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Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan

  MSE / People / Faculty / Joanna Mirecki-Millunchick

Electrochemical etching of ultrasharp STM tips
Sponsor: National Science Foundation

In scanning tunnelling microscopy, sharper tips offer higher performance. The motivation for this project was to improve upon commercially available STM tips, which are relatively costly and have undesirable variability in sharpness. The etched tips are made from polycrystalline tungsten which is both readily available

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Inkless deposition of microparticles by electrostatic acceleration for materials processing
Sponsor: Air Force

II*n [DatabarData] flAccV = 30000.000 flSpot = 2.442 flMagn = 0.17200000584 lDetName = 0 flWD = 9.430 lScanSpeed = 1 FilterMode = 136 Definition = 177 szUserText = 1HM200.TIF ImageName = 1HM200.TIF flIonAccV = 0.000 flIonSpot = 0.000 flIonMagn = 0.00000 flIonWD = 0.000

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Engineering of Strain Relaxation Using Focused Ion Beams
Sponsor: Army Research Office (ARO)

Lattice mismatch in heteroepitaxial semiconductor systems remains one of the greatest barriers to the use of otherwise promising film combinations.  Many III-V semiconductor systems have bandgaps that make the desirable for high efficiency and high output optical applications, but their use thus far has

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Thermodynamic Phase Stability and Disorder of Surface Structure in Compound Semiconductor Alloys
Sponsor: Department of Energy

The nanoscale surface structure of epitaxially grown III-V semiconductor alloys plays a significant role in interfacial properties and self assembly for optoelectronic devices. In order to determine the principles which give rise to various structures and how to direct their formation in synthesis, we are

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Atomic Surface Structure in Compound Semiconductor Alloys: Mechanisms for Surface Segregation in Compound Semiconductor Thin Films
Sponsor: Department of Energy

Our goal is to determine the atomistic mechanisms for surface segregation in III-V semiconductor alloy systems. Surface segregation has significant technological impact, since it affects the interfacial abruptness and compositional uniformity in device structures. However, the details of atomic processes that govern surface segregation are

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Focused Ion Beams for Nanomanufacturing: Anisotropic Collodoidal Nanofludic Manufacturing
Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Highly lauded for its potential in biomedical applications - which usually involve particles of tens of microns or larger - microfludic device is marching towards a new scale level. Nanoparticles, unlike microparticles, are Brownian. Their packing and interaction may result in interesting hierarchical particle assmblies,

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The Materials Science of Metamorphic Buffer Layers for High Performance Device Applications
Sponsor: National Science Foundation-CAREER: The Materials Science of Metamorphic Buffer Layers for High Performance Device Applications

I investigate the growth, stress, and morphological evolution of metamorphic buffer layers, grown on GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The research focuses on GaAsSb and AlGaAsSb buffer layer designs. These layers seem to have higher nucleation rate of pure-edge dislocations, which are more

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Self-Assembly of Compound Semiconductor Nanostructures: Directed Assembly of Quantum Dots using Focused Ion Beams (FIB)
Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Modification of materials such as InGaAs and GaAs through focused ion beams (FIB) may be useful in manufacturing nanoscale optoelectronic devices. The goal of this project is to integrate a UHV compatible FIB column arriving this November with our current MBE/STM system. Upon successful integration,

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Self-Assembly of Compound Semiconductor Nanostructures: Nucleation and Growth of GaSb/GaAs(001) Quantum Dots
Sponsor: Department of Energy

Quantum Dots (QDs) are of technological importance for numerous possible applications in optoelectronic devices. Current most QDs are made out of InAs, however GaSb could be a potential alternative for QD formation due to its similar lattice parameter. We are studying the nucleation and growth

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Atomic Surface Structure in Compound Semiconductor Alloys: Step Edge Diffusion in Compound Semiconductors
Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Thin GaAs films grown on lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As/InP(001) have been imaged by in vacuo scanning tunneling microscopy. We observe that the morphological evolution of these strained films depends on the deposition and diffusion of group III adatoms and the incorporation of As from the vapor, in

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Atomic Surface Structure in Compound Semiconductor Alloys: Novel Reconstructions in InGaAs Alloys
Sponsor: National Science Foundation

The epitaxial growth of III-V semiconductors and their corresponding properties depend on the surface reconstructions and morphology of the film grown. We have found that the surface structure of InxGa1-xAs alloys consists of multiple surface reconstructions depending on the composition x. The goal of this

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Outreach Activities

Our group does a number of outreach activities throughout the year to interest middle and high school students in science and engineering.  In the past we have been involved with the Sally Ride Festival, the WISE GISE camp, and aided Girl Scout troops with badges. 

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