Structural and Electrical Characterization of Oxide Thin Films Grown by Molecular-Beam Epitaxy

Professor:Darrell Schlom
Project Description:Oxides exhibit an unparalleled variety of electronic properties and our theory collaborators are continually coming up with new arrangements of oxides, oxides customized at the atomic-layer level, that should exhibit even better properties. A major challenge, however, is to prepare these materials to realize these properties. This is our research goal and we do it using a thin film growth technique called molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). To see if we got the atoms in the desired arrangement, we characterize the structure of the grown films using x-ray diffraction (XRD). And finally to reveal the actual properties of this new material we characterize their electronic properties using resistance, capacitance, and magnetic measurements. As an REU student, you will be an integral member of our research group. At first you will gain familiarity with the structural and electrical characterization by working together with another member of the group, the same person who will also be growing the oxide material you will be characterizing. But once you have learned the operational details, you will measure the structural and electrical properties of the films to provide important feedback allowing the growth of a new oxide material believed to have promising properties in the areas of ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, both at the same time (multiferroic), or photocatalysis to be optimized.