Atomic Membranes

IRG Senior Participants:
Jiwoong Park (Chem, co-leader), Michael Spencer (ElecE, co-leader), Harold Craighead (ApplPhys), Richard Hennig (MatSci), Paul McEuen (Phys), David Muller (ApplPhys), Jeevak Parpia (Phys), Farhan Rana (ElecE)
Collaborators: A. P. Alivisatos (UC Berkeley), J. C. Davis (Cornell), M. Deshmukh (TIFR, India), S. Gruner (Cornell), D. Jena (Notre Dame), G. Koley (Univ. of South Carolina), S. Krylov (Tel Aviv Univ., Israel), A. Lal (Cornell), J. Robinson (Naval Research Lab), J. Saunders, A. Casey (Royal Holloway, UK), K. Shen (Cornell), M. Sillanpaa, P. Hakonen (Helsinki Univ., Finland), G. Tompa (SMI Corp), M. Vengalattore (Cornell), A. Woll (CHESS)

Atomic membranes are a new class of two-dimensional, free-standing materials only one atom thick yet mechanically robust, chemically stable, and virtually impermeable. The prototype atomic membrane is graphene, a honeycomb lattice entirely made of carbon atoms, but other emerging systems such as the III-V boron nitride (BN) materials offer exciting new properties. Since our team reported (along with the Geim group) the first suspended atomic membranes in 2007, progress in the field has been stunning. Applications loom in almost every technological sector from electronics to chemical passivation. In particular, atomic membranes will lead to novel mechanical and window devices at a large, technologically-relevant scale, highly tunable and ultrasensitive nano-electromechanical devices for controlling and sensing nanometer scale objects, and outstanding window materials for novel x-ray and TEM studies. Our group is working to address the major materials challenges facing the realization of these applications.

E-mail IRG leaders: Michael Spencer and Jiwoong Park