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Research teams, led by assistant professors of physics Jens Neu and Yuzhe Xiao, earned more than $1 million awards from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to secure equipment to enhance research on semiconductors and optical properties of infrared materials.

The funding comes from the DoD’s Research and Education Program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions Equipment/Instrumentation Program.

Semiconductors

Neu’s interdisciplinary research team was awarded $760,000 to acquire a new atomic force microscope, combined with scattering near-field terahertz microscopy and conductive probe microscopy. The team includes faculty Xiao, Usha Philipose, Yuankun Lin, Jingbiao Cui and Rebekah Purvis in physics; Jeffry Kelber in chemistry; and Richard Zhang and Tae-Youl Choi in mechanical engineering.

Neu (pictured left) says the new instrument, which will be housed in the Physics Building on the UNT campus, will offer imaging 100 times better than an optical microscope and be used to analyze semiconductors by looking at how their components interact to find opportunities for increased efficiency.

Specifically, the instrument will allow researchers to see the point of contact between two materials on an atomic level.

“If you have two materials that are in contact with each other, you can really look into what’s the chemistry on that interface, what’s the physics on that interface, what’s the electronics on that interface,” Neu says. “Understanding these interfaces is crucial for any future application, because only if you understand what happens on that interface, you predict what your device is doing.”

Neu’s core focus is on materials for renewable energy production, looking for ways to make solar cell extraction more efficient and analyzing alternative materials that could be sourced from the U.S., rather than the silicon-based technology that mostly comes from abroad.

“Supply chain resilience and energy independence are the two big reasons that make these novel materials for renewable energy particularly promising for future applications,” Neu says.

Infrared Optics & Thermal Radiation

Xiao (pictured below) is leading another team awarded $258,000 from the same DoD program. That team includes faculty Neu, Purvis and Yuankun Lin in physics; Kelber in chemistry; and Melanie Ecker in biomedical engineering.

The grant will fund the purchase an infrared variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometer. The advanced instrumentation will significantly enhance the team’s ability to characterize and understand the optical properties of infrared materials, knowledge that is especially crucial for military applications, Xiao says.

“By understanding more about infrared materials, we can help our military better harness this technology to operate effectively in low-light conditions, adverse weather and challenging terrains, which will enhance their situational awareness and responsiveness,” Xiao says.

Separately, Xiao also has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for work on another project contributing to fundamental science. The funding comes from the NSF’s Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) awards program, which helps launch the careers of pre-tenure faculty in physics and other mathematical and physical sciences.

For that project, Xiao is focusing on gaining a better understanding of how light, matter and heat interact at ultrafast speeds. To do this, he is using thermal radiation induced by femtosecond laser pulses on materials in testing, which will provide information about both the optical properties and temperature of materials.

“Learning more about how light, matter and heat interact at ultrafast speeds could help us in improving the functionality and efficiencies of solar cells, optical detection and heat management systems,” Xiao says.