Eugene A. Fitzgerald

Merton C. Flemings-SMA Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

BS Materials Science and Engineering, MIT, 1985 
PhD Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell, 1989

R oom 13-5153, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA  02139
617-258-7461 (phone) 617-258-6105 (fax)
eafitz@mit.edu
Prof. Fitzgerald's Home Page

Prof. Fitzgerald's group's research activities attack the current limitations of electronic materials, especially limitations created by imperfections in materials such as point, line, and planar defects. Much of the group's efforts are focused on lattice-mismatched semiconductor systems, in which layers in electronic materials and devices have different lattice parameters. Such material combinations have potential in printing, storage, display, communications, and interconnect applications. But the utility of these materials depends on our ability to understand and eliminate crystalline defects which can be generated due to the lattice-mismatch between semiconductor layers. Current projects involve the fabrication of GeSi/Si detectors and InGaAs/GaAs emitters which may be used in fiber-to-the-home applications; GeSi/Si structures for integrated, micro-mechanical devices; visible AlInGaP LEDs and lasers integrated on Si and GaAs; III-V microwave transistors integrated on Si; III-V solar cells integrated on Si; basic studies concerning the generation, propagation, and interaction of defects in these heterostructures; and investigations of microscopic failure mechanisms in optoelectronic and electronic devices. 

Selected Publications 

"Necessity of Ga Pre-layers in GaAs/Ge Growth Using Gas-Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy," Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 733, 1994 (with others). 

"GeSi/Si Nanostructures," Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 25: 417-54, 1995. 

 "Novel dislocation structure and surface morphology effects in relaxed Ge/Si-Ge(graded)/Si structures," J. Appl. Phys. 81, 3108, 1997 (with S.B. Samavedam). 

"Line, Point, and Surface Defect Morphology of Graded, Relaxed GeSi Alloys on Si Substrates," Thin Solid Films 294, 3, 1997 (with S.B. Samavedam). 

 "Influence of Strain on Semiconductor Thin Film Epitaxy," J. Vac. Sci. Tech. A 15, 1048, 1997 (with others). 

2006–2007 Teaching Involvements

Fall 2006 3.042 Materials Project Laboratory
Fall 2006 3.201 Advanced Engineering Internship
Fall 2006 3.202 Advanced Ind. Internship in Technology Development
Fall 2006 3.225 Mech. and EPM Properties of Materials
Fall 2006 3.206 Intro. to Materials Engineering Practice
Fall 2006 3.49, 3.491 Special Problems in Electrical, Photonic, and Magnetic Materials
Spring 2007 3.201 Advanced Engineering Internship
Spring 2007 3.202 Advanced Ind. Internship in Technology Development
Spring 2007 3.207 Technology Development and Evaluation
Spring 2007 3.49, 3.491 Special Problems in Electrical, Photonic, and Magnetic Materials

Prof. Fitzgerald's research in developing cheaper and better semiconductors has been written about in the May and the December 2003 Technology Insider. As reported in Technology Insider, he presented this work at the New Materials track of the MIT Research and Development conference in November 2005. Developments in limiting the number of defects in strained silicon semiconductors was reported in the January 2006 Technology Insider.

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