MSE Grads Talk: Catherine Wang

Speaker: Catherine Wang, Boston University

Title: Nitride ferroelectric material properties and how they enable electronic devices

Abstract: Ferroelectric wurtzite aluminum nitride alloys have emerged as promising semiconductor materials for next-generation acoustic, electronic, memory, and electromechanical devices. Alloying aluminum nitride (AlN) with scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), or boron (B) enables large polarization responses and ferroelectric switching while maintaining many of the advantages of III-nitride materials. This work uses density functional theory (DFT) to evaluate composition-dependent lattice parameters, elastic response, spontaneous polarization, and piezoelectric coefficients. Polarization switching is also examined using solid-state nudged elastic band (ss-NEB) calculations. See how these unique ferroelectric material properties can enable understanding and provide a theoretical framework for engineering ternary AlN-based ferroelectrics for polarization-controlled devices.

Bio: Catherine Wang is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in Material Science and Engineering. She currently works with Professor Enrico Bellotti in the ECE department at Boston University. Previously she has completed work on force sensing with Prof. Sheila Russo. Her current research examines fundamental material properties of nitride ferroelectrics for next generation memory applications.