Walter de Heer

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Walter de Heer
Wdeheer.jpg
Citizenship Netherlands
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Known fordevelopment of graphene electronics
Scientific career
Fields condensed matter physics, metal clusters, carbon nanotubes, graphene
Institutions École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Georgia Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor Walter D. Knight

Walter Alexander "Walt" de Heer (born November 1949) is a Dutch physicist and nanoscience researcher known for discoveries in the electronic shell structure of metal clusters, magnetism in transition metal clusters, field emission and ballistic conduction in carbon nanotubes, and graphene-based electronics.

Contents

Academic career

De Heer earned a doctoral degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986 under the supervision of Walter D. Knight. He worked at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland from 1987 to 1997, and is currently a Regents' Professor of Physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He directs the Epitaxial Graphene Laboratory in the School of Physics and leads the Epitaxial Graphene Interdisciplinary Research Group at the Georgia Tech Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.

Research

De Heer and his research groups have made significant contributions to several important areas in nanoscopic physics. As a graduate student at UC-Berkeley, he participated in groundbreaking research on alkali metal clusters that demonstrated the electronic shell structure of metal clusters. [1] This is a property of small metal clusters composed of few atoms that develop atom-like electronic properties (these clusters are also referred to as superatoms). In Switzerland, he developed methods of measuring the magnetic properties of cold metal clusters and described how magnetism develops in these clusters as their size increases from atomic to bulk. [2] He is the author of the most highly cited [3] review articles on metallic clusters. [4]

De Heer turned to carbon nanotubes in 1995, showing that they are excellent field emitters, with potential application to flat panel displays. [5] In 1998, he discovered that carbon nanotubes are ballistic conductors at room temperature, [6] [7] meaning that they conduct electrons over relatively large distances without resistance. This is a key selling point of nanotube- and graphene-based electronics.

His nanotube work led to consideration of the properties of "opened" carbon nanotubes and the development of graphene-based electronics, starting in 2001. [8] [9] Anticipating that patterned graphene structures would behave like interconnected carbon nanotubes, [8] he proposed several avenues of graphene preparation, including exfoliation of graphite flakes to oxidized silicon wafers and epitaxial growth on silicon carbide. [8] The latter was deemed most promising for large-scale integrated electronics, and was funded by Intel Corporation in 2003. [9] In 2004, the group was awarded additional funding from the National Science Foundation for the pursuit of graphene science. [10] [11] The first paper, "Two dimensional electron gas properties of ultrathin epitaxial graphite", was presented in March 2004 [12] at a meeting of the American Physical Society and published in December under the title, "Ultrathin epitaxial graphite: Two dimensional electron gas properties and a route towards graphene based electronics". [13] This paper, based primarily on data documented in 2003, [8] describes the first electrical measurements of epitaxial graphene, reports fabrication of the first graphene transistor, and outlines the desirable properties of graphene for use in graphene-based electronics. De Heer and coworkers Claire Berger and Phillip First hold the first patent on graphene-based electronics, [14] provisionally filed in June 2003. The approach championed by de Heer has the advantage of producing graphene directly on a high-quality electronic material (silicon carbide) and does not require isolation or transfer to any other substrate. [13] In 2014 de Heer and co-workers demonstrated exceptional ballistic transport properties of epigraphene nanoribbons on silicon carbide substrate steps. [15] This work was continued and in 2022 the  transport was demonstrated to  involve a zero-energy edge state with Majorana-fermion-like properties. [16]  This novel state is still not theoretically explained. In 2023 de Heer and coworkers demonstrated ultrahigh mobility semiconducting epigraphene. [17]

Honors and awards

He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2003. [18]

In 2006, de Heer was named as one of the "Scientific American 50", a list of individuals/organizations honored for their contributions to science and society during the preceding year. [19] In 2007, he and his research group were awarded the prestigious W.M. Keck Foundation grant for continuation of work on "nanopatterned epitaxial graphene electronic devices that work at room temperature." [20] De Heer received IBM Faculty Awards in 2007 [21] and 2008, [22] and his work on graphene transistors was named as one of Technology Review's 10 emerging technologies "most likely to change the way we live" in 2008. [23] In September 2009, de Heer was awarded the ACSIN Nanoscience Prize "for his visionary work in developing the field of graphene nanoscience and technology". [24] De Heer has been awarded the 2010 Materials Research Society Medal "for his pioneering contributions to the science and technology of epitaxial graphene". [25] His h-index is currently 97. [26]

TICNN

The Tianjin International Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems (TICNN) is a research institute on the University of Tianjin (TJU) campus that was established in 2015 by de Heer’s ex-postdoc Lei Ma and Walt de Heer, designed by de Heer and constructed by Ma. TICNN has a comprehensive dedicated epigraphene laboratory designed to coordinate with, and complement the Georgia Tech epigraphene effort, with Georgia Tech’s endorsement. De Heer was the TICNN director until 2020. The deterioration of US-China relationships in general and the China Initiative specifically, significantly impacted the collaboration. De Heer is now the scientific advisor of the epigraphene effort at the TICNN and remotely directed the research that demonstrated ultrahigh mobility semiconducting epigraphene. [17]

Letter to Nobel prize committee

In November 2010, De Heer wrote [27] to the Nobel prize committee criticising certain inaccuracies of the Scientific Background document relating to the award of the Nobel Prize to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov which led to revisions in the Scientific Background document.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanoelectromechanical systems</span> Class of devices for nanoscale functionality

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphene</span> Hexagonal lattice made of carbon atoms

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure. The name is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, reflecting the fact that the graphite allotrope of carbon contains numerous double bonds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mildred Dresselhaus</span> American physicist and nanotechnologist (1930–2017)

Mildred Dresselhaus, known as the "Queen of Carbon Science", was an American physicist, materials scientist, and nanotechnologist. She was an institute professor and professor of both physics and electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also served as the president of the American Physical Society, the chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as the director of science in the US Department of Energy under the Bill Clinton Government. Dresselhaus won numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, the Enrico Fermi Award, the Kavli Prize and the Vannevar Bush Award.

Phaedon Avouris is a Greek chemical physicist and materials scientist. He is an IBM Fellow and was formerly the group leader for Nanometer Scale Science and Technology at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvin L. Cohen</span> American physicist

Marvin Lou Cohen is an American–Canadian theoretical physicist. He is a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cohen is a leading expert in the field of condensed matter physics. He is widely known for his seminal work on the electronic structure of solids.

Carbide-derived carbon (CDC), also known as tunable nanoporous carbon, is the common term for carbon materials derived from carbide precursors, such as binary (e.g. SiC, TiC), or ternary carbides, also known as MAX phases (e.g., Ti2AlC, Ti3SiC2). CDCs have also been derived from polymer-derived ceramics such as Si-O-C or Ti-C, and carbonitrides, such as Si-N-C. CDCs can occur in various structures, ranging from amorphous to crystalline carbon, from sp2- to sp3-bonded, and from highly porous to fully dense. Among others, the following carbon structures have been derived from carbide precursors: micro- and mesoporous carbon, amorphous carbon, carbon nanotubes, onion-like carbon, nanocrystalline diamond, graphene, and graphite. Among carbon materials, microporous CDCs exhibit some of the highest reported specific surface areas (up to more than 3000 m2/g). By varying the type of the precursor and the CDC synthesis conditions, microporous and mesoporous structures with controllable average pore size and pore size distributions can be produced. Depending on the precursor and the synthesis conditions, the average pore size control can be applied at sub-Angstrom accuracy. This ability to precisely tune the size and shapes of pores makes CDCs attractive for selective sorption and storage of liquids and gases (e.g., hydrogen, methane, CO2) and the high electric conductivity and electrochemical stability allows these structures to be effectively implemented in electrical energy storage and capacitive water desalinization.

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References

  1. ↑ Knight, W.D.; et al. (1984). "Electronic Shell Structure and Abundances of Sodium Clusters". Physical Review Letters . 52 (24): 2141. Bibcode:1984PhRvL..52.2141K. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.52.2141.
  2. ↑ Billas, I.; Chatelain, A.; de Heer, W. (1994). "Magnetism from the Atom to the Bulk in Iron, Cobalt, and Nickel Clusters". Science . 265 (5179): 1682–4. Bibcode:1994Sci...265.1682B. doi:10.1126/science.265.5179.1682. PMID   17770895. S2CID   25787167.
  3. ↑ Web of Science, retrieved 18 November 2010.
  4. ↑ de Heer, W. (1993). "The physics of simple metal clusters: experimental aspects and simple models". Reviews of Modern Physics . 65 (3): 611. Bibcode:1993RvMP...65..611D. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.65.611.
  5. ↑ de Heer, W.; Chatelain, A.; Ugarte, D. (1995). "A Carbon Nanotube Field-Emission Electron Source". Science. 270 (5239): 1179. Bibcode:1995Sci...270.1179D. doi:10.1126/science.270.5239.1179. S2CID   179090084.
  6. ↑ Frank, S.; Poncharal, P; Wang, Z.L.; de Heer, W. (1998). "Carbon Nanotube Quantum Resistors". Science. 280 (5370): 1744–6. Bibcode:1998Sci...280.1744F. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.485.1769 . doi:10.1126/science.280.5370.1744. PMID   9624050.
  7. ↑ Dekker, C. (1999). "Carbon Nanotubes as Molecular Quantum Wires". Physics Today . 52 (5): 22. Bibcode:1999PhT....52e..22D. doi:10.1063/1.882658.
  8. 1 2 3 4 de Heer, W.A. (2009). "Early development of graphene electronics". SMARTech. hdl:1853/31270.
  9. 1 2 Chang, Kenneth (10 April 2007). "Thin Carbon Is In: Graphene Steals Nanotubes' Allure". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Toon, John (14 March 2006). "Carbon-Based Electronics: Researchers Develop Foundation for Circuitry and Devices Based on Graphite". Georgia Tech Research News.
  11. ↑ "NIRT: Electronic Devices from Nano-patterned Epitaxial Graphite". National Science Foundation. 12 August 2004.
  12. ↑ Berger, C.; et al. (22 March 2004). "Two dimensional electron gas properties of ultrathin epitaxial graphite". Bulletin of the American Physical Society. A17.008.
  13. 1 2 Berger, C.; et al. (2004). "Ultrathin epitaxial graphite: Two dimensional electron gas properties and a route towards graphene based electronics". Journal of Physical Chemistry B . 108 (52): 19912. arXiv: cond-mat/0410240 . doi:10.1021/jp040650f. S2CID   848033.
  14. ↑ USpatent 7015142,Walt A. DeHeer, Claire Berger, and Phillip N. First,"Patterned thin film graphite devices and method for making same",issued 2006-03-21
  15. ↑ Baringhaus, Jens; Ruan, Ming; Edler, Frederik; Tejeda, Antonio; Sicot, Muriel; Taleb-Ibrahimi, Amina; Li, An-Ping; Jiang, Zhigang; Conrad, Edward H.; Berger, Claire; Tegenkamp, Christoph; de Heer, Walt A. (February 2014). "Exceptional ballistic transport in epitaxial graphene nanoribbons". Nature. 506 (7488): 349–354. arXiv: 1301.5354 . doi:10.1038/nature12952. ISSN   0028-0836.
  16. ↑ Makar, A. B.; McMartin, K. E.; Palese, M.; Tephly, T. R. (June 1975). "Formate assay in body fluids: application in methanol poisoning". Biochemical Medicine. 13 (2): 117–126. doi:10.1016/0006-2944(75)90147-7. ISSN   0006-2944. PMID   1.
  17. 1 2 Zhao, Jian; Ji, Peixuan; Li, Yaqi; Li, Rui; Zhang, Kaimin; Tian, Hao; Yu, Kaicheng; Bian, Boyue; Hao, Luzhen; Xiao, Xue; Griffin, Will; Dudeck, Noel; Moro, Ramiro; Ma, Lei; de Heer, Walt A. (January 2024). "Ultrahigh-mobility semiconducting epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide". Nature. 625 (7993): 60–65. arXiv: 2308.12446 . doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06811-0. ISSN   1476-4687.
  18. ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". APS. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Scientific American 50: SA 50 Winners and Contributors". Scientific American. 12 November 2006.
  20. ↑ "Grants Awarded in 2007". W.M. Keck Foundation.
  21. ↑ "2007 Faculty Award recipients" (PDF). IBM University Research & Collaboration. 2007.
  22. ↑ "2008 Faculty Award recipients" (PDF). IBM University Research & Collaboration. 2008.
  23. ↑ Bullis, Kevin (March–April 2008). "TR10: Graphene Transistors". Technology Review. MIT.
  24. ↑ "The Nanoscience Prize" (24 September 2009) 10th International Conference on Atomically Controlled Surfaces, Interfaces, and Nanostructures. Granada, Spain.
  25. ↑ "MRS Medal Award" (1 October 2010). Materials Research Society.
  26. ↑ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=klW4cOMAAAAJ&hl=en, current as of 20 December 2023
  27. ↑ "Nobel document triggers debate"
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