Events

Self Assembly for Nanostructured Electronic Devices at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials

November 3, 2009 at 3pm/36-428

Charles Black
Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory

abstract:
The Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) at Brookhaven National Laboratory is a science-based user facility devoted to nanotechnology research addressing challenges in energy security. Five internal research groups (Electronic Nanomaterials, Catalysis/Surface Science, Biology/Soft Materials, Electron Microscopy, and Theory/Computation) accompany a broad portfolio of scientific capabilities and an active external user program. I will provide an overview of the CFN facilities, which are accessible at no cost to users via a peer reviewed proposal process.

Our research program in Electronic Materials incorporates nanostructured materials with precisely defined and tunable internal dimensions as experimental platforms for understanding and improving electronic device performance. We are pursuing self-assembling materials as fabrication tools because of their ability to autonomously form patterns at sub-lithographic feature sizes (<20nm) and pitches (<40nm), and with a high density of features (~10^11/cm2). Although patterns formed via self assembly typically have only limited positional order and a high density of defects, they are nevertheless well-suited to large-area device applications such as solar cells. I will present our research progress implementing self-assembly approaches into nanostructured solar cell designs, as well as our previous successful implementation of self assembly in high-performance semiconductor devices.

bio:
Charles Black is a Scientist and the Group Leader for Electronic Nanomaterials in the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He researches applications for nanostructured materials in photovoltaic devices. From 1996 to 2006 Dr. Black was a Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. His research in IBM involved using self assembly to address specific fabrication challenges in high-performance semiconductor electronics. During his career he has at different times performed experimental research on low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, single-electron tunneling devices, superconductivity in metal nanoparticles, nanocrystal-based electronic devices, and ferroelectric non-volatile memories. Dr. Black earned the Ph.D. degree in Physics from Harvard University in 1996. He has authored more than 60 scientific publications and holds 25 US Patents.