Description

This fellowship opportunity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) supports postdoctoral research on the unique physics of monolayer epitaxial graphene (EG) grown on the silicon-face of silicon carbide (SiC). The research focuses on understanding and improving the quantum Hall effect (QHE) in high-quality graphene devices for precise resistance standards.

Key research areas include:

• Growth and fabrication of nearly pristine monolayer graphene with uniform high mobility and low carrier concentration.
• Control of p-type molecular doping to counteract high electron density in as-grown graphene.
• Investigation of interactions between epitaxial graphene, the SiC substrate, buffer layers, contaminants, and additional layers.
• Study of localized electronic states and electron-electron (e-e) interactions.
• Overcoming challenges such as non-uniform layer growth by restricting graphene growth to centimeter-size single-domain monolayers.
• Fabrication of large-scale devices that surpass GaAs heterostructures in current capacity and temperature operability for quantized Hall resistance standards at temperatures above 3 K and currents exceeding 500 mA.

Associates will have access to state-of-the-art facilities including a vacuum/argon furnace for epitaxy, four variable-temperature high-field measurement systems (including a new milliKelvin cryogen-free system), and extensive nanofabrication and imaging resources at NIST.

The fellowship encourages independent study of fundamental quantum effects and collaboration with scientists working on graphene, quantum computing, and single-electron devices.