Our new Rigaku SmartLab XRD supported by an NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant was delivered in January and installed in the Chemistry building over the past two weeks. The FINO Lab and our collaborators in the Farnum group have each collected data on the system and now will be going through remote applications training on…Continue Reading X-ray Diffraction System Installed
Paper on Co-Mn Spinel Films Published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Miles’ paper on the electronic and structural properties of epitaxial Co1+xMn2-xO4 spinel thin films is now out in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. In this paper we examine the role of the Jahn-Teller distortion in stabilizing the electronic structure of the material as well as Co and Mn ionic coordination and valence. We show…Continue Reading Paper on Co-Mn Spinel Films Published in Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
Invited Review Article on In Situ XPS Published in Journal of Materials Research
Our summer group writing project reviewing the integration of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) with oxide thin film synthesis is out in the Journal of Materials Research! This invited review for the Early Career Scholars issue focuses on ways to improve film growth using XPS, accurately interpret XPS data, and design experiments to probe charge transfer…Continue Reading Invited Review Article on In Situ XPS Published in Journal of Materials Research
FINO Lab and Auburn Collaborators Win NSF MRI Grant for New X-ray Diffractometer
Our group will soon have access to a state-of-the-art Rigaku SmartLab X-ray Diffractometer thanks to a new National Science Foundation grant through the Major Research Instrumentation program. Dr. Comes, Prof. Byron Farnum in Chemistry (a FINO Lab collaborator on our NSF project), and Profs. Majid Beidaghi, Peng Li, Tae-Sik Oh, and Masoud Mahjouri-Samani in the…Continue Reading FINO Lab and Auburn Collaborators Win NSF MRI Grant for New X-ray Diffractometer
Paper on Machine Learning of In Situ RHEED Published in Physical Review Materials
Our first lead author paper has been published in Physical Review Materials! Dr. Sydney Provence led this work on k-means clustering and principal component analysis (PCA) of films grown in our lab and in Prof. Bharat Jalan’s lab at the University of Minnesota. Using these big-data analysis approaches, we examined how the film surface evolves…Continue Reading Paper on Machine Learning of In Situ RHEED Published in Physical Review Materials
FINO Lab Presents at ACERS Electronic Materials and Applications
The FINO Lab had a busy and fun trip to Orlando in January, with students Miles Blanchet, Suresh Thapa, and Rajendra Paudel presenting along with postdoc Sydney Provence, and Dr. Comes presenting an invited talk. All of their work is headed towards journal submission, so look for it soon!…Continue Reading FINO Lab Presents at ACERS Electronic Materials and Applications
Dr. Comes Wins Air Force Young Investigator Award
Dr. Comes’ proposal entitled Metastable Oxides for High-Mobility and Spin-Orbit 2D Electronics has been chosen as one of 40 projects to be funded through the 2020 Air Force Young Investigator Program! This grant for $450,000 will begin in 2020 and support the group’s research in the use of hybrid molecular beam epitaxy to stabilize oxides…Continue Reading Dr. Comes Wins Air Force Young Investigator Award
Prof. Comes Presents Invited Talk at 4th Fusion Oxide Thin Films Conference
Dr. Comes spent three great days in Lisbon, Portugal at the Fusion Oxide Thin Films Conference where he presented an invited talk on our group’s work studying the surfaces of SrTiO3 films by hybrid MBE using our in vacuo XPS. Ph.D. student Suresh Thapa is leading the work, along with contributions from Rajendra Paudel and…Continue Reading Prof. Comes Presents Invited Talk at 4th Fusion Oxide Thin Films Conference
Paper on V1-xNbxO2 Published in PRB
Dr. Comes’ collaborative paper with Stony Brook University and the University of Virginia focusing on V1-xNbxO2 thin films has been published in Physical Review B. In this paper we look at the effect of alloy composition in these materials and show that niobium ions donate an electron to vanadium, reducing conductivity in films near x…Continue Reading Paper on V1-xNbxO2 Published in PRB
Miles Blanchet Wins Alabama EPSCOR Graduate Reseach Fellowship
Congratulations go out to FINO Lab Ph.D. student Miles Blanchet, who won a fellowship through the Alabama EPSCOR Graduate Research Scholars Program! The fellowship will support his research on the synthesis and catalytic properties of oxide thin films and nanocomposites. We’re also happy to congratulate our collaborators on our NSF funded project, Alex Bredar and…Continue Reading Miles Blanchet Wins Alabama EPSCOR Graduate Reseach Fellowship