Aim, shoot and dope! Electron-beam doping of semiconductor nanowires

The beauty of observing a complex process while it is happening, i.e. in real time and in-situ, is compelling and crucial to its understanding. Within this project, I am going to push the capability of an Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope (ETEM) to address one of the major challenges towards nanometre-size scaling of electronic devices based on semiconductor nanowires (NWs): achieving controlled doping in NWs at the atomic level. I will institute an ETEM as a doping tool and I will establish the Environmental Electron Holography technique inside the ETEM to directly visualize, measure, understand and control the complex mechanism of doping incorporation in NWs. The success of the project will have important practical implication for solar cells and electronic devices based on doped NWs, where the achievement of controlled doping and ultrashallow junctions is vital for achieving the desired high performance.