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Frances M. Ross Named Outstanding Young Investigator for Work on In Situ Electron Microscopy Techniques Frances M. Ross, Research Staff Member at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, is not only this year’s Materials Research Society Spring Meeting co-chair, but also the recipient of the 2000 MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award. Cited for “innovative and powerful experimental studies, based upon development of novel in situ electron microscopy techniques, that have provided fundamental new understanding of nucleation, growth, oxidation and etching processes in a wide range of materials systems,” Ross continues to lead the materials field with her innovative application of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to in situ materials science experiments. This award recognizes exceptional, interdisciplinary scientific work in materials research by a young scientist or engineer who also displays leadership in the materials area. Ross’ novel development of in situ TEM techniques for materials analysis crosses a broad range of materials-related fields, including electrochemistry, interfacial characterization, dislocation dynamics, and thin-film growth. By modifying designs for the specimen, the specimen holder, or the microscope itself, Ross has enhanced understanding of materials phenomena through real-time imaging and quantitative measurements. During her tenure at the National Electron Microscopy Center at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1992–1997), she coordinated development of the In Situ Microscope user facility. She used the in situ microscope to image domain switching in ferroelectric thin films and also to study the electrochemical etching of porous silicon in the TEM, both projects requiring integration of specimen design with novel specimen holders. At IBM, which she joined in 1997, Ross is studying the evolution of self-assembled islands, or quantum dots, in systems such as Ge and GeSi on Si and CoSi2 on Si. Understanding the details of the growth of these islands is essential if they are to become components of future microelectronic devices. By using an ultrahigh vacuum TEM equipped with physical and vapor deposition sources, she was able to observe the nucleation and growth of individual islands in real time. The kinetics
Frances M. Ross measured from these experiments were used to derive models for island growth. In the Ge/Si system, where the islands are known to change shape as they grow, she showed that the development of individual islands is dominated by a coarsening process which in turn is strongly influenced by the shape change. This model predicts details of the island size distribution and shows how best to grow islands with desirable characteristics. Further studies demonstrated the mechanism by which the islands change shape. Ross’ first work with the TEM was during her PhD studies at Cambridge University where she developed a Fresnel contrast technique for measuring specimen composition accurately in the TEM. She used this technique to measure composition variations quan
