History


Year 1:

Completed core classes.
  CHE 527 Advanced Applied Mathematical Analysis I
  CHE 598 Research Methods
  MAT 533 Computational Elliptic and Parabolic PDEs
  CHE 533 Transport Process I
  CHE 544 Chemical Reactor Engineering
  CHE 598 Semiconductor Materials Processing

Pass qualifying examination
(presentation will be posted later)

Gave poster presentation at NSF sponsored conference.

Seminar presentation:
Literature review of hot wire chemical vapor deposition for amorphous silicon films.

Year 2:

Completed elective classes.
  CHE 543 Thermodynamics of Chemical Systems
  CHE 598 Deposition and Etch
  MSE 598 Growth and Processing of Semiconductors
  EEE 536 Semiconductor Characterization
  IEE 572 Design of Experiments
  PHY 571 Quantum Physics

Started high-k dielectric project.

Learned that reactive sputtering of hafnium silicide is not a viable process. Deposition rate is very slow and could not be increased due to power supply limitations. Hafnium silicide target was extremely sensitive to cracking. Reactive sputtering of aluminum oxide also suffered from slow deposition rate. Power supply limits also prevented increasing deposition rate.

Started work on anodic oxidation of tantalum process. Steady progress continues to be made.


Gave poster presentation at NSF sponsored conference.
Gave poster presentation to FDC sponsors.

Seminar presentation:
Analysis of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-x Stability Enhancement Using a Two Step Reactor Design

Year 3:

Continuing work on anodized tantalum pentoxide. Spectroscopic ellipsometry models have been verified for thickness and index of refraction calculations. Capacitors are being made using a shadow mask. Wafer maps of capacitance and leakage current are being made. Collaborative work has started on applying tantalum pentoxide films to pentacene based organic thin film transistors.

Seminar presentation:
Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometry of Anodically Oxidized Tantalum Films

Seminar presentation:
High-k Dielectric for Flexible Displays using Anodically Oxidized Tantalum