Research and development of nanostructured materials for electronic and surface physics applications

Abstract

The aim of the project is the experimental and theoretical study of the fundamental electronic, optical, structural, mechanical, and surface physics properties of novel micro and/or nanostructured materials, for electronic applications as well as promotes their use in technological applications. The materials will be obtained by Dual Ion Beam Assisted Deposition, Chemical Vapor Deposition, Sputtering, Arc Discharge, Laser Evaporation, and Pulsed Plasma Deposition. These goals are intimately linked to the scientific tradition of our research group and with the current graduate student programs at the Instituto de Física "Gleb Wataghin" and the Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo (São Paulo and São Carlos) as well with the Laboratório Nacional de Luz Sincrotron (LNLS). The incorporation of the Physics Department of the young ABC University to this effort will help to increase the capacity in research and development of this new institution and contribute to the rational use of the scientific equipment. The formation of students at the three levels, i.e., scientific training for under-graduate students, Master and PhD programs, as well as professional pos-doc is of fundamental importance to this proposal. To reach these goals, we shall take advantage of our past experience and the existence of modern experimental facilities such as photoemission electron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS), X-ray diffraction, visible and infra-red optical absorption, nano-hardness, electron microscopy (HRTEM, TEM, SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman. The project also considers the upgrading and renewing some experimental facilities that have been using continuously since fifteen years ago. The theoretical studies (intimately bonded to our experimental activities) are giving us a unique possibility to have a broad understanding of the studied subjects. We shall continue the studies on carbon nanotubes, hard carbon films, composites, and alloys based in Ti, C, Al, N and rare-earth doped semiconductors. We shall focus the studies on their structural, electronic, optical, and mechanical properties. A theoretical effort to understand the structural properties will be done based on modern quantum chemical techniques and compared with the experimental results. Experimental conditions leading to the improvement our capacity to study the properties of the studied materials will be pursued. Finally, an interaction with the local industry will be taking in account within the frame of the project with the purpose of technological transference of the advances. (AU)