Research on semiconductor materials and devices is an area of emphasis for TTU as is evident from the previous article. This is also true in the Physics Department. Six faculty are involved in this area: four experimentalists (Professors Shubhra Gangopadhyay and Roger Lichti and Associate Professors Mark Holtz and David Lamp) and two theorists (Professors Stefan Estreicher and Charley Myles). The Departments of Electrical Engineering and Chemistry also have faculty with expertise in this area. There are numerous collaborations within this multi-disciplinary group.

The semiconductor characterization labs in Physics are very well equipped. Most of the equipment was purchased with TTU faculty start-up funds, external research funding, and TTU matching funds. Among the equipment and characterization techniques which are available are photoluminescence, Raman scattering, magnetic resonance, deep level transient spectroscopy, and infrared spectroscopy. The department's external funding in semiconductor physics alone has totaled more than $800,000 in the last two years, exclusive of the equipment grant discussed above. In that period, numerous refereed publications, invited book chapters and invited and contributed conference talks have come from the faculty and students involved in this research. Recently, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved a Center for Sensor Technology at TTU. This center involves Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Chemistry semiconductor researchers.

This semiconductor materials emphasis is clearly also strongly integrated into the department's educational mission and programs. An example of this is our Applied Physics MS Program option in semiconductor physics, which includes internships in the semiconductor industry (see article elsewhere). In the past five years, 15 PhD's and 12 MS's have been awarded in which the students have done thesis or dissertation work in semiconductor physics.

This page was last modified on December 21, 1999