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Georgia Institute of Technology electrical and computer engineering  students Emily Marshall and Chris Matthews each earned Best Student Awards at the International Conference on Nitride Semiconductors in Fukuoka, Japan on November 17, 2023. 

Marshall, who is pursuing her M.S. and Ph.D. in ECE, received the award for her talk "Pushing the Limits of Low-Temperature Growth of Improved-Quality ScAlN Via Metal-Rich Epitaxy,” and Matthews, a recent ECE Ph.D. graduate, for his talk “Surface Oxide Removal on AlN Substrates via Low Temperature Aluminum Flashing.” 

The conference featured over 1,200 participants and 400 presentations. Marshall and Matthews were among just a handful of students to have their research recognized. 

Marshall’s talk presented her team’s prior success with growing improved-quality scandium aluminium nitride (ScAlN) and observations of a ScAIN coverage dependent and substrate temperature dependent scandium (Sc) catalytic effect. It also emphasized the importance of Marshall’s current research in quantifying the Sc catalytic effect to improve ScAlN films and devices. 

They both conducted their research in Professor Alan Doolittle’s Advanced Semiconductor Technology Facility. The main focus of the lab is the advancement of semiconductor technology. 

Their current research utilizes molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow films, uniquely using metal modulated epitaxy (MME), a specialized technique of MBE developed by the group that helps them to precisely control the buildup of metal film on the surface of the samples. This process creates higher-quality films at low temperatures.