Surface Physics
Dr. Anil Chourasia
REU interns will work with Prof. Chourasia in the Surface Physics Lab to investigate the chemical interaction and interdiffusion of thin films of materials deposited on semiconductor/conductor substrates.
Student Opportunities
The interns will get hands-on training in the fields of high vacuum technology, thin film deposition and measurements, data acquisition and analysis. They will work on the growth of thin films of transition metals on copper substrates. The thickness of the film and the temperature of the substrates will be the experimental parameters for the investigation.
The interns will analyze the samples using Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Moreover, the interns will learn how to use the Quantitative Analysis of Surfaces by Electron Spectroscopy (QUASES) software to investigate the growth mode and the depth distribution of the compounds by modeling the XPS spectra they took from their experiments.
