Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

There is a strong drive in the scientific community to control matter on the nanometer length scale that is at the level of atoms, molecules, and supramolecular structures to create useful materials, devices and systems for application in nanotechnology. Chemists have contributed greatly to this area by proposing new ways to assemble, pattern and incorporate molecules and materials that can have potential impact on the cost, speed and quality of the next generation of electronic devices such as chips, hard drive memory and energy efficient monitors. Our research program deals in one way or another with low dimensionality systems and the importance of changes in material properties due to the modification of their surface. The first objective of this research program is to produce and characterize functional films on silicon surfaces. Wet chemistry on silicon surfaces was shown to be particular well suited for future integration in nanotechnology's ""bottom-up"" fabrication strategy. The approach taken in our work shows promises in creating good quality films that can then be used for property characterizations and device fabrication. This is paramount since the first concern of colleagues interested in applications for these materials is related to the presence of oxide at the silicon surface. The presence of silicon oxide impurities will have a great impact on the future device performance. Ultimately we wish to understand the formation of these materials and to relate their structures and morphology to their electrochemical/electronic properties.