Conley Materials and Devices Group:
Senior Design & Honors Projects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science | Materials Science | Oregon State University

Senior Design

2018-19 ECE Senior Design Team
Members: Yitong Qi (now PhD student at Harvard), Colbey Stadelman, Tyler Nguyen
Project: Defect Engineering of Tunneling Barriers in Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) Tunnel Diodes

The project involved using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to simultaneously deposit nanometers-thin insulating films and introduce highly localized impurities within the thin films. Specifically the team deposited Al2O3 thin films with four highly localized Ni impurity profiles and characterized their electrical properties using metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures through current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements.

Pictured from left to right are Tyler, Yitong, and Colbey

2016-2017 ECE Senior Design Team
Members: Konner Holden (now a PhD student in Conley Group) and Daniel Spencer (now at AEM Components)
Project: Metal/Insulator/Insulator/Metal Diodes for Infrared Energy Harvesting

Konner and Daniel fabricated and optimized Au/Nb2O5/ZnO/Ti diodes designed for diode-coupled rectifying antennas (rectennas) for infrared energy harvesting. They used atomic layer deposition to deposit ultrathin Nb2O5 and ZnO tunnel barriers and various optical (spectroscopic ellipsometry), structural (X-ray reflectivity and diffraction, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy) and electrical (current-voltage) measurements to characterize their devices. This work was sponsored in part by RedWave Energy, Inc

Pictured left to right are Konner, Prof. Conley, and Daniel

2011-2012 ECE Senior Design Team
Quantum Engineers: Ben Lampert, Cheng Tan, and Chad Layne (now at Intel Corp., OR)
Project:"Barrier Heights in Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) Tunneling Junctions"

2011-2012 ChemE Senior Design Team
Members: Melanie Bishop (now at Micron Technology, Inc., Boise, ID), Nathan Meininger (now at ON Semiconductor, Gresham, OR), and Morgan Von Poppenheim
Project:"Reactive Sputtering of Tantalum Nitride"

Pictured left to right are Melanie, Nathan, and Morgan

2010-2011 ECE Senior Design Team
Members: Crystal Gupta, Akhila Nandogopal (now at Tektronix, Beaverton, OR), and Dustin Austin (now a graduate student in Conley Group)
Project:"Dielectrophoresis of ZnO Nanowires"

Pictured left to right are Ahkila, Crystal, and Dustin

2008-2009 ECE Senior Design Team
Members: Ashley Mason, Todd Waggoner, Adam Stone
Project: "Piezoelectric Nanowires"

2008-2009 Senior Design Team Wins First Place in the 2009 10th annual OSU Engineering Expo!!

Pictured from left to right are Prof. Conley, Adam Stone, Ashley Mason, and Todd Waggoner.

For their project entitled, "Piezoelectric Nanowires," the team of Ashley Mason, Adam Stone, and Todd Waggoner, won first place in the ECE section of the 10th Annual OSU Engineering Expo. The project involved growing and characterizing ZnO nanowires grown in solution on low temperature substrates such as Kevlar, mechanical actuation of ZnO nanowire coated Kevlar strands, and devleopment of a circuit to measure very low levels of current. The project was mentored by Prof. John Conley as well as Derryl Allman and David Price from ON Semiconductor and also received support from HP, Corvallis. The project will continue as an ONR/ONAMI funded research project in Dr. Conley's lab.

Honors Theses

Arturo Valdivia, Chemical Engineering, I-V Characteristics of Al/HfO2/TaN RRAM Devices, defended June 2013.

Cheng Tan, Electrical Engineering, Simulated and Experimental Characteristics of Analysis Techniques for ZrCuAlNi /Al2O3/Al Metal-Insulator-Metal Tunnel Diodes, defended May 2012.

Akhila Nandgopal, Electrical Engineering, Dielectrophoresis of ZnO Nanowires for CMOS Integration, defended May 2011.

Nicole Bauer, Chemical Engineering, Nanomechanical Characterization of Atomic Layer Deposition Coatings for Biomedical Applications, defended April 2011.

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