Simulations of nanoscale spatial disorder

In this thesis, we detail the design, implementation, and testing of two simulations of nanometer scale disorder phenomena important for electronic device fabrication. We created a kinetic simulator for the surface assembly of quantum dots into ordered or disordered monolayers. We utilized a platform for high-precision motion and collision resolution and implemented the behavior of quantum dots on a surface. The simulation demonstrated experimentally observed behavior and offers insights into future device design. We also created a material simulation of the electrochemical oxidation of a metal surface with nanoscale roughness. We demonstrated that by preserving the amount of metal and making the oxide coating conformal, anodization can highly planarize the metal surface. We verify the convergence of our results as we increase the accuracy of our model. We demonstrate differences in the rate of planarization between additive and subtractive surface features which could not be observed by experiment and make predictions about the planarization of metals with different oxide expansion coefficients.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Howe, Ethan (Ethan Gabriel Grief)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Vladimir Bulović.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37205

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37205