(420a) Precise Materials Synthesis One Layer at a Time

With the growing interest in functional nanoscale materials for applications such as electronics, catalysts, and batteries, methods for fabricating materials with precise control are becoming increasingly important. Among the many synthetic strategies that are being applied to create nanoscale components, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has emerged as one of the most exciting tools for the study, design, and fabrication of materials with improved properties and performance. ALD is a vapor-based deposition method based on sequential, self-limiting vapor-surface reactions that provides exceptional conformality, thickness control at the angstrom level, and tunable film composition. In this talk, I will describe our studies into the fundamental processes that drive ALD and introduce our work developing new processes for tunable and selective materials growth using ALD. I will discuss examples of materials systems where an understanding of surface chemistry allows the deposition of spatially- and compositionally-controllable materials for applications in electronics and sustainable energy.