Country of origin: Sri Lanka
Subject: Engineering
Matriculation year: 2021
Nanowires are promising semiconductor nanostructures for a range of devices due to quantum confinement, high conductivity, high mobility, high surface-to-volume ratio, as well as the ability to tune the bandgaps. Once a nanowire is separated from the substrate, single p-n junction nanowire devices can be formed. The project involves fabricating single nanowire devices including the deposition of ohmic contacts, for the characterization of nanowires as well as device fabrication, via e-beam lithography or optical lithography.
The development of hybrid nanowire-2D materials has been explored for the development of novel photonic and optoelectronic devices. Therefore, interfacing nanowires with 2D materials will be investigated and the automation of these processes will be implemented as well.
The current method developed for tracking individual nanowires by the Low Dimensional Electronic Group in the Electrical Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, involves the use of a uniquely identifiable marker system, called LithoTags, which is machine-readable and lithographically processable. A grid of LithoTags is patterned on the substrate, each with individual location data which can be used to identify individual nanowires in the region identified by the marker and the automated detection system has shown a 98.7% reliability in detecting and reading the LithoTag markers.
While the current automation algorithm used with the LithoTag marker system allows for efficient and reliable identification of isolated nanowires, the contacts are still deposited manually which is labour-intensive and inefficient. The project involves the automation of this process. Additionally, automation and machine vision can allow efficient and easy identification of overlapped regions between the nanowires and 2D materials, allowing the properties of hybrid nanowire-2D material regions to be characterized and devices to be fabricated.
Where you did your undergraduate degree :
The University of Hong Kong (HKU), Hong Kong
Where you went subsequently :
I completed my Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Yale University