3 ESR positions: Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Industrial Doctorate Network on DESIGN-EID

Project Overview:

There is a great interest in integrating compound semiconductors either monolithically or heterogeneously on silicon to exploit their complementary properties. Particularly to exploit the direct bandgap of III-Vs for opto-electronic devices densely integrated with CMOS. However, lattice and thermal mismatch between materials makes epitaxial growth on silicon challenging. In this project they will address the challenges associated with the formation of defects and material growth in compound semiconductors such as III-Vs as well as their impact on device performance. Defects may be exploited in the development of novel devices, but more often they wish to mitigate their deteriorating impact on electro-optic device performance, by growth and materials optimization. The project combines experimental work at IBM with modelling and simulation efforts at University of Glasgow and Synopsis QuantumATK.

Candidate's Profile:

They are looking for three candidates with a master’s degree in physics, engineering or chemistry with knowledge in solid-state physics, materials science or electrical engineering with an outstanding academic record. The candidates must be fluent in English, have good communication skills and be able to work efficiently in a team and navigate in an international environment.

Individual projects:

The three ESRs (ESR1, ESR2 and ESR3) will be addressing different tasks and projects but will be working closely together.

ESR1 will mainly focus on aspects related to III-V materials epitaxial growth on silicon, TEM analysis and development of a machine learning algorithm for defect classification. They also foresee the development of simulation framework to model the electronic and optical properties of individual defects.

Employment: IBM Research Zurich (Switzerland) (22 Months) & University of Glasgow (UK) (14 Months).

Skills: Solid-state physics, materials science, python programming, atomistic simulations

ESR2 will explore the role of defects in the context of opto-electronic device performance, this will be done first via simulation where optimized designs will be developed, and later these will be fabricated by the ESR at IBM.

Employment: University of Glasgow (UK) (14 Months), IBM Research Zurich (Switzerland) (22 Months)

Skills: Solid-state physics, device fabrication, TCAD, electro-optical characterization

ESR3 will develop theoretical models which will describe the complexity of the material growth process and defect formation in III-V materials. Those models will be implemented in state-of- the-art QuantumATK commercial simulation framework.

Employment: University of Glasgow (UK) (12 Months), Synopsis QuantumATK (Denmark) (24 Months)