Our project develops critical thermal and electrical transport measurement methods, instrumentation, and reference materials needed to support the development, performance, and reliability of bulk and thin film materials used in semiconductor microelectronics and energy conversion applications. Thermal management is critical for microprocessors and for wide bandgap semiconductor devices used for energy conversion applications (inverters, AC/DC-DC converters, solid-state lighting, RF, and communication devices). The demand for increased performance in high power density and hierarchically complex semiconductor devices has outpaced the development of measurement techniques and reliable thermal property data needed to effectively design, model, and evaluate advanced microelectronics. Thermoreflectance-based optical measurement techniques are non-contact, non-destructive, spatially resolved, and can uniquely resolve the in-situ thermal properties of bulk, thin film, embedded, and multilayer material structures; measurements on these structures are especially difficult if not impossible using traditional thermal measurement methods. Opportunities exist in our lab to investigate fundamental material transport properties by developing new measurement techniques, improve existing measurement instrumentation, and to investigate the synthesis of novel materials using both traditional and combinatorial approaches.

 

References

Martin J, Tritt T, Uher C: High Temperature Seebeck Coefficient Metrology. Journal of Applied Physics-Focused Review 108: 121101, 2010

Martin J: Protocols for the High Temperature Measurement of the Seebeck Coefficient in Thermoelectric Materials. Measurement Science and Technology 24: 085601, 2013

Martin J, et al: Thermocyclic stability of candidate Seebeck coefficient Standard Reference Materials at high temperature. Journal of Applied Physics 115: 193501, 2014

 

key words

Semiconductors; microelectronics; thermoreflectance; FDTR; TDTR; SSTR; pump-probe; energy conversion; thermoelectric; transport properties;

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants