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Bennett Nano Group: Where 'small is big'.
This
is the web site for the research group of professor
Peter Bennett, in the physics department at
Arizona State University.
In this group, we study the structure, growth kinetics and electron
transport properties of self-assembled surface nanostructures using a variety of surface techniques, including Scanning
Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Low Energy Electron Microscopy (LEEM), UHV-Transmission
Electron Microscopy (UHV-TEM), Atomic Force Microsco py (AFM),
Magneto-transport and Electron Beam Lithography (EBL). Images from
several of these techniques are shown in the page banner.
Out recent efforts have focused on
metal/silicon systems that can form silicide nanowires (NWs), as shown
in Figure 1.
These structures are
10nm wide and several microns long, with atomically perfect
top (surface), bottom (interface),
sides and ends. They form spontaneously during deposition of metal onto a heated silicon substrate under ultrahigh
vacuum (UHV) conditions. These structures are smaller and higher quality
than can be made using "top-down" approaches, such as lithography and
metal lift-off. Such structures have many potential applications. For
example: low resistance nanoscale interconnects or cross-bar nanoelectrodes for switching elements
or non-linear circuit elements, with rectifying or switching capability.
They can form highly sensitive sensor
elements, due to their high surface/volume ratio and the extreme
sensitivity of 1D transport to gating fields or adsorbates. Silicide NWs
are totally compatible with silicon, hence may readily be integrated
into existing silicon technology. Thus, epitaxial silicide NWs comprise
a materials system that is ripe for development, beginning with
fundamental studies of their structure, growth kinetics and electron transport properties.
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Fig. 1 AFM image of DySi2 NWs on Si(100).
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