Physical, optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures

在半导体工业中，不断推动用于通信和计算应用的更高性能的电子和光电子元件，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。市场份额和更高性能的这些增长的关键是能够以越来越小的长度制造半导体结构，目前已接近十亿分之一米宽。如此小的结构通常会加上“纳米”这个词的前缀，意思是“十亿分之一”。这项研究的目的将是促进发展必要的科学框架，以了解半导体纳米结构，以及原子水平的变化如何影响完整设备的性能。为了研究结构，这种微小的、高度聚焦的电子探测器被扫描穿过样品的表面，并测量产生的电流、产生的光以及从样品中散射出来的电子和穿过样品的电子。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加深对半导体设备在纳米级别的操作的了解，这将导致设备功能的改善。此外，预计为表征和理解这些半导体系统而开发的方法将交叉应用于生物、化学和环境科学中的其他纳米系统。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，从这项工作中受益。此外，从政府和以工业为基础的协作工作中，预计可以通过技术转让的形式为加拿大公司带来直接好处。

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.