NUSNNI Seminar Series 2002 No.5

Title: Nanoscale Materials and Device Research at the University of Canterbury
Speaker: Dr. Richard Blaikie (Nanoscale Materials and Device Research at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
Date: November 08, 2002
Time: 3:00-4:00pm
Venue: LT31, Science Auditorium, S16 Level 3

Abstract:
There has been an active and growing programme of nanoscale materials and device research at the University of Canterbury in recent years. This has been recognised by incorporation of this research into the newly formed MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, one of five New Zealand Centres of Research Excellence. In this talk the history, aims and future plans of the MacDiarmid Institute will be discussed briefly. The main research activities at the University of Canterbury will then be described in more detail. These include: low cost optical and nano-imprint lithographies; cluster structure and cluster-assembled nanostructures; MBE growth and characterisation of gallium nitride; micromachined devices for teraHertz frequency imaging; and surface texturing for silicon solar cells. Future plans include extending this work into the development of magnetic nano-materials and devices, and the inclusion of chemical and/or biological functionality into nanoengineered devices.

About the speaker:
Richard Blaikie received the B.Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 1988 and the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Cambridge, U.K., in 1992. For one year, he was a visiting scientist at the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, investigating single-electron transport effects in semiconductor nanostructures. He returned to New Zealand in 1993, taking up a position in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Canterbury, where he is currently a Senior Lecturer. He is a founding member of the University抯 Nanostructure Engineering, Science and Technology (NEST) group, and his principal research interests are the development of low cost nanolithography techniques, and the utilisation of sub-wavelength-structures at sub-mm and visible wavelengths. He is now the Deputy Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Devices, the largest of New Zealand抯 five Centres of Research Excellence.