9321557 Washburn Technical abstract: This Small Grants for Exploratory Research project is a study of new nanostructures in silicon-germanium alloys. The structures include small point contacts, lateral resonant tunneling devices and interferometers. Three kinds of devices will be fabricated: (1) split-gate and shallow etched point contacts and ballistic wires, (2) interferometers, and (3) compound gate, lateral, one-dimensional resonant tunneling structures and interferometers. The experiments will extend the study of quantum interference to a new materials system and provide the first controlled system for testing recent predictions of conductance quantization in a one-dimensional Luttinger liquid. Non-technical abstract: New electronic devices depend on increasingly smaller physical structures, so-called nanostructures. One promising nanostructure material is gallium arsenide. However, it is more expensive to fabricate than traditional silicon. This Small Grants for Exploratory Research project is a university- industry (IBM) collaboration which will explore nanostructures made from silicon-germanium alloys. The latter material can be fabricated by traditional silicon technology. The research will explore the physics of these materials and determine their quantum electronic properties in order to assess their potential as device materials. ***
