Research Interests:
Novel Nanostructured Thin Film Materials for
Energy and Electronics Applications
His research interests include: a) epitaxial growth of strain-free semiconductor thin films on weakly interacting surfaces such as graphene and mica; b) the use of free-standing semiconductor films for flexible electronics and optoelectronics applications; and c) the use of diffraction and real space imaging techniques to reveal the structural properties of strain-free semiconductor thin films.
Group Members
- Zonghuan Lu (Postdoc)
- Xixing Wen (Postdoc)
- Yu Xiang (PhD, 2019. Co-advisor: Gwo-Ching Wang)
- Tushar Gupta (PhD, 2020. Co-Advisor: Nikhil Koratka)
- Yueming Xu (PhD, 2021. Co-advisor: Joel Plawsky)
- Nick Pittman (MS, 2020)
- Nigel DaSilva (BS, 2022)
- Brandon Klein (BS, 2023)
- Ray Xie (BS, 2021)
Lab Techniques Utilized
Deposition Techniques
- Oblique angle deposition
- RPIB (Reactive Partially Ionized Beam)
- At
- Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering
- Vacuum Evaporation
- CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition)
Analysis Techniques
- XPS (X-ray Photoelectric Spectroscopy)
- RHEED (Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction)
- RHEED pole figure technique
- SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)
- FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy)
- XRD (X-ray Diffraction)
- UV (Ultraviolet) Absorption Spectroscopy
- C-V (Capacitance-Voltage) Analysis
- I-V (Current-Voltage) Analysis
- SIMS (Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy)
- AFM (At
- STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscopy)
- DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry)
- NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Spectroscopy
- RBS (
- TEM (Tunneling Electron Microscopy)
- Ellips
- Electron Microprobe
- High Frequency Testing
Former PhD students and thesis topics
Joseph Pimbley
- "Diffraction fr
H.B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Co-winner of Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for
best thesis
Present employment: GE
Justin Wong - "Partially Ionized Beam
Deposition of Silicon Dioxide and A
H.B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Present employment: IBM
Simon Yang - "Cluster Beam and Partially
Ionized Beam Deposition" (Materials Sci. & Engr. Department) -
December 1987
Co-winner of Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for
best thesis
Present employment: Chief Technology Officer,
Chartered Semiconductor.
Andrie Yapsir - "Effects of Hydrogen Implantation on
Metal-semiconductor Interfaces" - December 1988
Co-winner of the Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for
best thesis
Co-winner of the H.B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Present employment: IBM (recently back to Indonesia)
Peng Bai - "Effects of Low Energy Ion B
Present employment: Intel Corporation
H.-N. Yang - "High Reso
American Vacuum Society Graduate Student Research
Award
One of the three finalists for the 1991 Russell and Sigurd
Varian Fellowship Award at the American Vacuum Society
H. B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Present employment: Motorola
Ping Li - "Study of Amorphous BaTiO3 Thin
Films"-May 1992
Present employment: MA/COM
T. Nason -
"Interactions of Ag Films with Semiconductor Surfaces" - Dec. 1992
Present employment: Entrepreneur, started his own c
X.-M. Wu - "Conduction Mechanisms in TaOx Films"-May 1993
H. B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Present employment: Analog
Steve W. Liu - "Characterization of Broad Band
BaTiO3 Thin Films"-Aug. 1993
Barden best thesis award (Chemistry)
Present employment: President, Hua-Hong/NEC
Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Lu You -"Deposition of Parylene
Thin Films"-Dec. 1993
Present employment: AMD (Advanced Micro De
B. Gittleman - " The
Effects of Low Energy Ion B
Present employment: MRC (Materials Research
Corporation)
X.-F. Ma- "Vapor Deposited Polymeric-Organic C
Co-winner of the Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for
best thesis
Present employment: Evergreen Solar
Steve Soss - "The
Effect of Texture on the Resistivity of Thin Metallic Face-Centered Cubic
Films"-Dec. 1995
H. B.
Finalist for the Materials Research Society Graduate Research Award
Present employment: Intel Corporation
Ke Chen-
"Experimental Study of the Al-Ta2O5-Al Structure"- Sept. 1996
H. B.
Present employment: Eaton Corporation
Kevin Mello- "Structural and Electrical
Characteristics of CoGe2 Alloy Films Deposited Heteroepitaxially
on GaAs(100) using Partially Ionized Beam Deposition"-Sept. 1997
(Co-advised with Dr. S. Murarka)
Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for best thesis
Present employment: IBM
Matt Nielsen- "Pulsed DC Magnetron Sputtering
of Insulating Films"- Sept. 1998 (with
Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for best thesis
Present employment: GE
Y.-P. Zhao- "Instabilities in Growth/Etch Fronts"-
Sept. 1999 (with G.-C. Wang)
H. B. Huntington Award for outstanding graduate work
Materials Research Society Silver Metal Award (1998)
American Vacuum Society Graduate Research Award
(1999)
Present employment:
Mark Delarosa- "Interface analysis of
diffusion barriers"- June 2000
Present employment: Intel
Jin Kim- "Deposition
and characterization of dielectric films prepared by pulsed magnetron
sputtering technique"--December, 2000
Present employment: TI
Jeff Fortin-“Deposition and characterization
of Parylene films”—August 2001
Recipient of the 2002 Karen and Lester Gerhardt Best Thesis Award
Present employment: GE
Anu Mallikarjunan-“Electrical stability of
metal/low dielectric constant materials systems”—June 2002
2002 Materails Research Society Graduate
Student Silver Award
Present employment: IBM
Jason Drotar-“Temporal
evolution of surface structure and morphology in thin film growth and etching
processes”, August 2002.
2001 American Vacuum Society Graduate Student Award
2002 H.B. Huntington Award for Outstanding Graduate Work
Present empolyment: Na
Don Windover-“Real-time
measurements of film growth using fixed angle X-ray reflect
2003 Karen & Lester Gerhardt Award for best thesis
Present empolyment: National Institute of Science and
Technology (NIST)
Ed Barnat-“Pulse biasing during the growth of thin film by magnetron sputtering”, August 2002.
2002 H.B. Huntington Award for Outstanding Graduate Work
Present employment: Sandia Laboratory
Jay Senkevich-“Atomic and
molecular layer activation of dielectric surfaces”, July 2002.
Present employment: Blewer Scientific
Tansel Karabacak- “Shadowing and physical self-assembly in oblique angle deposition”, August 2003.
2003 H.B. Huntington Award for Outstanding Graduate Work
American Vacuum Society Graduate Research Award (2003)
Present employment:
Christopher Jezewski-
“Inductively Coupled Hydrogen Plasma-Assisted Copper At
Present employment: Intel Corporation
Hou-Tong Chen -“Development of an apertureless THz
scanning near-field microscope”, December 2004 (with Dr. R. Kersting).
Present
employment:
Dexian Ye –“Shadowing growth by physical vapor deposition”, August 2006
2006 H.B. Huntington Award for Outstanding Graduate Student
American Vacuum Society Thin Film Division Graduate Research Award (2006)
Present employment: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Jasbir Singh Juneja –“CVD Parylene-N as pore sealant for porous low-k dielectrics”, December 2006
Present employment: Novellus Systems
Gregory
Ten Eyck –“Atomic Layer Deposition of Metals on
Dielectric Substrates”, May 2007
2006 American Vacuum
Society Russell and Sigurd Varian Award
2005 Recipient of the RPI ECSE Department Saxena Award
2005
Recipient of the RPI Founder’s Award of Excellence
Present employment: Sandia Laboratories
Cynthia Gedelian –“Chemical
vapor deposition and characterization of Poly(p-phenylene
vinylene) films”, May 2008
Ranganath Teki –“Energy
applications of nanorod structures grown by oblique
angle deposition”, (co-advised by Dr. Nikhil Koratkar), May 2009.
One of the 3 final list of the 2009 Lemelson Invention Award, RPI
Present employment: RPI
Tom Parker: -“Mechanical resonance of individual nanostructures”, December, 2009.
Walter Eppenstein 2005 Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Present employer: Army Research Laboratory, MD
Ya Ou: -“Electrical Stability Study of Metal/Dielectric Systems”, December, 2009.
RPI Founder Award, 2009.
Present employer: Intel, Portland, Oregon.
Rahul Krishnan: -“Silicon based nano-architectures for high power lithium-ion battery anodes”, May 2011.
Present employer: Intel, Oregon.
Ming He: “Thermal and Electrical Stability of Metal/Porous low-k Dielectric Interfaces”, August, 2011.
2002 H.B. Huntington Award for Outstanding Graduate Student
Present employer: Global Foundries, Albany.
Michael Riley: “The Design and Growth of Sculptured Thin Films for Optical and Photocatalytic Applications”, Co-advisor: Joe Plawsky, July 2013.
Present employer: Intel, Oregon.
Liang Chen: “Biaxial Texture Evolution of Nanostructures Under Dynamic Shadowing Effect in Sputtering Deposition”, Co-
Advisor: Gwo-Ching Wang, May 2014
Present employer: Postdoc, RPI
Juan Borja: “Dielectric breakdown in nano-porous thin films”, Co-advisor: Joel Plawsky, June 2014
Present employer: GE, Schenectacdy NY
Rahul Mukherjee: “Nano-Structured Electrode Concepts for High Performance Lithium Ion Batteries”, Co-advisor: Nikhil Koratkar, December, 2014.
Present employer: EnerMat, CTO, Troy, NY
Pengyu Su: “Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition of Cadmium Telluride for Solar Cell Applications”, Co-advisor: Ishwara Bhat, December 2015
Present employer: Intel.
Jian Gao: “Synthesis and characterization of two dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides”, Co-Advisor: Nikhil Koratkar, May 2016.
Present employer: Global.
Shravan Suresh: “Foldable High Energy Density Lithium Ion Batteries”, Co-advisor: Nikhil Koratkar, July 2017
Present Employer: Intel.
Sean Ogden: “Breakdown an reliability of nanoscale dielectric films”, Co-advisor: Joel Plawsky, Dec 2017.
Present employer: Global.
Dibyajyoti Mohanty: “van der Waals epitaxy of CdTe thin films on 2D substrates using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition” Co-advisor: Ishwara Bhat, June 2018.
Present employer: Intel, Oregon
Yu Xian: “Electron diffraction from two-dimensional materials”, Co-Advisor: Gwo-Ching Wang, December 2019.
Present employer: CGG, Houston
Responses
to: Prof. T.-M. Lu