Arkansas and Oklahoma Researchers Awarded $7.8 Million NSF Grant in Nanoscience

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Greg Salamo

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Materials researchers at the University of Arkansas and the University of Oklahoma have won a six-year, $7.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation.  The grant will renew funding for the Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures, or C-SPIN, which is one of 29 elite Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers in the United States.

“During the past five years, C-SPIN researchers have emerged as national leaders in nanomaterials research,” UA Chancellor John White said. “Their work will help create new electronic devices that will be faster, more powerful and more stable, yet will take up less space and require less power to operate. Renewal and expansion of this prestigious grant rewards the researchers for their important work and is another example of our university’s nationally competitive position in scientific research and education.”

Thirteen similar centers nationwide were awarded a total of more than $152 million in funding this year. In addition to the UA-OU team, other institutions that will receive funding include Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, the California Institute of Technology and Northwestern University. Other centers are located at Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University and Yale University. The National Science Foundation currently supports 29 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers with annual investments of $52.5 million.

Each center focuses on a specialized area such as polymers, or biomolecular, electronic or superconducting materials. C-SPIN brings together 22 UA and OU scientists in physics, engineering and chemistry to advance the frontier of semiconductor nanodevices, the next generation of components for the computing and biotech industries. The center’s nanotechnology research contributes to developments that can positively affect people’s lives. In electronics, for example, nanoparticles can be used in computers to make them faster, more efficient, with twice as much storage capacity. The advances will lead to less-expensive products for consumers.

“Our researchers have authored and are at the forefront of the most compelling ideas in developing novel nanoferroelectric materials,” said Greg Salamo, C-SPIN co-director and UA Distinguished Professor of physics. “These materials will increase the limits of optical resolution, advance handheld wireless devices and provide inexpensive memory that is fast, flexible, scalable, low-power, and non-volatile. In addition, wide-band gap materials will also make significant contributions to read-head technology, biomagnetic field sensors, ballistic transport devices and a new transistor-like device.”

“Silicon has been the heart of the computing world for four decades,” said Matthew Johnson, C-SPIN co-director and an OU physics professor. “The new horizon promises even faster, smaller and cheaper devices by using nanotechnology. We work with this technology to develop denser, faster memory.”

The UA-OU research team received the initial grant of $4.5 million in 2000. For the past five years, C-SPIN researchers have worked together to discover the underlying science needed to design and control the growth and behavior of nanostructures, submicroscopic groupings assembled atom by atom. The researchers have strengthened and expanded their expertise in assembled structures, magnetic overlayers, electro-optics, magneto-sensitive materials, nano-patterning structures and low-temperature transport studies.

The new grant includes funding for new research staff positions and will provide extensive interdisciplinary research experience for 11 post-doctoral fellows, 13 graduate students and numerous undergraduate students. Currently, one-quarter of the center’s graduate students are women, and one-tenth are members of minority groups. The center will enhance diversity in the nanotechnology workforce by reaching its goal of one-half female and one-quarter minority representation by 2010.

In addition to research activities, the center includes year-round educational programs for students and teachers at local elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. For example, researchers at the center have developed programs to excite middle-school students to use inquiry-based instruction about nanoscience in everyday life. These activities have resulted in improved student test scores in math and science.

The researchers are excited about the potential for regional economic development as an outgrowth of the center’s research, which has already spawned two private companies. Nanoferr Inc. focuses on the development of layered ferroelectric structures, materials that have the potential to store much greater memory. NN-Labs, a company with 10 employees, has marketed two complete product lines and three partial product lines based on colloidal nanostructures. Both companies involve the center’s faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and students.

Research at the center has also led to a number of external collaborations with private companies, such as NTT, Hitachi and IBM, and international universities, such as the University of Franche-Comte in France, Humboldt University in Germany and the University of Alberta in Canada.

Salamo estimated that since 2000, C-SPIN researchers have been awarded approximately $10 million in public research grants beyond the two primary NSF grants.

In addition to the $3.9 million UA researchers will receive as half of the 2005 NSF grant, the university will make a matching contribution of $3.7 million to C-SPIN, which will also receive additional funding from the state.

The C-SPIN research team is composed of:

University of Arkansas

. Laurent Bellaiche, associate professor, physics

. Huaxiang Fu, assistant professor, physics

. Julio Gea-Banacloche, professor, physics

. Jiali Li, assistant professor, physics

. Omar Manasreh, professor, electrical engineering

. Hameed Naseem, professor, electrical engineering

. Xiaogang Peng, associate professor, chemistry

. Greg Salamo, Distinguished University Professor, physics/electrical engineering

. Surendra Singh, professor, physics

. Min Xiao, professor, physics/electrical engineering

. Min Zou, assistant professor, mechanical engineering

. Paul Calleja, educational outreach

. Ron Foster, industrial outreach

. Ken Vickers, research professor

. Yongfen Chen, colloidal growth, chemistry

. Vasyl Kunets, transport/noise, physics

. Yuriy Mazur, visiting professor, physics

. Zhiming Wang, associate research professor, physics

University of Oklahoma

. Lloyd Bumm, assistant professor, physics and astronomy

. Ryan Doezema, professor and chairman, physics and astronomy

. Matthew Johnson, associate professor, physics and astronomy/engineering physics

. Patrick McCann, associate professor, electrical and computer engineering

. Kieran Mullen, associate professor, physics and astronomy

. Sheena Murphy, associate professor, physics and astronomy/engineering physics

. Michael Santos, professor, physics and astronomy/engineering physics

. Zhisheng Shi, associate professor, electrical and computer engineering

. Xincheng Xie, professor, physics, Oklahoma State University

. Wai Tak Yip, assistant professor, chemistry and biochemistry

. Caroline Hall, project manager

. Joel Keay, MBE/SPM specialist, physics and astronomy

. Guoda Lian, TEM specialist, physics and astronomy

. Tetsuya Mishima, TEM/MBE specialist, physics and astronomy