Eric Chason
Professor:
Engineering
Phone: +1 401 863 2317
Eric_Chason_PhD@Brown.EDU
Professor Chason's research focuses on the evolution of thin films and surfaces, including the development of in situ diagnostics to monitor changes in stress and morphology as they occur. Recent studies involve residual stress during thin film growth, whisker formation in Sn coatings, and self-organized pattern formation during ion sputtering. This work includes experiments, computer simulation, and development of models to relate the experimental results to fundamental materials processes.
Biography
Eric Chason is a professor in the Division of Engineering at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1985, after which he performed post-doctoral work at Gakushuin University, Tokyo and was a staff member at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. His research has focused on the evolution of surfaces and thin films during materials processing. Part of this work has involved the development of real-time in situ thin film diagnostics for measuring film stress, morphology and microstructure. He has taught the course Introduction to Materials Science as well as graduate and undergraduate courses on kinetic processes in materials, crystallography, electronic materials and thin film materials. He is an active member of the American Physical Society and Materials Research Society.
Interests
Professor Chason's primary research interest is the evolution of thin films and surfaces during processing. As the dimensions of advanced device structures continue to decrease, it becomes increasingly important to understand how thin films develop in order to precisely control their structure and properties. A major aspect of this research has been the development of in situ diagnostics that enable the changes in morphology and microstructure to be monitored as they occur.
Recent work has focused on 1) the development of residual stress during thin film growth; 2) the processes controlling the formation of whiskers in Sn coatings; 3) evolution of self-organized surface patterns during low energy ion sputtering; and 4) stress relaxation in heteroepitaxial layers via dislocations and islanding. This work includes experimental measurements, computer simulation of film growth and sputtering, and development of models to relate the experimental results to fundamental materials processes.
Research techniques developed include a multi-beam optical sensor (MOSS) for measuring wafer curvature (proportional to film stress) during growth in ultra-high vacuum and other environments. In addition, a novel in situ spectroscopic light scattering technique allows the measurements of surface morphology without interrupting processing. In situ x-ray reflectivity has also been developed in order to study surface roughness and buried interfaces during growth, annealing, and low energy ion sputtering.
Awards
1994 DOE-BES Award for Sustained Outstanding Research in Metallurgy and Ceramics
Sandia National Labs Awards for Excellence (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Phi Beta Kappa
Affiliations
American Physical Society (past member of executive committee, Division of Materials Physics)
Materials Research Society
Teaching
Courses taught:
EN0041 Introduction to Materials Science
EN0145 Properties and Processing of Electronic Materials
EN0242 Kinetic Processes in Materials Science
EN0249 Crystal Structures and Crystallography
EN0292 Thin Film Materials
Funded Research
Project/Proposal Title: "Fundamental Mechanisms of Spontaneous Nanoscale Patterning During Low Energy Ion Bombardment"
Source of Support: U.S. Department of Energy
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $524,593
Total Award Period Covered: 9/01/01 - 11/30/05
Project/Proposal Title: "NIRT Study of Self-Organization in Strained Heteroepitaxial Nanostructures: Multi-Scale Modeling, Simulation and Experiment"
Jointly funded with Shenoy,Freund and Bower
Source of Support: National Science Foundation
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $1,100,000
Total Award Period Covered: 7/15/02-06/30/06
Project/Proposal Title: "Stress Evolution and Whisker Formation in Cu-Son Bimetallic Layers"
Source of Support: EMC Corp.
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $16,000
Total Award Period Covered: 7/1/04 - 12/31/05
Project/Proposal Title: "Epitaxial Printing: A Process for Making Continuous Single Crystal Metal Films"
Source of Support: Brown University, Salomon Award
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $16,000
Total Award Period Covered: 1/1/05 - 12/31/05
Project/Proposal Title: "Micro- and Nano- Mechanics of Materials"
MRSEC award with 19 Faculty
Source of Support: National Science Foundation
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $9,360,000
Total Award Period Covered: 9/1/05 - 8/31/2011
Project/Proposal Title: "Determining and Controlling the Fundamental Mechanisms of Sputter Ripple Formation"
Source of Support: U.S. Department of Energy
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $374,394
Total Award Period Covered: 12/1/05-11/30/08
Project/Proposal Title: MRSEC: "Micro-and Nano-Mechanics of Electronic and Structural Materials"
with 16 other professors
Source of Support: National Science Foundation
Award Amount (or Annual Rate): $7,100,000
Total Award Period Covered: 09/01/00 - 08/31/05
