THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS

MATERIALS S CIENCE AND ENGINEERING

15 MSE Faculty Celebrate Five Years, More Than $30 Million in Raised Funds

Yves Chabal

Department Head

Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics

In line with The University of Texas at Dallas mission to serve the state and the nation, the Materials Science and Engineering Department (MSE) has grown rapidly in five years to 15 faculty members. It is an exciting place for faculty and students to work on solving major societal problems in areas such as energy, biomedical engineering and electronics. With a focus on nanoscale materials and phenomena, the research is at the cutting edge of nanoelectronics, photovoltaics, batteries and super-capacitors, atomically precise manufacturing, nanosize coatings and materials for biomedical applications. High level funding (~$12M/y) from federal funding agencies such as National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy (DOE), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), industries (chemical companies, tool makers and microelectronics companies) and foreign governments, often with state and local matching funds, has made it possible to increase the graduate student body to nearly 100 and equip the state-of-the art research building (Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory) with outstanding characterization tools. More than half of our faculty have prior industrial experience and almost all have strong current industrial collaborations, thus providing students

with outstanding opportunities for working with industry, leading to internships as students and jobs upon graduation. Some faculty members come from government labs and others directly from academia, and many faculty from other departments are affiliated with MSE. Not surprisingly, the student body reflects this diverse set of expertise, experiences, interests, backgrounds, genders and ethnicities, and capitalizes on the different research fields, mentoring styles and professional connections offered by the MSE faculty. The results have been impressive. With a rigorous academic curriculum and publications in the most prestigious journals (Science, Nature) and highest ranked professional society journals (NanoLetter, ACS Nano, JACS, Chem. Mat., Phys. Rev. Lett., Appl. Phys. Lett.), most students graduate with outstanding theses and multiple job offers. Last year, students led more than 100 publications, and 180 presented at major conferences, earning some of the most prestigious student awards at the Materials Research Society (MRS), AVS and other meetings. I am proud of a thriving department with faculty members who are recognized by 13 fellowships in seven societies (MRS, AVS, APS, IEEE, AAAS, MSA and IOP), have won major awards and held leadership positions in these societies (such as 2013 MRS president).

Big Future for Nano Sleuths The Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas combines world-class research, excellent facilities and outstanding students at the graduate and undergraduate levels and leverages incredible amounts of corporate support in one of the world’s most business-friendly cities.

Mark W. Spong Dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Computer Science and Engineering Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair in Electrical Engineering Excellence in Education Chair

UT Dallas was ranked No. 1 in Texas, No. 3 in the nation and No.15 in the world for colleges under 50 years of age by Times Higher Education. In its 27 years of existence, the Jonsson School has garnered national recognition with ranked programs in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, and has launched new departments of Mechanical Engineering, Bioengineering and Systems Engineering within the last five years. Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the MSE program has attracted outstanding faculty that help lead the country in areas of electronic materials, semiconductor processing and flexible electronics. With a new $75 million dollar research facility surrounding a $15 million cleanroom, MSE will continue to make large strides in tiny domains to impact the world.

Table of Contents 4

Orlando Auciello

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Faculty Profiles

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Flexible Electronics

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Semiconductor Technologies

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Emerging Energy Solutions

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Materials Modeling

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Materials Characterization

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Cleanroom Success

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Moon Kim’s TEM, FUSION recap

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Conacyt /Student Profiles

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Corporate Partners

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NSERL/Mission

Firecracker. Ball of Energy. Carbon Master. Pioneer of the Diamond Age.

Former Argonne Distinguished Fellow and 2013 MRS President

Orlando Auciello is betting big on ultrananocrystalline diamond

MSE professor Orlando Auciello warmly accepts the accolades, nicknames and challenges to change the world with a penetrating smile and jovial laugh. Auciello is passionate about the future of diamond-based materials and chose to come to UT Dallas to engineer this reality. With a successful startup company on the books, Advanced Diamond Technologies (ADT), and a new company formed in 2011, Original Biomedical Implants (OBI), Auciello wants to make everything a girl’s best friend with a novel ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) film coating, developed and patented at Argonne National Labs. The diamond coatings have applications in multifunctional devices such as radio frequency micro/nano electromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS), electron field emitters and implantable biomedical devices such as artificial retinas to restore sight to people blinded by retina degeneration. Other work Auciello is commerializing includes diamondcoated biosensors and mechanical pump seals with these ultra-low coefficient of friction materials. Auciello is currently an Endowed Chair Professor at UT Dallas, sharing his duties between the MSE and BioEngineering Departments. He has edited 20 books on various topics, published about 450 articles in the fields described above, holds 15 patents and has organized, chaired and lectured at numerous national and international conferences. He is associate editor of Applied Physics Letters, Integrated Ferroelectrics and Vacuum, and editor of two book series (Academic Press). Auciello has also held several positions on the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society (MRS), including councilor, and was MRS president for 2013. Auciello was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the MRS in 2009.

For Auciello, diamond-based technologies and educating the next generation of students, worldwide, are twin passions. Auciello’s face lights up when he talks about ways to start new outreach programs to his homeland in Argentina or to give students from South Dallas an opportunity to perform world-class research in their own backyard. Auciello’s accolades attest to this. He has received recognition through the R&D 100 Award in 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2011 for co-developing the large-area UNCD film technology, for breakthrough commercialization of ultrananocrystalline diamondcoated mechanical pump seals, for his work on artifical retinas and for development of the first RFMEMS switch with UNCD dielectric integrated with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices. He has also garnered the Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Award and the 2006 Federation of National Laboratories Award and was named Professor Honoris Causa at his alma mater, the University of Córdoba-Argentina. Auciello graduated with MS (1973) and PhD (1976) degrees in physics from the Physics Institute “Dr. Balseiro” (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Argentina). After completing a research postdoc at McMaster University, Canada, Auciello spent time at the University of Toronto, North Carolina State University, the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina and Argonne National Labs. In addition to his full-time appointment at UT Dallas, Auciello holds adjunct professorships at University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and Michigan State University. For Auciello, the joy of discovery and chance to help engineer a new future drive him to put in long hours with ferocity and passion. Whether it is technology in ADT, OBI or something emerging from his research labs today, Auciello is confident that we can engineer tomorrow with the kinds of resources, talent and ideas converging at UT Dallas.

4 UNCD coatings could enable longer-life artificial hip joints

UNCD-coated Si chips might be used in artificial retinas

High-resolution transmission electron microscope image of UNCD

Faculty Profiles Orlando Auciello Auciello

chabal

cho

Fischetti

GELB

GNADE

Auciello is directing several basic and applied research programs on different fields, namely: (1) science and technology of multi-component oxide thin films and application to devices (ferroelectric memories, nanoscale CMOS devices, photovoltaic energy generation/storage devices, high-frequency devices, piezoelectric thin films for MEMS/NEMS devices (sensors and actuators); (2) science and technology of a novel ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) film, developed and patented at Argonne, and application to multifunctional devices (RF MEMS/NEMS); electron field emission cathodes (for flat panel displays, mass spectrometers, X-ray sources); components with high tribological performance (UNCD-coated mechanical pump seals, gears and other components); electrodes for fuel cells, catalysis, water purification and neural stimulation; implantable biomedical devices (artificial retina to restore sight to people blinded by retina degeneration); coating for artificial heart valves, stents, artificial joints (hips, knees); platform for developmental biology (cell growth and differentiation); biosensors.

Yves Chabal Current interests are centered on surface chemical functionalization of semiconductor and oxide surfaces, atomic layer deposition, organic electronics, biosensors and H2 storage materials. In our laboratory, we use, and in some cases develop, optical spectroscopic and imaging techniques to explore elementary processes at surfaces and interfaces of technologically important electronic, photonic, organic and more recently biological heterostructures. In particular, we have devised sensitive, in-situ methods to probe the interaction of chemical species with surfaces and the formation of thin dielectric films using a variety of methods based on wet chemistry, ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and vapor deposition. We are also probing the interaction of hydrogen in a variety of environments, most recently in storage materials for the hydrogen fuel economy.

Kyeongjae Cho Cho’s main area of research and teaching is multiscale modeling and simulation of nanoscale materials. In his research group (Multiscale Simulation Lab), diverse modeling tools are developed and applied to nanomaterial design. The modeling methods include atomistic and quantum simulations. Structure-property relationships of nanomaterials (nanoparticles, nanowires and nanoscale interfaces) are the main focus of modeling research. Research topics include metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, semiconductor nanowires and high-k gate stack interface problems. Main applications areas are electronic device materials, biotechnology and clean energy technology.

Massimo Fischetti Electronic transport in “large” semiconductor devices can be studied using simplifying assumptions afforded by the large size of the devices, mainly, the assumption of incoherent transport—amenable to the semiclassical Boltzmann

HINKLE

picture—and of a “bulk-like” electronic structure of the conductive channel, an assumption that allows the use of either the effective-mass approximation or of a “full-band” (but still bulk) description. Neither of these assumptions is likely to remain valid in the “10 nm era”: novel materials, the small size of the devices, the strong confinement effects induced by such small length scales and the likelihood of quasi-coherent transport require two major changes in how we study electronic transport. Our research proceeds on three fronts in order to tackle these problems: band-structure calculations, semiclassical electronic transport and quantum transport.

Lev Gelb In molecular simulation research, powerful computers are used to accurately model real systems using statistical and quantum mechanics. This provides a sort of “virtual laboratory” in that almost any property can be measured or examined, including those that are not accessible to experiments. We use simulations to develop an atomic-scale understanding of the behavior of complex systems. We are currently investigating: Ab initio Monte Carlo simulation of phase equilibria at extreme conditions; multiscale modeling of amorphous porous materials; and capillary phenomena.

Bruce Gnade Research includes flexible electronics, energy harvesting and biological materials. Flexible electronics: our main interest for organic electronics is to develop processes and designs that are compatible with low temperature flexible substrates. Energy harvesting: we have several projects related to energy harvesting, including making thin-film ferroelectric cantilevers based on PZT to harvest vibrational energy for remote sensors. Biological materials: we are working with a group of surgeons at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) to develop novel nanocomposite paramagnetic particles that will selectively adhere to the calcium oxalate crystalline structure of a kidney stone fragment, such that introduction of a magnetized instrument will permit attraction of dispersed stone fragments into a favorable location for removal. The ability to attract and move these fragments into an easily accessible area of the collecting system could facilitate endoscopic stone surgery as well as diminish costs by reducing time and obviating the need for secondary procedures.

HSU

Julia Hsu

Walter Voit

Hsu’s research focuses on nanoscale materials physics. She has done extensive work on local characterization of electronic and photonic materials and devices using scanning probe techniques. The material systems she has studied include metals and alloys, group IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors and oxides. She is most interested in the relationship between microscopic organization and macroscopic properties of nanocomposites, including controlling assembly of inorganic nanomaterials in organic matrices and understanding electronic properties at the organic-inorganic interface, with uses toward energy applications, such as nanostructured solar cells.

The Advanced Polymer Research Lab uses shape memory polymers and other engineered plastics to solve problems in flexible electronics, neural interfaces, energy harvesting, acoutstics, sensors and advanced manufacturing. Notable is the ability to insert penetrating neural implants while stiff and their ability to soften inside the body to lead to improved chronic responses. Research includes the thermomechanics of polymer systems and interface chemistry with thin film conductors and organic semiconductors.

Amy Walker

J. KIM

M. KIM

Our group’s research centers on applications of atomic layer deposition, or ALD. ALD is a layer-by-layer controlled method of growing thin films. In ALD, precursors are introduced one at a time. A complete set of precursor exposures is called a cycle. By varying both the length of each exposure and the number of cycles, the film growth can be carefully controlled. This step-by-step process is superior to traditional chemical vapor deposition where all precursors are introduced simultaneously, making fine control over film growth impossible. With the semiconductor industry entering an era of sub-nanometer films, highly conformal and controlled growth of these films is a major requirement. ALD is the perfect tool for such requirements.

The ultimate goal of Walker’s research is the development of simple, robust materials for constructing complex 2- and 3-dimensional surfaces by manipulating interfacial chemistry. Metal/SAM, semiconductor/SAM and biomolecule/SAM structures have applications in organic electronics, sensing, catalysis, photovoltaics and optoelectronics. Her group also develops analytical techniques to probe the structures produced. The Walker group employs surface science techniques, in particular time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF SIMS) and reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and calculations of molecular structure (density functional theory, DFT) in this work. TOF SIMS is a unique widely applicable technique that provides detailed information about the chemical composition of surfaces with sub-micron lateral resolution, and is used in areas from biological systems to materials science.

QUEVEDO LOPEZ

Moon Kim

Robert Wallace

VOIT

Kim’s research focuses on nano-fabrication and the manipulation and characterization of materials and devices for electronic and photonic applications. His expertise includes high resolution electron microscopy and heterogeneous materials integration by wafer bonding. He has conducted extensive interdisciplinary materials research involving state-of-the-art High Resolution Electron Microscopy (HREM), which is an essential tool for nanoscience and nanotechnology. He also has designed and built a unique ultra-high vacuum wafer bonding unit. His current research projects include: GaN for power electronics, CdTe-based solar cells, 2-D materials for nanoelectronics, SOI-based MEMS, nano-robots and DNA sequencing chips.

Research in the Wallace group focuses on the study of surfaces and interfaces, particularly with applications to electronic materials and the resultant devices fabricated from them. Driven by integrated circuit scaling and industrial experience, our work has led to participation on several nationally renowned academic centers sponsored by the Semiconductor Research Corporation with tasks focusing on the interfacial physics and chemistry of metals and dielectrics in contact with semiconductor and semimetal surfaces, and the resultant device behavior correlations. Our current interests include materials systems that extend CMOS devices as well as materials systems leading to concepts beyond CMOS-based logic.

Jiyoung Kim

Christopher Hinkle

Manuel Quevedo-Lopez

Our research group is studying the growth and characterization of unique semiconductor materials for use in a wide variety of electronic devices. Using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and other techniques, material structures with atomic level control are fabricated and analyzed. The development of these structures is currently focused on a fundamental understanding of energy applications and nanoelectronics such as solar cells (III-V multijunction photovoltaics, quantum dot intermediate band solar cells), advanced CMOS devices, low-power transistors (InGaAs, InSb quantum wells), and materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries.

Flexible electronics is an exciting field that requires expertise in several areas such as physics, chemistry and engineering. Therefore, the students in our group will not only gain experience with state-of-the-art instrumentation and techniques, but also gain an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of this area. Flexible electronic devices have many new applications, ranging from large area sensors to flexible displays to roll-up photovoltaics. However, to make flexible electronics a viable technology, a number of key components still need to be developed, including memory, logic, analog devices and amplifiers. Current projects include: sensors for detecting radiation; nano-engineered materials for flexible electronics; process integration (nMOS, pMOS, CMOS, etc); device modeling and simulation; and energy harvesting and storage.

WALKER

Chadwin Young Research interests include electrical characterization and reliability methodologies. A novel characterization development involves the measurement and evaluation of transistors and capacitors of experimental gate stacks and device structures (alternative gate electrodes, ultra-thin oxides, oxynitrides, high-dielectric constant insulators, non-planar devices and high mobility substrates). Our group is engaged in the electrical characterization and reliability of projected material and device architectures below the 22 nm node as defined by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) as well as other future device architectures, which can call for high-k dielectrics and high mobility and/or flexible substrate material systems.

WALLACE

YOUNG

Imagine a world where most surfaces we touch and feel can also touch and feel us. They would sense temperature and pressure and heart rate, display color and information and even detect radiation and pollutants. Driven by the emergence of flexible electronics, UT Dallas researchers are working hard to make this vision a reality. A group of researchers at UT Dallas utilize the unique properties of nanostructured materials to enable macroelectronic systems with unprecedented functionality on flexible substrates. Researchers such as Associate Professor Manuel QuevedoLopez and Assistant Professor Walter Voit work closely to combine two of the most exciting areas of science and engineering—nanostructured materials and flexible electronics—to demonstrate high performance macroelectronics on engineered polymer substrates as a transformative technology enabling a broad range of new industries. Macroelectronic nanosystems integrate sensors, actuators, supporting electronics and communications on large, flexible sheets that can integrate seamlessly with their applications environment. The unique ability to integrate multiple functions on the same substrate will draw on nanostructured materials in all aspects of the system. The unique form, fit and function of macroelectronic nanosystems technology will provide high-value, novel solutions to critical national problems, including health care, safety and security. Today, UT Dallas focuses on five challenging application areas that drive the technological innovation based on flexible electronics: (1) novel materials and transistor structures for flexible electronics, (2) large area sensors for secure mass transportation, (3) smart surfaces for critical infrastructure monitoring, (4) smart spaces and technology for improved living to assist the visually

A 355 nm YAG laser designed to fabricate neural electronics was used to cut 15 micron wide high aspect ratio holes near recording electrodes on an intracortical neural interface to increase fluid flow near the electrode site and minimize tissue remodeling near the implant.

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impaired, and (5) chronically implantable flexible neural electronics. Macroelectronics system design and platform integration gives students the opportunity to solve problems across length scales toward functional platforms to solve critical international problems. Backplane science and technology is being developed, enhanced by thin-film transistors and circuits based on nanostructured materials such as semiconductor nanowires, graphene and nanocrystalline II-VI and oxide-based semiconductors. Frontplane science and technology will use nanostructured materials such as functionalized Au nanoparticles for surface-plasmon enhanced Raman, nanoparticle converter layers for radiation conversion (from IR to neutrons), and block co-polymers to develop the sensors, sources and actuators that provide the transduction between the environment and the backplane electronics. Quevedo-Lopez thinks that flexible electronics must be materials agnostic; one must use either organic or inorganic materials, as long as its functionality and reliability is not compromised when flexed. Voit works closely with University professors from the Departments of Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering to design softening neural electronics based on shape memory polymers. His lab’s unique devices can be implanted while stiff and rigid and will soften in the body to approach the stiffness of tissue leading to favorable biological responses. Voit is excited by the confluence of microelectronics processing capabilities with biopolymers at UT Dallas. “Connections to a world class-medical school at UT Southwestern enable our student engineers and scientists to experience firsthand the transformation from small inorganic and organic molecules to thin-film electronics, to robust devices, to tools that enable us to peer deep inside the body and unlock the mysteries of neuroscience and electrophysiology.” 20-50 micron interconnects enable high signal to noise ratio for in vivo neural electronics to help neuroscientists understand how the brain and nervous system work.

DARPA Young Faculty Award Assistant Professor Walter Voit was selected as one of 25 researchers across the country in 2013 to receive a DARPA Young Faculty Award for his work in smart polymers for neural interfaces. Specifically, his group is trying to build peripheral neural interfaces using engineered polymer substrates and photolithography that will stimulate multiple fascicles for more than one year.

A neural recording probe surface composed of Titanium Nanorods 5-200 nm in diameter. Nanorods are being studied for more efficient recording and activation of neurons.

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Novel Materials

Push Progress in Semiconductor World

The semiconductor industry relies on university research to enable progress on the miniaturization of integrated circuits. The nanoelectronic materials research underway in the MSE department at UT Dallas has captured the interest of the electronics industry. Since 2005, MSE researchers have been sought out to be partners in large virtual research centers with top institutions in the United States due to their expertise and outstanding research laboratories. Key elements in the research include the ability to synthesize and characterize these electronic materials, particularly in view of their suitability for future device applications. Professors Wallace, Kim and Chabal have established large integrated facilities that allow the growth and in-situ analysis of thin films and their interfaces without contamination by air exposure. This enables a fundamental understanding of thin insulator film growth and the interface of these films with semiconductors and metals used for future devices. For instance, growth using atomic layer deposition can be examined after each precursor pulse to uncover the detailed chemical mechanisms of film growth and interface layer formation. The ability to examine surface chemistry at each step has proven invaluable to develop high-k dielectric not only on silicon and germanium, but also on III-V and graphene substrates.

Atomically Precise Manufacturing Since 2006, Professors Wallace, Cho and Chabal have been actively participating in a DARPA-funded Atomically Precise Manufacturing Consortium led by Dr. John Randall at Zyvex Labs. The goal of the research was to establish the feasibility of atomicscale lithography using the nano-scale resolution provided by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Specifically, selective activation of hydrogenpassivated silicon surfaces was achieved by means of an STM tip so as to allow atomic layer epitaxy of silicon or germanium on the patterned areas as illustrated in the figure below. Alternatively, thinfilm masks can be deposited on the patterned area, allowing subsequent etching of the H-terminated areas (i.e. inverse contrast). The program has demonstrated that the approach is quite feasible, and is currently being explored for the fabrication of stamp templates to reproduce atomic-scale features at much lower cost than now possible. According to Randall, “The high level of professionalism and excellent work by the UT Dallas team was essential to the development of atomically precise fabrication technology that we expect to have a large impact on advanced manufacturing.”

Additionally, novel engineering materials and devices are explored for future semiconductor applications. For the growth of crystalline films, Prof. Hinkle has established a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) laboratory. This apparatus allows the growth of a combination of elements, atom-by-atom, to provide a well ordered crystal that provides useful electronic properties otherwise not naturally possible. The ability to grow a wide variety of nanoscale elemental and compound semiconductors, insulators and metals allows us to take advantage of quantum confinement and interesting transport properties. These MBE grown materials are used for applications such as 3-D high-mobility FinFETs and 2-D heterostructures for tunneling devices. Device characterization and reliability are also critical steps in the research process, and Prof. Young has established a sophisticated electrical test facility for this purpose. This laboratory allows the evaluation of the electronic materials synthesized into device structures where their performance and reliability are assessed through the use of conventional and newly developed measurement methodologies.

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Energy Solutions via new materials

Materials for sustainable energy—that’s what we are all about. This is even the name of a recent course we offer to both graduate and undergraduate students (MSEN 5320). Whether for energy harvesting, storage or utilization, the effort is on tailoring the properties of materials that are plentiful and sustainable to develop competitive devices.

For photovoltaics, a whole range of materials is being studied: purely organic materials for entirely organic cells or hybrid organic/inorganic composite (QuevedoLopez, Hsu), purely inorganic films (Hinkle, QuevedoLopez) and inorganic film/nanoparticles connected by organic ligands (Andrew Malko, Chabal). The schemes associated with these materials are different as well. In some cases, solar photons are converted into electron-hole pairs or free charges to generate electricity. In other cases, energy is transferred from the photoactive receptor to a substrate where charges are generated. In all cases, the interfaces between the photoreceptors and the conductive medium are critical and much effort is devoted to characterizing and controlling these interfaces.

Energy Harvesting

We are an NSF-funded Industry/ University Collaborative Research Center leveraging world-class talent in energy harvesting in the areas of piezoelectrics, thermoelectrics, RFID energy transfer and low-power electronics to solve critical power needs for: 1. sensors in extreme environments to enable smart mining, oil and gas production and manufacturing; 2. wearable sensors to enable a new generation of consumer electronics; 3. intelligent packaging to enable the next generation of smart electronics, food and medicine storage; and 4. chronic implantable biomedical sensors to provide real-time information to physicians or smartphones about health care.

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Some of the current research projects include: • Studying the nucleation and growth of very low defect multijunction solar cells (Hinkle). These heterojunctions are grown with molecular beam epitaxy to stack different semiconductor materials (e.g., InGaAs, Ge, HfSe2) with different and tunable energy band gaps to absorb more photons and improve the efficiency of these types of solar cells. Using advanced growth techniques, such as aspect ratio trapping and Van der Waals epitaxy, Hinkle’s goal is to reduce defects that originate at interfaces and improve the device efficiency to a level that would allow widespread terrestrial use.

• Working in several exciting fields related to energy as well as energy-related circuits (QuevedoLopez). Novel materials are grown using pulsed laser deposition that are then reproduced using low-cost, large area compatible methods such as chemical bath deposition. Materials of interest include II-VI and oxides. The materials are characterized using a variety of materials techniques. Devices are typically processed in a cleanroom environment and include homo- and heterojunctions, avalanche diodes and full bridge diodes. • Developing solution synthesis and characterization of metal oxide nanoparticles as electron or hole

transport layer materials for organic electronics (Hsu). The emphasis is on two separate goals: (1) obtaining desired electronic properties for these nanoparticles, e.g., work function, band gap, energy level position, and (2) processing devices with these materials, with the ultimate aim to control and manipulate band alignment across the device to optimize performance. • Attaching highly photoactive nanoparticles to ultrathin silicon (i.e. inexpensive) substrates (Chabal). Malko and Yuri Gartstein (UT Dallas Physics) have shown that energy can be efficiently transferred from photoexcited quantum dots to silicon through non-radiative and radiative energy transfer processes. The focus and challenge is to keep the silicon substrate oxide-free throughout all the processing steps to attach the particles as close as possible to the electrically active silicon, and then controllably stack layers of tailored nanoparticles to capture most of the solar spectrum. Energy can be stored electrically (e.g., batteries, capacitors), or chemically (e.g., hydrogen). Hydrogen has been considered as a potentially transformative fuel because it is renewable and can generate energy without any pollution either conventionally or in a fuel cell. Storage is one of the main roadblocks for its widespread acceptance. Two types of materials are being studied in the department: (1) complex metal hydrides (particularly aluminates) where hydrogen is chemically bound in a solid form, and (2) metal organic frameworks (MOFs) where molecular hydrogen can be trapped at densities higher than liquid hydrogen. MOFs are also extraordinary good for gas separation and filtration, which is critical for carbon capture (e.g., cleaning of flue gases), and potentially catalysis. So, much effort is being devoted in understanding gas diffusion and selective adsorption in MOFs. Combined synthesis, characterization and theoretical efforts are also underway to develop high performance catalysts to replace rare and expensive platinum, using complex metal oxides such as mullites. The focus of this work is to understand how the geometry and bonding of the metal atoms within the nanostructures control their catalytic activity (Cho, Chabal, Hsu). Finally, modeling work (Cho) is accelerating the development of energy storage materials within the framework of rational materials design, such as design of battery materials for Li ion battery (LIB), Li-air battery and Mg battery materials. For instance, high capacity LIB cathode materials are developed based on silicate (LiMSiO4, M = Fe, Mn, Ni, Co) and overlithiated oxide (OLO) anode material based on Si, SiOx and alloys. MnO2 catalysts are also being designed for Li-air battery cathode and V2O5 cathode for Mg battery application and multiscale modeling applied to develop LIB full system design tools.

Materials Modeling There are many technological solutions currently being investigated to address global energy and environmental problems. Some solutions involve developing more energy efficient technology. Others focus on renewable, non-fossil fuel energy technology. The common challenge in all these approaches is the need for new functional materials capable of providing specific technical solutions: better device material for efficient IT devices, better oxide for high capacity battery cathode, better semiconductors for more efficient solar cells, better catalysts and membranes for fuel cells, to list some representative examples. The primary challenge in the development of new functional materials is that the traditional empirical approach takes about 21 years for any new material from initial research to commercial product. The recent federal government’s Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) is a bold vision to accelerate such new material development within 10 years using the rational material design approach rather than empirical development. While the environmental impact of increasing demand for power has become a global concern, technology has so far made things worse. The search for fast lower-power electronic devices driving all computers, smart phones, MP3 players and search engines has given us transistors of ever shrinking dimensions (Moore’s law). So far, silicon and metal-oxide-semiconductors field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have led the charge. To continue this miniaturization towards even smaller dimensions approaching 10 nm (10 billionths of a meter) affording decreasing power requirements, scientists and engineers are working on new types of devices based on different materials. These attempts include a revival of the original semiconductor, germanium; investigation of compound semiconductors such as indium/gallium arsenide; ultra-narrow wires (fins or nanowires) of silicon or germanium; or completely new structures composed of one-atom-thin films in which electrons can move only in two dimensions. Carbon films of this type are

high-resolution transmission electron microscope images of a solar cell material called P3HT:PCBM BHJ obtained in collaboration with the Air Force Research Labs.

SEM image of MnCe-7:1

very popular nowadays (graphene), but alternative two-dimensional films, such as monolayer silicon (silicane), monoatomic films made of special metals (such tungsten or molybdenum) and sulfur, selenium, tellurium; or even single-atom layers of tin (Sn) are materials that may exhibit those structural and electronic properties that we need in low-power nano-electronics. In addition, these materials have the potential of giving us better batteries, fuel and photovoltaic cells. The selection of the most promising materials can proceed by experiments, growing these structures and measuring their properties. But theory and simulations can narrow the search, identify novel or promising physical and electronic properties therefore shortening the time needed to bring these materials from the stage of an “idea” to practical use, slashing development costs and occasionally leading to unexpected discoveries. In the MSE Department, professor Cho works on ‘material by design’ with primary applications in clean energy and nanoelectronic device applications. His group designs diverse functional materials using atomic and quantum mechanical simulations tools and guides the accelerated experimental development. Specifically, his group is studying 2-dimensional device materials for nanoelectronics and transition metal oxides for battery and catalyst applications. Professor Gelb is using molecular dynamics to accurately model real systems using statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, which makes it possible to develop an atomic-scale understanding of the behavior of complex systems. Professor Fischetti studies the atomic and electronic structure of materials suitable for scaling electronic devices to lengths below 10 nm, materials such as nanowires, graphene ribbons, transition-metal dichalcogenides and Sn monolayers. Members of his group have also been studying how fast electrons move in these structures and in small transistors fabricated employing these novel materials.

HRTEM image of MnCe-7:1

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The Frontier of Materials characterization Our department has developed extensive materials characterization capabilities over the last five years, due in part to a capital investment program totaling $300 million from the state of Texas as well as private sources. All the facilities described below are housed in the new Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory (NSERL) building. We have recently installed a state-of-the-art Versaprobe II (Physical Electronics, Inc.) scanning X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) microprobe. It is capable of analyzing a wide variety of samples including semiconductors, insulators, powders, polymers, catalyst particles and biological and cell materials. The Versaprobe II can be employed to perform micro and macro-area XPS analyses, angleresolved measurements and images with ~1 micron lateral resolution. The unique combination of an Ar ion beam and a giant gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) enables the depth profiling of inorganic and organic materials with nanometer resolution. The XPS depth profiling of organic materials is a unique feature of the VersaProbe II, and UT Dallas is the second such facility in the USA. Finally, using our temperature controlled stage, we are able to perform temperature programmed XPS from -120°C to more than 500 °C. For the study of materials nanostructure, we have an X-ray diffraction suite to support nanotechnology materials research. A Rigaku Ultima III X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) system is available for thin-film diffraction characterization. An integrated annealing attachment permits the in-situ examination of film structure up to 1500°C. The instrument enables a variety of applications including in-plane and normal geometry phase identification, quantitative analysis, lattice parameter refinement, crystallite size, structure refinement, residual stress, density, roughness (from reflectivity geometries) and depthcontrolled phase identification. The advanced thin-film attachments enable precise sample alignment for X-ray reflectivity, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, epitaxial film concentration and structure analysis using reciprocal space mapping and rocking curve measurements. Detection consists of a computer controlled scintillation counter. Sample sizes up to 100 mm in diameter can be accommodated on this system. A Rigaku RapidSpider Image Plate Diffractometer system is also available for small spot (30μm – 300μm) XRD work.

X P S

X R D

For electrical characterization capabilities, a Cascade Summit series probe station with integrated environmental control capable of probing structures on wafers (up to 200 mm diameter) over a temperature range of -65 to 200 °C is available. The probe station provides for current measurement down to fA and capacitance measurement down to tens of fF. A Lakeshore Cryogenic low temperature probe station expands the accessible temperature range and permits device level characterization on structures down to temperatures of ~4.5K. Using these probe stations in conjunction with appropriate test equipment, the following measurement capabilities, among others, are possible: temperature-dependent, multi-frequency capacitance-voltage and conductance-voltage, DC current-voltage, pulsed current-voltage and capacitance-voltage, charge-pumping, low-frequency noise and reliability measurements. A cryoelectronics laboratory has also been assembled consisting of four major equipment items: a superconducting cryostat and closed cycle cryostat for magneto spectroscopy. The superconducting cryostat includes a liquid helium dewar and homebuilt probes, a 50.8 mm Dia. superconducting solenoid (0 – 5 T, with persistent switch) and is capable of a measurement temperature range of 2.0 K to 300K. The system has a cooling capacity of 50 mW at 4.2 K, and a highest operational temperature of 350 K and is mounted on an electromagnet with moveable pole pieces (water cooled, 0 – 1.0 T). The laboratory also has a UV-visible monochromator (Newport C-130 UV/VIS 1/8 m Cornerstone) with a motorized scan range of 200 nm – 1600 nm. Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry is a unique chemical analysis technique that is able to obtain images of the spatial distributions of element and molecules present in a sample. Our ION TOF IV (ION TOF, Inc.) is equipped with a state Binx+ liquid metal ion gun. The mass spectrometer is capable of a mass resolution of ~8000 at m/z 29 in non-imaging mode, and a lateral resolution of ~200 nm at a mass resolution of ~5000 at m/z 29 in imaging mode. Within the TOF SIMS (analysis) chamber, the sample stage is capable of being cooled to below 140 K and heated to above 600 K, and has five axes of rotation (x, y, z, tilt and rotation) so that samples can be precisely positioned.

S I M S

The department has also invested heavily in thermomechacnial analysis equipment such as a suite of tools from Mettler Toledo including a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and two thermogravimetric analyzers (TGAs). The DMA has a 40 N load cell, can reach frequencies up to 1000 Hz in shear and has the ability to run multifrequency waves at once to measure how transitions spread over a decade of frequency in the same test. The DSC has 52 thermocouples for both the reference and sample pans giving us the precision to obtain truly quantitive metrics about the properties of thermal transitions. We have set up a unique system with one TGA, whose glass capillary and mircobalance mass samples to 1/10th of a microgram as samples are heated in air, vacuum, nitrogen, argon or other gases upwards of 1000°C. The outgasses are trapped in a mass spectrometer for further analysis and then further piped to a fourier transform infrared spectrometer giving us unprecendented capabilites for molecular analysis. We also have several laser machining systems including a custom-built Newport 355 nm YAG eximer laser with a laser spot size down to 4 microns. This allows the precision manufacture of biomedical devices such as neural electronics. Additionally, the department has multiple tools for investigating electron diffraction, spectroscopic ellipsometery, low-energy ion scattering, atomic force microscopy, and an astounding 14 infrared interferometers. The department also has significant electron microscopy facilities (see feature on pages 18-19).

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ex-ti researchers secret behind

CLEANROOM SUCCESS

BAY 1 THERMAL PROCESSING

ALBERT

GOODNIGHT

MARTIN

BAY 2 LITHOGRAPHY

The Elite TI Eight—Bruce Albert, John Goodnight, Wallace Martin, John Maynard, Gordon Pollack, Scott Riekena, Roger Robbins and Dave Stimson—train students and keep $15 million dollars worth of equipment up and running with a total budget of $1.2 million per year. UT Dallas established the model that the school would pay the lion’s share of the cleanroom costs from overhead return on faculty grants. This model has allowed faculty to focus where they excel and gives students the opportunity to learn from seasoned masters from industry for day-to-day training and analysis.

MAYNARD

POLLACK

RIEKENA

ROBBINS

STIMSON

Although the MSE department is celebrating its fifth birthday this year, the cleanroom facility has a different milestone to celebrate: 175 years. This is the total time that the dedicated cleanroom staff has spent working in cleanrooms at Texas Instruments prior to coming to UT Dallas. The team of eight technical experts is led by Wallace Martin who arrived at UT Dallas in 2004 after 37 years at TI’s central research labs operating and managing cleanroom facilities. Gordon Pollack adds another 35 years experience from TI when he helps students fix Mask Aligners, clean Parylene deposition tools or pattern devices at 10 nm scales with the Raith e-beam lithography tool. These eight people are the hidden success behind the meteoric rise of the UT Dallas MSE department through the rankings after only five years in existence.

The cleanroom has an annual budget of about $400,000, which includes consumables, repairs, parts for upgrades, chemicals and gases. In addition, the cleanroom uses about $65,000 worth of nitrogen each year. There are more than 250 people with access to the cleanroom that have all been personally trained by one or several of the Elite TI Eight. At any given time, there are approximately 10 corporate users with cleanroom access and two or three highly active corporate participants. The cleanroom actively supports startup activity through the UT Dallas Venture Development Center. Local startups can leverage the full cleanroom and trained staff for one-off prototypes and tests that can help make go/no-go decisions for off-site scale up at a fraction of the cost of constructing their own facilities. The most fertile areas for research often lie at the intersections of traditional disciplines, where the insights of people coming at problems from different perspectives frequently produce surprising and valuable results. The $85 million, 192,000-square-foot NSERL, where the cleanroom is located, is tangible evidence of our belief in this philosophy, housing an array of engineers, physicists, chemists, microbiologists and their graduate students.

BAY 3 METALLIZATION

BAY 4 SURFACE CHEMISTRY

UT Dallas brought in extramural research of just less than $100 million dollars in FY2012, with the 15 MSE department core faculty accounting for roughly a fifth of that amount.

16 BAY 5 CHARACTERIZATION

Professor Moon Kim’s research focuses on nano-fabrication and the manipulation and characterization of materials and devices for electronic and photonic applications. His expertise includes high resolution electron microscopy and heterogeneous materials integration by wafer bonding. He has conducted extensive interdisciplinary materials research involving state-of-the-art High Resolution Electron Microscopy (HREM), which is an essential tool for nanoscience and nanotechnology. He also has designed and built a unique ultra-high vacuum wafer bonding unit. His current research projects include: GaN for power electronics, CdTe-based solar cells, 2-D materials for nanoelectronics, SOI-based MEMS, nano-robots and DNA sequencing chips.

The World at 78 picometers Researcher Moon Kim was named Fellow to the Microscopy Society of America and runs a Transmission Electron Microscope among the most powerful in the world. He also finds time to write children’s books.

Kim’s facility operates and maintains two state-of-the-art Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs), a Dual Column Focused Ion Beam (FIB), a field emission Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), two X-ray Diffraction Suites and a host of sample preparation equipment. It also provides microscopy computing and visualization capabilities. Techniques and equipment includes the following: High Resolution Structural Analysis with a resolution better than 78pm; High Resolution Chemical and Electronic Structure Analysis with a resolution better than 0.1nm; and a host of in-situ capabilities including cryogenic cooling and heating, STM-TEM, AFM-TEM, nanoindentation, liquid environmental cell, tomography and a computer control system for remote microscopy operation. Another project of interest in the Kim lab is trying to figure out how grain boundaries affect the efficiency of polyCdTe solar-cells in collaboration with the Department of Energy. The aim of this collaborative research is to develop an atomic-scale understanding of the effects of grain boundaries in thin-film CdTe on the minority carrier lifetime, Voc and Jsc, and thus the overall efficiency of the photovoltaic device. The Kim lab seeks to fabricate CdZnTe bi-crystals with well-defined grain boundaries using ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) wafer bonding.

FUSION program nets $15m for research

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HAADF-STEM image of a bonded interface. The blue and red dots represent Te and Cd atom positions, respectively.

Orientation map of CDV-grown graphene, showing the morphology and relative crystallographic orientation.

Atomic-resolution STEM image of the transferred MoS2 showing individual Mo and S atom positions and their 2H stacking sequence.

Hello, Nano, an ebook by Professor Kim, uses photos, videos and animation to take kids through a tiny world where technology can be only a few atoms wide.

The funding supports a major research consortium with its main labs at UT Dallas. The research consortium explores next-generation advances that will make semiconductors smaller, faster and more energy-efficient. Some of the research projects include: low-power electronics for medical applications; nano-structures for medical and defense applications; high-power, high-speed radio frequency electronics for defense applications; flexible electronics structures for defense and entertainment applications; and large-scale non-volatile information storage and retrieval devices. Members of Texas FUSION, which comes from Future Semiconductor Commercialization, include a group of South Korean electronics companies, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, Military Tech LLC, UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Tyler. Two of the biggest grants for the consortium are $6 million from the South Korean government and $5 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Additional grants from the federal government and private industry bring 23 the total to more than $15 million. It is being extended into an international program called “IN-FUSION.”

Conacyt Program The Materials Science Department at UT Dallas has been ranked as the department with the highest number of Conacyt scholars in the U.S. (about 10). UT Dallas is second in number of Conacyt scholars in the U.S. The Conacyt program supports Mexican students with a generous stipend, tuition and health insurance. Conacyt fellows must have a strong academic background and a well-defined research project that is reviewed by a technical committee for approval. UT Dallas also has support from Conacyt for postdoctoral and sabbatical stays. Former Conacyt fellows at UT Dallas are currently faculty in several universities and national labs in Mexico. Some others have pursued careers in industry and academia in the US.

Good Company

Ana Salas-Villasenor

Conacyt Fellow September 2009 - August 2013

joins MSE graduate program, receives NSF Graudate Fellowhip, wins EAPSI Scholarship, builds bridge to University of Tokyo and is published in Nature

Jonathan Reeder

NSF Graduate Fellow

Jonathan Reeder was a strikeout king and starting pitcher for the UT Dallas baseball team as an undergraduate. So in his academic life, he decided to strike out on his own, to visit the University of Tokyo as an undergraduate researcher from UT Dallas and developed bonds and relationships that helped him secure an NSF graduate fellowship, East Asia Pacific Summer Institute Travel Grant and become a co-author on a recent Nature publication as a first-year graduate student in addition to other co-authorships with colleagues at UT Dallas as an undergraduate.

UTD MSE has brought in 34 million dollars through corporate gifts, grants and consortia in its five years.

Ana completed her PhD in June 2013 in flexible electronics. Ana published about 10 papers and several conference proceedings. She is now at Intel.

Jonathan Reeder

Jonathan has built connections with the research group of Takao Someya, one of the world leaders in flexible and stretchable electronics and works with Assistant Professor Walter Voit in the Advanced Polymer Research Lab. Jonathan is building pressure sensors, temperature sensors and 3-D neural interfaces on softening, shape changing polymers. He hopes these devices will someday lead to revolutionary improvements in health care and the treatment of neurological disorders like stroke, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.

Located in the heart of the Telecom Corridor, UT Dallas is within a few miles of hundreds of hightech companies, ranging from small start-up ventures to large multinational corporations such as Texas Instruments, Ericsson and Raytheon. Created in large part to support and capitalize on this high-tech community’s needs, the Jonsson School is an increasingly integral part of North Texas’s economic engine. The relationships between UT Dallas and industry benefit our students, our faculty and area companies alike. With the addition of the Materials Science and Engineering department to the Jonsson School, UT Dallas has been able to leverage increasing industrial support, as seen below. With more than 500 students a year engaged as interns and cooperative education students— in both the Dallas area and beyond—the Jonsson School’s Industrial Practice Programs office runs one of the largest operations of its kind in the region. The Tech Titans award-winning UTDesign program enables companies to effectively expand their technical staff by taking advantage of the skills, energy and enthusiasm of teams of talented STEM undergraduates tackling industry needs during a capstone project. In addition, many of our faculty perform a variety of research for industry and government, ranging from consulting engagements to prototype development, and more than 60 representatives from dozens of companies serve as advisors to the school’s academic and research programs through the Jonsson School’s Industrial Advisory Board.

Nour Nijem

received the David Daniel Graduate Fellowship and the AVS Nellie Yeoh Whetten award for excellence, has published more than 25 referred publications and is purusing post-graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley

Nour Nijem

Beecherl Graduate Fellow

Nour Nijem received her BS degree in Electronic Engineering in 2004 from Al- Quds University in Jerusalem, Israel, and her MS degree in Chemical Sciences from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, in 2007. Later on, she pursued her PhD in the group of Prof. Yves Chabal where she worked on solving energy related issues focusing on hydrogen storage and gas separation in porous Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs). She completed her PhD in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA and received the Beecherl Graduate Fellowship for excellence. In 2011, Nour was selected to attend the 2011 World Materials Summit in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Materials Research Society (MRS). In 2012, she was

awarded the David Daniel Graduate fellowship award from the University of Texas at Dallas, the silver medal at the MRS graduate award competition, and the AVS Nellie Yeoh Whetten award for excellence in graduate studies. Nour is the author and co-author of more than 25 refereed publications in high impact journals, and has given more than 20 oral presentations, including five invited talks at international conferences. Currently, Nour is a holding a postdoctoral position at the group of Stephen Leone and Mary Gilles in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley.

Advisory Board

MSE Funding Since Department/ Program Inception (2003)

2011-2012

Total: $34,315,043.20

Total: $7,807,240.21

$1,893,092.15

$275,328.01

5%

4% $1,840,175.77

$9,878,123.24 29%

$17,483,264.85

24% $3,233,540.24

51%

41%

$5,060,562.96

$2,458,196.19

15%

31%

20 Federal

State

Private

Gifts

Advanced Receiver Technologies Alcatel-Lucent Alibre AppTrigger Cisco Systems City of Richardson Denison Development Alliance DRS Technologies EDS/HP ELCAN Ericsson Finisar Hewlett-Packard Huawei InnerWireless Intervoice/Convergys L-3 Communications Menara Networks Micropac MTBC Nortel Photodigm Photronics Raytheon Research In Motion Richardson Chamber of Commerce Rockwell Collins Samsung St. Jude Medical/ANS STARTech Tektronix/Danaher Texas Institute Texas Instruments Thomson Communications TIPRA TriQuint UT Southwestern Medical Center Verizon Westinghouse 23 Zyvex

Our mission

is to provide students with an advanced education in materials science and prepare them for long, successful professional and/or research careers in industry, government or academia. We provide our students with the expertise to make independent contributions to research and development, develop creative solutions to novel and existing problems and serve as system architects and leaders of design teams.

The research of the UT Dallas Department of Materials Science and Engineering takes place primarily in the four-story, 192,000-squarefoot Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory (NSERL). The state-of-the-art facility cost $85 million to build.

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Materials Science and Engineering The University of Texas at Dallas 800 W. Campbell Road RL10 Richardson, TX 75080-3021 ecs.utdallas.edu