This group of materials is defined by its functionality. Semiconductors, metals, and
ceramics are used today to form highly complex systems, such as integrated electronic
circuits, optoelectronic devices, and magnetic and optical mass storage media. In intimate contact, the various materials, with precisely controlled properties, perform numerous functions, including the acquisition, processing, transmission, storage, and display of information. Electronic, Magnetic and Optical materials research combines the
fundamental principles of solid state physics and chemistry, of electronic and chemical
engineering, and of materials science.
Nanoscale science and engineering is of increasing importance in this field. For example, researchers at Berkeley have used a remarkable growth technique known as Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) to grow novel ceramic nanocomposites. In PLD, a target is vaporized by an intense laser beam, and the vapor condenses on a selected substrate.
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Pulsed laser deposition facility in the Ramesh Group Laboratory. The stainless steel object in the foreground vaguely resembling a diving bell is the deposition chamber. |
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Morphologies of the BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 nanostructures grown on a (001)-oriented SrTiO3 substrate. (a) Z-contrast image from a plan-view TEM sample. (b) A plan-view TEMimage of a single CoFe2O4 pillar embedded in a BiFeO3 matrix. (c) A high-resolution TEM image from the interface region marked by the rectangle in b. (d) Structural model of the interface between CoFe2O4 and BiFeO3 showing that the interfaces are {110} planes, along á110ñ directions. (e) Cross-sectional TEM image of a single CoFe2O4 pillar. (f) SEM image of the CoFe2O4 pillars. (g) A schematic of a CoFe2O4 pillar. (h) A schematic of a CoFe2O4 pillar showing {111} facets (Ramesh Group). |
Participating Faculty:
Paul Alivisatos, Daryl C. Chrzan, Thomas Devine, Fiona Doyle, Oscar Dubon, Andreas
M. Glaeser, Ron Gronsky, Eugene Haller, Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Yuri Suzuki, Eicke
Weber and Ting Xu. |
