SFU Canada Research Chairs Seminar Series: "Materials for New Semiconductor Technologies"
11:30 - 12:30
Rm10900
Dr. Patricia M. Mooney, Canada Research Chair in Semiconductor Physics
Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University
Abstract
Abstract: The amazing developments in computer and communications technologies during the last 40 years have been driven by advances in semiconductor technologies. Research on new semiconductor materials has resulted in microprocessor integrated circuits having more than two billion transistors, solid state lighting, including devices that emit blue or white light, and the ubiquitous mobile communications that we enjoy today. The research in our laboratory focuses on novel semiconductor materials and structures, and contributes to the evolution of semiconductor devices and circuits that will continue to impact our way of life.
Two on-going research projects will be discussed. The first is an investigation of defects in SiO2/4H-SiC. Reducing the interface state density is essential for this emerging MOSFET technology for applications in high temperature and high power environments such as automotive and aircraft engine control and electric power transmission. A second project is the development of engineered substrates that have a surface lattice parameter which is different from that of the bulk semiconductor substrate material. Engineered substrates have led to enhanced performance of Si MOSFETs in microprocessors and we have shown that similar fabrication techniques can be applied to III-V semiconductors that are used for light emitting devices and detectors.
About the Speaker
Dr. Patricia M. Mooney completed her undergraduate degree with honors in Physics at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA, USA, and her Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics in 1972 at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA. Before joining IBM in 1980, Dr. Mooney was Assistant Professor of Physics at Hiram College (1972-74) and at Vassar College (1974-80), both in the USA. She was a Research Associate in the Physics Department at the State University of New York at Albany (1977-78), and a Visiting Scientist at the Groupe de Physique des Solide de l'ENS, Universit, de Paris VII (1979-80) and at the Fraunhofer Institut fr Angewandte Festkrperphysik in Freiburg, Germany (1987-88). Dr Mooney was a Research Staff Member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA for 25 years. She described her research at IBM to be "at the boundary of physics and technology, focusing on defects in epitaxial semiconductor films that have potential applications in high-speed field-effect transistors." Dr. Mooney joined Simon Fraser University in 2005 as a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Semiconductor Physics in the Department of Physics.
Dr. Mooney is the author of 182 publications, including review articles, a monograph and four book chapters, and also has 15 issued patents. She received two outstanding Technical Achievement Awards from the IBM Corporation in addition to several patent awards. Dr. Mooney is a Fellow of both the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is a member of the Canadian Association of Physicists and the Materials Research Society (MRS). She currently serves on the Governing Board of the American Institute of Physics. She has served on the APS Council, representing the Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics, and on the APS Executive Board. She is Past Chair of the Division of Materials Physics (DMP) of the APS and has served on the APS Budget Committee, the APS Fellowship Committee and the APS Committee on the Status of Women in Physics. She has been a member of the editorial board of Physical Review B, Applied Physics Letters/Journal of Applied Physics and the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. Dr. Mooney was chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Defects in Semiconductors, has organized symposia at MRS meetings, and has served on the program committee of numerous conferences, including the International Conference on Defects in Semiconductors (ICDS) and the Gordon Research Conference on Defects in Semiconductors. She currently serves on the International Advisory Board of ICDS.
