Second Place and Audience Choice, 2019

Crystallinity controls the overall performance of semiconductors used in electronic devices. Calla McCulley, a graduate student in chemistry, varies the conditions used to deposit semiconducting materials, known as perovskites, to optimize and pre-determine the crystallinity of the thin film, and thus the electrical and optical performance in devices. The left side of this image depicts a crystalline film with grain boundaries separating different ordered crystalline domains and the right side depicts an amorphous film with needle-shaped crystals. Both types of crystalline structures are beneficial for different electrical device types, but the formation and characterization of these films is McCulley’s area of focus. She acquired this optical image of a methylammonium lead iodide thin film, deposited on a zirconium dioxide substrate, in the Microelectronics Research Center at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus under the guidance of Dr. Ananth Dodabalapur.

Credit:
Calla McCulley
Chemistry Graduate Student