People | Advanced Semiconductor Materials and Devices Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Prof. J. Lucy Shi

Associate Professor

PhD, Cornell University, 2010

Office: SEO 1032

Email: lucyshi@uic.edu

Work: 312.355.5557

Graduate Students

Jongmin Baek

PhD Student

Jongmin’s research focuses on the experimental fabrication and characterization of TMDC heterostructures and their associated 2D material fabrication techniques. His research aims to advance the understanding and optimization of these materials for a variety of applications and to tune energy bands by exploiting the strain effects of graphene double layers. Before joining the lab, he was involved in the development of photodetectors, focusing on designing and performance testing sensors utilizing PIN photodiodes for radiation detection in various experimental fields.

Email: jbaek27@uic.edu

Graduate Students

Nolan Olney

PhD Student

Nolan’s research focuses on 2D materials, especially 2D semiconductors, and their application towards quantum computing. For example, he is interested in studying transition metal dichalcogenides and TMDC based heterostructures, by developing accurate models for them and using these to provide insights into experimental results. He wants to contribute to the understanding of the quantum mechanical properties of these systems, with the goal of having them utilized in both academic and industrial settings.

Email:nolney2@uic.edu

Graduate Students

Alejandro Perez

PhD Student

Alejandro’s research focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of N-Polar GaN HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors). Gallium Nitride based devices have surfaced as a candidate for high power and RF applications due to their unique properties. In N-polar devices, the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is formed on top the AlGaN barrier. This unique property allows better confinement of the 2DEG and better gate control. These devices also allow us to achieve smaller dispersion, in addition to other benefits which leads to better overall performance. The fabrication process includes physical and chemical vapor deposition, optical and electron-beam lithography, dry and wet etching, and atomic layer deposition, etc. Additionally, he hopes to achieve device optimization using Silvaco ATLAS device simulations.

Email: apere72@uic.edu

Graduate Students

Rockwell Dax

PhD Student

Rockwell’s research is primarily based on exploring the theory, characteristics, and applications of 2D semiconductor materials. Specifically, his work focuses on developing Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and other 2D materials into viable semiconductor alternatives to the existing photon-based or trapped-ion physical implementations of qubits within the realm of quantum computing. Additionally, he aims to improve device performance and physical viability in existing applications through experimental and theoretical study.

Email: rdax2@uic.edu

Graduate Students

Chia-Heng Sun

PhD Student

Chia-Heng’s research focuses on exploring the mechanisms of Schottky barrier formation in 2D semiconductor-metal interfaces. By using DFT analyzing the interface states and interface dipoles, we can better understand the nature of Fermi-level pinning in TMDC (such as MoS2)-metal contacts and further improve the contact performance.

Email: csun42@uic.edu

Graduate Students

Toan Phan

PhD Student

Toan’s research is concentrated on investigating the design and fabrication process of GaN-based metal-insulator-semiconductor heterojunction field effect transistors (MISHFETs) to optimize performance under high-frequency operations. His fabrication process includes physical and chemical vapor deposition, optical and electron-beam lithography, dry and wet etching, and atomic layer deposition. Some other systems of interest include Au-free, low RTA temperature ohmic contacts on AlGaN/Gan heterojunctions and enhancement-mode AlGaN/GaN MISHFETs.

Email: tphan22@uic.edu