Realizing “Impossible” Materials for Proof-of-Principle Devices
There are those who look at materials the way they are, and-in their attempt to connect atomic structure with properties-ask why? In my group we dream of creating atomic structures that never were, and ask why not? Our efforts to make the impossible are often guided by theory and motivated by the desire to make materials enabling devices with great potential. In this talk, I will describe some recent (mainly unpublished) successes. The focus will be the synthesis routes used to make oxides or stacks of oxides in the form of single-crystal films. Two common elements of our approach are (1) embracing thermodynamics and (2) execution by a powerful team with transdisciplinary expertise. For completeness, the characteristics of the proof-of-principle devices made by our collaborators will also be shown. Examples include a non-volatile transistor with a ferroelectric gate dielectric, supercharging the electro-optic coefficient of BaTiO3 for use in data centers or quantum interconnects, and making a semiconductor with the highest bandgap known to enable power electronics with higher figures of merit.
Bio: Darrell Schlom is the Tisch University Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. He was an undergraduate at Caltech, received a Ph.D. from Stanford, and then worked as a post-doc at IBM’s research lab in Zurich, Switzerland. In 1992 he joined the faculty at Penn State in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where he spent 16 years before joining the faculty at Cornell in 2008. His work has been recognized by the highest awards for materials discovery by six relevant societies: the MRS Medal from the Materials Research Society, the Frank Prize from the International Organization for Crystal Growth, the McGroddy Prize from the American Physical Society, the Thornton Memorial Award from the American Vacuum Society, the John Bardeen Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS), and the Harris MBE Scientific Discovery Award from North American MBE (NAMBE). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, the American Vacuum Society, and is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.