Phaneuf Presents at Nanosteps, Selected for Virtual Journal

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Professor Ray Phaneuf (upper right) and friends from the Maryland Surface Physics Group demonstrate the "Maryland Notation."

This summer MSE Associate Professor Ray Phaneuf attended the "Nanosteps: Self-organized Nanostructures on Crystal Surfaces" workshop held in Cargese, Corsica, France. The workshop focused the role of steps and strain in epitaxial crystal growth, thin film dynamics and nanostructures in semiconductors, and mathematical models and numerical methods for multi-scale problems. Phaneuf was invited to present a lecture titled "Lithographic Patterning as a Probe of Unstable Growth on GaAs(001)."

"Frequently mentioned [at the workshop] was the by now famous 'Maryland Notation' for stepped surfaces where x points 'down the staircase', y along the average step direction, and z upward," Phaneuf reported. During a break, he helped illustrate this concept by striking a pose with members of the Maryland Surface Physics Group (see photo).

One of Phaneuf's recent publications on the topic, "Effect of length Scales in directing step bunch self-organization during annealing of patterned vicinal Si(111) surfaces: Comparison with a simple near-equilibrium model," originally published in Physical Review B, 77, 205401 (2008), was selected for the May 12, 2008 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology. The Virtual Journal, published online weekly by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society, presents a hand-selected group of papers the groups feel researchers should be familiar with to help keep up with developments in the field.

For More Information:

Visit the Nanosteps Workshop web site »
Visit the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology web site »
Visit Professor Phaneuf's web site »

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Published August 29, 2008