UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
Grant: $365,204 - National Science Foundation - Jul. 6, 2009
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Award Description: The Analytical and Surface Chemistry (ASC) program of the Division of Chemistry supports the research program of Professor Yves Chabal of the University of Texas at Dallas. Prof. Chabal and his students will examine the surface chemistry and chemical functionalization of technologically important semiconductor surfaces and nanostructures. The group will employ surface infrared spectroscopy, arguably the most discriminating and versatile technique to derive chemical and structural information, in conjunction with spectroscopic ellipsometry, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy to study chemical processes on Ge, SiC and other III-V semiconductor surfaces. The study will be carried out in close collaboration with several theory groups in order to develop detailed understanding of the reaction pathways and product structures. The study will provide students with a unique opportunity to train in an interdisciplinary field which is of great interest to the chemical and semiconductor processing industries. Prof. Chabal and his students will contribute to various activities at UTD aiming to increase the number of students from under represented groups in science.
Project Description: During the first three months of the grant, we have focused our effort on wet chemistry. Using wet chemical self-assembly, we have demonstrated that standard surface reactions can be dramatically altered. While HF etching of Si surfaces is known to produce H-terminated surfaces, we show that up to ~30% of a monolayer of stable Si-F bonds can be formed on atomically smooth Si(111) surfaces upon HF reaction, when chemically isolated Si atoms are the target of the reaction. Similarly, ~30% Si-OH termination can be achieved by immersion of the partially covered F-Si(111) surface in water without oxidation of the underlying Si substrate. Such reactions are possible when H-terminated (111)-oriented Si surfaces are initially uniformly patterned with methoxy groups. These findings are contrary to the knowledge built over the past twenty years and highlight the importance of steric interactions at surfaces and the possibility to stabilize products at surfaces that cannot be obtained on chemically homogeneous surfaces. This work was submitted to Nature Materials as the following paper: ?Nanopatterning Si(111) surfaces ? a road to new selective surface chemistry, David J. Michalak, Sandrine Rivillon Amy, Damien Aureau, Min Dai, Alain Estève, Yves J. Chabal.
Jobs Summary: As an institute of Higher Education, UT Dallas is principally engaged in educating students and performing research. The effect of this award is to support the university?s research enterprise. As the prime recipient, university has retained and/or created jobs in the following categories: Undergraduates, Faculty, Research Science Associate Assistant, Graduate Research Assistant, Post-Doctoral Fellows in accordance with awarded budget. (Total jobs reported: 2)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Jul. 6, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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