Mail to:
212 Earth-Engineering Sciences Bldg.
University Park, PA 16802

Email:
pmlesm@engr.psu.edu

Phone: (814)-863-4630
Fax: (814)-865-9974

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Research

Microelectronics

Professor Lenahan and his graduate students are collaborating with researchers at Intel Corporation, Sharp Laboratories of America, International SEMATECH, and Applied Materials Corporation in studies of new high dielectric constant based metal oxide silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET) systems which will almost certainly dominate the microelectronics technology of the coming decade. His group is also collaborating with researchers at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, MD, NASA Glenn Laboratory, and CREE Corporation in the development of high power and high temperature electronics based upon silicon carbide. With researchers at Texas Instruments Research and Development Laboratory in Dallas, TX, Professor Lenahan’s group is working to solve a serious problem in present day integrated circuitry called the negative bias temperature instability.

In all of this microelectronics related research, magnetic resonance and electrical measurements are utilized to provide a fundamental understanding of the materials physics involved in determining the performance of electronic devices. The work is carried out in collaboration with leaders in technology. This collaboration with leading technologists allows the basic research carried out at Penn State to contribute directly to technology. The microelectronics related work in the laboratory thus fits the department’s title; it is, literally, Engineering Science.

Quantum Computing

Professor Lenahan’s group is working to develop spin-based quantum computing in collaboration with researchers at the National High Magnetic Fields Laboratory (NHMFL). With NHMFL researchers, the group is utilizing very high magnetic fields, a very sensitive electron spin resonance technique called spin dependent recombination, and Pound-Overhauser double (electron and nuclear) magnetic resonance to develop a universal quantum computing gate.

Nuclear Terrorism

Professor Lenahan’s group is also working to develop apparatus to detect nuclear weapons materials using magnetic resonance techniques (also Pound-Overhauser double resonance) and acoustics. This work is carried out in collaboration with Professor Tittmann’s group (also ESM) and researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (Professor Tittmann is an expert in acoustics; and Livermore is a national center for nuclear weapons research.)
 

Professor Lenahan and students have published about 150 papers. The papers have had some impact on the research community; they have been cited approximately 2900 times in the scientific and technical literature.
 

In addition to his academic duties, Professor Lenahan serves as associate editor of the Journal of Electronic Materials from 2000-2004, and also serves on the organizing committees of the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, IEEE International Reliability Workshop, IEEE Semiconductor Interface specialist Conference, The Electronic Materials Conference, and the Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Symposium of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry.

During 2006, Professor Lenahan’s group is supported by grants and contracts from Sematech, Texas Instruments, Micron Technologies, Freescale Semiconductor,  the Semiconductor Research Corporation, Honeywell and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, as well as with Prof. Tittmann, the Department of Energy/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

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