Physics Seminar
Probing and manipulating two-dimensional semiconductors
Speaker: Amalia Patane (University of Nottingham)
Date: Wednesday 6 October 2021
Time: 15:00
Venue: Zoom
Semiconductors are the pillars of modern technologies and have provided the platform to uncover phenomena of fundamental and technological importance. However, the fundamental principles and practical routes that underpin the design and realization of high-performance functional systems remain challenging tasks. Future progress and innovative solutions to grand challenges require a shift towards transformative semiconductors, novel approaches to probe and manipulate the nanoscale world as never before, and the development of advanced integration technologies for the exploitation of quantum systems in real applications.
Here, I will review my recent research on atomically thin layers of van der Waals crystals, also referred to as two-dimensional (2d) materials. I will focus on 2d semiconductors with different polymorphs, stoichiometries and interfaces. The rich variety of crystal structures, phases, and compositions, and sensitivity to quantum confinement and strain offer enormous opportunities for discovering and engineering physical properties at the atomic scale, providing a new generation of functional electronic and opto-electronic materials.
Biography Amalia Patanè studied at the University of Rome 'La Sapienza' where she graduated with first-class honours in Physics in 1994, followed by a PhD in 1998. She then moved to the University of Nottingham, where her research focusses on quantum phenomena in semiconductors. Her research achievements were recognised by the Sir Charles Vernon Boys Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (2007) for her work on imaging quantum systems by magneto-tunnelling; an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellowship (2004-09); a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (2017-19); a Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) President’s International Fellowship Award (2018-19); and an honorary professorship at the Institute of Semiconductors, CAS, Beijing (2019 - to date). Recently, she has championed the UK Membership of the European Magnetic Field Laboratory (EMFL), an EPSRC National Research Facility available to UK-based scientists. Also, she has researched novel 2-dimensional semiconductors and she is developing at Nottingham a new facility, EPI2SEM, for the EPItaxial growth and in-situ analysis of 2-dimensional semiconductors.