This is a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, which investigates the mechanisms of nanocrystal assembly into electronic devices and the basic mechanisms of charge transport in them. The research will focus on the effects of Coulomb interactions, electron tunneling, and charge fluctuations. The model systems to be studied include well-defined configurations of nanocrystals in one and two-dimensional arrays. A range of tools will be used to study these systems, such as low-noise electrical measurements, charge imaging, and atomic-force microscopy. The project will provide excellent training for postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students in device fabrication and measurements of nanostructures. As part of the proposed research, high-school students will be involved during the summer and will assist graduate students in the proposed experiments.
As the electronic circuits are shrinking in size, the electronic industry will soon reach the nanometer size scales, where quantum effects dominate the electronic transport. At these small scales when electrons are confined into small regions, interesting new effects occur due to the fact that electronic charges and spins are quantized. The proposed research will focus on measurements of nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are nanometer-scale crystals that exhibit properties of both atoms and large crystals, and are already leading to new applications from electronics to biology and medicine. The proposed work will develop ways for controlled nanocrystal assembly into electronic devices, and will investigate the basic mechanisms of electronic transport through nanocrystal structures. This program is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to learn about device fabrication and electrical measurements. In addition, the female PI will be involved in a range of outreach activities, such as high-school outreach with the local Philadelphia schools, and the Women Interested in Studying Physics (WISP) group at the University of Pennsylvania.
