Lin Takes 2nd in GRID Modeling and Simulation

Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) graduate student Chuan-Fu Lin, advised by Associate Professor Ray Phaneuf, was awarded second prize in the Modeling and Simulation category at the 2009 Graduate Research and Interaction Day (GRID) for his presentation titled "Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulations of Nanostructure Evolution during Unstable Growth on Patterned Surfaces".

GRID, which is run by the Graduate Student Government, is a campus-wide event in which graduate students from all parts of the university present and discuss their work with faculty and fellow students, enabling them to receive feedback from a broader audience and perfect their conference presentation skills. Participants make oral and poster presentations that are judged in a variety of categories by faculty, postdoctoral fellows, administrators, and other specialists from around campus.

Lin, who collaborates with fellow MSE graduate student Krista Cosert, studies the evolution of nanopatterned GaAs surfaces during epitaxial growth. His results indicate that given the existence of a type of diffusion barrier at the edges of steps (the Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier), patterning can be used in directing the spontaneous self organization of nanometer-scale hillocks or "mounds" with an intriguing series of periodicities as the growth temperature is changed.

Lin and Cosert also presented their work on the subject at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Pittsburgh this year in a focused session on Directed Self Organization of Nanostructured Films, which Phaneuf chaired.

For More Information:

Visit the Phaneuf Group homepage »
Visit the Graduate Student Government web site to learn more about GRID »

Published April 23, 2009