Electronic Materials and Devices

Graphene field effect transistors Graphene field effect transistors fabricated on graphene tiles in Penn State's Nanofabrication Laboratory. (Photo Credit: Hong and Zhu, Penn State Physics)

The control of electron transport and spin is an ever evolving research endeavor. Penn State strengths in electronic materials range from the classic silicon semiconductors, used in most solar cells and consumer electronics, to dielectric materials, used in billions of capacitors and transistors sold worldwide each year, to exotic new materials, such as complex oxides, multiferroics, graphene, and nanowires made of silicon or a variety of compounds that could be used for sensors, nanotransistors, and solar cells. Penn State is unique in its vertical integration of various synthesis methods, characterization techniques, and devices fabrication for the development and evaluation of new materials.

New and still largely theoretical areas of research active at Penn State include plasmonics, spintronics, and metamaterials. Plasmons are being considered and sometimes incorporated into devices such as sensors, computer chips, and light emitting diodes. Spintronics is being developed for memory devices. Metamaterials are proposed as cloaking devices, perfect lenses, and miniaturized antennas. Theory, fabrication, characterization, and device incorporation of electronic materials are concurrent and synergistic activities across a large, interdisciplinary materials community at Penn State.