

Research Expertise and Interest
nanotechnology, low power electronics, flexible electronics and sensors, nanofabrication, energy harvesting and conversion, programmable matter
Research Description
Ali Javey is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. The core of Javey’s research program is materials innovation for enabling new device structures and concepts. The lab studies a wide range of electronic materials in both planar and 3D geometries. In all cases, the lab explores new schemes of manipulating, processing, and engineering materials - often at unprecedented levels - to enable new functionalities and properties. Below are some research highlights.
- Developed a new doping technology named monolayer doping (MLD) that utilizes surface chemistry to form self-assembled monolayers of dopant containing species on semiconductor surfaces followed by a subsequent diffusion by a thermal annealing (Nature Materials, 2008). The process has yielded some of the shallowest junctions reported to date, down to ~3 nm in thickness. The technology has been transferred to the semiconductor industry for further internal R&D, and is seen as a promising approach for S/D contact extensions for future nanoscale transistors.
- Developed the ultrathin body III-V on insulator (XOI) device concept as a platform for integrating high mobility III-V semiconductors on Si for low power electronics (Nature, 2010). Reported p- and n-type III-V FETs with some of the highest mobilities reported to-date on a Si substrate with a subthreshold swing as low as ~70 mV/decade, approaching the ideal limit of MOSFETs.
- Discovered the quantum unit of absorptance in 2D semiconductors (in collaboration with E. Yablonovitch; PNAS, 2013).
- Developed a new growth mode for III-V thin films using the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) technique (Scientific Reports, 2013). As a proof of concept, InP thin films (on the order of 1µm in thickness) are grown on non-epitaxial substrates (e.g., metal foils) using the thin-film VLS process with an ultralarge grain size of up to ~ 1mm and optoelectronic properties (including luminescence yield) approaching those of epitaxially grown layers. The work presents a promising route for low-cost growth of high quality III-V semiconductors for PV applications and beyond.
- Developed process techniques for uniform assembly of nanostructured materials (e.g., nanowires and nanotubes) over large-areas for system integration – moving beyond individual device work (Nature Materials, 2013; Nature Materials, 2010). As a proof of concept, Javey’s lab has demonstrated large-area monolithic integration of nanotube TFTs, pressure sensors, and OLEDs on a plastic substrate that can map pressure and provide instantaneous visual response through the integrated OLED display. The work presents a platform for 3-D integration of different material/device components for paper-thin smart/interactive surfaces, and is an elegant example of systems enabled by nanomanufacturing.