Dr. Evelyn L. Hu, Harvard University
‘Rediscovering’ Semiconductor Materials: A Focus on Imperfections
Friday, Sept. 23 at 11:00am
Reitz Union Chamber

Abstract

Semiconductor materials in the past decades have populated the device world with a broad range electronic, optical and MEMS devices, forming the enabling platform for multi-functional micro- and nanosystems. We may hold implicit assumptions that optimal performance of such systems requires the integration of “perfect” materials. This talk will discuss the distinctive attributes of imperfections, or defect states within semiconductors: a process of “rediscovery” and re-evaluation of the material metrics. As an illustration, we will focus on 4H SiC, and highlight the performance of its defects, such as Silicon Vacancies, or “missing atoms.” Such defects have well-defined electronic states, resulting in distinctive optical emission which is in turn coupled to long-lived spin states. The photon-spin coupling suggests possible quantum information applications. The ‘rediscovery” process will build on understanding in forming and controlling such defects, as well as in probing their photonic and spin properties with high spatial and energy resolution. We will describe some benchmarks of that process.

Biography

Dr. Evelyn Hu is the Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard. She is also a co-Director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative. Her research involves the study of nanoscale photonic devices demonstrating exceptional efficiencies and holding promise for new quantum information technologies. She received a Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University, worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and was a faculty member at UCSB, in the Departments of Materials, and of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Academica Sinica of Taiwan. She was named a Harvard College Professor (2015-2020), has received a Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentorship and Advising, is a recipient of an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar award, and an AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award. She was awarded the 2020 Andrew Grove Award given by the IEEE, and the 2021 IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal. She holds honorary Doctorates from University of Glasgow, Heriot-Watt University, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, University of Notre Dame, and ETH Zurich.