annually within 10-15 years. Key to these gains in market share and higher performance has been the ability to manufacture semiconductor structures at progressively smaller length scales, now approaching a billionth of a metre across. Structures this small are often prefixed by the term "nano" which implies "one billionth". It will be the purpose of this research to contribute to the development of the scientific framework necessary for understanding semiconductor nanostructures and how changes at the atomic level can impact the performance of a complete device. In order to investigate structures this tiny, highly focused probes of electrons are scanned across the surface of a sample and the electrical currents generated, light produced, and electrons scattered off of and through the sample are measured. By studying how these electrons interact with unique arrangements of atoms valuable insights can be gained into how semiconductor devices work. The main outcome of this research will be an increased understanding of the operation of semiconductor devices at the nanolevel that will lead to improved device functionality. In addition, it is expected that the methodologies developed for characterizing and understanding these semiconductor systems will find cross applications to other nanosystems in the biological, chemical and environmental sciences. Canada will benefit from this work through training of highly skilled researchers that can contribute to the competitiveness of Canada's telecommunication and technology industries. Also, from government and industrially-based collaborative work, it is expected that direct benefits can be realized to Canadian companies in the form of technology transfer.