  Welcome
to the website for the Electronic Materials Research Lab at Longwood
University. In our lab, we fabricate and characterize semiconducting
thin-films, bulk materials and nanowires. We conduct research in some
pretty exciting
areas of materials science that directly contributes to
the advancement of technologies such as Blu-Ray, liquid crystal
displays, bright-light LEDs, UV
detectors, gas sensors and much more. Students
working in the lab gain hands on experience that will carry over
seamlessly into the workforce, whether pursuing a career
in research,
teaching or industry. Specifically, our students work on
ultra-high-vacuum
systems, atomic force microscopes, electrical characterization tools,
thin-film deposition techniques and much more. We fabricate nanowires
up to
10,000 times smaller in diameter than a human hair. We measure currents
over 1 trillion times smaller than the currents found in your toaster.
We have even been known to play around in the machine shop from time to
time, fabricating our own parts.
Our
two main projects are
currently the following: (1) we are investigating the role of the
surface in the electrical properties of the wide band-gap
semiconductors ZnO and GaN; and (2) we are fabricating and
characterizing ZnO nanowires to study I-V
behavior and charge transport properties for this
quasi-quantum-confined
system. We also have a few smaller projects such as the construction of
a scanning tunneling microscope that can image surfaces at the atomic
level, incorporating our research into the physics curriculum, and
physics education research projects..
To
learn more about our research, the people involved and the equipment we
have available, click on the links at the top of the page, or as
follows:
People
:: Learn more about the
people involved in the lab
Research
:: Learn more about
our research
Equipment
:: Learn more about
the types of equipment available in our lab
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This
lab is supported by the