Research Interests

I received my graduate training in the single molecule opto-electronics laboratory at the University of Oklahoma under the guidance of Professor Lloyd A. Bumm. My PhD research is focused in the area of scanning probe microscopy of organic self assembled structures and metal nanostructures. Developing molecular-scale electronics requires precise structural characterization of the molecular assemblies or molecular building blocks in order to understand and optimize the molecular structures and tailor the functional properties. My research is motivated by the desire to develop fundamental understanding of self-assembled molecular structures, i.e. how they orient or self organize or to elucidate the effects of the growth conditions on the molecular packing. We also want to develop understanding on how these self-assembled molecular structures can be coupled to suitable metal nanostructures to generate enhanced functional properties for optoelectronics applications. I summarize below my work done so far on scanning probe microscopy, self assembled monolayers of molecules, click chemistry of molecules on surfaces, flat gold nanoparticles, and instrumentation/method development for measuring mechanical stress in CMOS structures.

Preparation, characterization of Self Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) of Alkanethiol and their derivatives on gold films/nanoparticles

Click reactions and characterization of Self assembled monolayers of chemically reactive molecules on gold surfaces

Effects of surface cleaning and annealing procedures on the gross morphology and the Au{111} atomic terrace structure of supported flat gold nanoparticles

Scanning Surface Photo Voltage Microscopy (SSPVM) for stress characterization in CMOS structures

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