Physics 901 Colloquium (Internal to Department)

High Resolution Inverse Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Nano-scale Systems

Josh Lipton-Duffin
Dept. of Physics, Queen's U.

Time
Mon. October 7, 2002     1:30 PM     Stirling A

Abstract

The information technology age has created an unprecedented demand for smaller and faster devices. Current microprocessor designs incorporate circuits with features as small as 0.18e-6 meters. At the current rate of miniaturization we will be manufacturing circuits with dimensions as small as 5e-10 meters within the next 15 years. At these length scales devices will have to be built from individual atoms. Furthermore, these length scales provide a hard limit to our miniaturization trends. We cannot conceive of devices with dimensions smaller than those of single atoms. Paramount to our building of these devices is the understanding that their governing behaviour will be dictated by quantum mechanics, different than the familiar electromagnetism and semiconductor physics generally used today. I will describe the construction and use of K3 - a third generation k-resolved inverse photoemission detector, designed explicitly for the study of nano-structured systems on semiconductor surfaces. The momentum-resolved inverse photoemission technique (KRIPES) is useful for probing unoccupied electronic bands above the Fermi level, and subsequently determining whether systems display metallic or insulating behaviour. These characteristics will ultimately determine whether or not a particular set of materials may be used for microelectronic device fabrication.

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