Professor Oliver M. R. Chyan

Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990

At the Interfacial Electrochemistry and Materials Research Laboratory, Dr. Chyan's research group explores both physical and chemical aspects of the selected interfaces that have both academic significance and industrial applications.

Current research projects include:

Renewal Energy: Deposit metal nanoparticels on one dimensional carbon nanotubes and graphene nanowall supported by metallic and semiconducting substrates. Novel catalytic properties and energy storage/production are the focuses of this research effort. Develop cost-effective electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction to achieve hydrogen and methanol fuel cells of high efficiency. Hydrogen fuel production via solar-assisted water splitting using high band gap nitride based semiconductors.

Semiconductor Materials Chemistry: Design and fabrication of novel functional materials by atomic layer deposition and plasma assist thin film deposition. Hydrogen termination on silicon, trace metal and organic contamination on silicon wafers, surface defects, silicon interfacial etching and semiconductor photoelectrochemistry were investigated using scanning tunneling microscope (STM), atomic force microscope (AFM), FTIR, SEM, TEM and electrochemical instrumentation. Applications to silicon microelectronic processing are carried out in collaboration with Texas Instruments.

Interfacial Chemistry on Metallic Surfaces: Fundamental mechanistic investigation of metal deposition on conductive oxide surfaces including RuO2, IrO2. Comparative study of Cu nucleation and growth on an ultra-thin Ru and RuO2 surface supported by silicon wafer. Explore the interfacial chemistry that affects the binding strength of Cu on Ru and RuO2. Explore and eliminate bimetallic corrosion of Cu/Ru and Cu/Co in IC fabrication processes. Applications to new plate-able Cu diffusion barrier are supported by Intel and Semiconductor Research Corporation.

Selected Publications

• " Enhancement of the energy photoconversion efficiency through crystallographic etching of a c-plane GaN thin film", A. M. Basilio, Y. k. Hsu, W.H. Tu, C.H. Yen, G.M. Hsu, O. Chyan , L.C. Chen and K.H. Chen, Journal of Materials Chemistry, (2010), 20, 8118-8125.
• "Study of Bimetallic Corrosion in Chemical-Mechanical Planarization using Corrosion Screening Micropattern and Tafel Plots" Yu, K.; K. Pillai; Nalla, P.; Chyan, O., Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, (2010), 40, 14359.
• "Investigation of Cu Bimetallic Corrosion in CMP Chemical Environments using Micropattern Corrosion Screening", Nalla, P.; K. Pillai; Yu, K.; Venkataraman, S.; Chyan, O M.R.; Proceeding of 2009 Advanced Metallization Conference, (2009), pp 83-91.
• "Metal Electrodeposition on an Integrated Screen-Printed Electrode Assembly", Chyan, Y.; Chyan, O., Journal of Chemical Education, (2008), 85(4), 565-567.
• "A New Class of Thin Film Hydrogels Produced by Plasma Polymerization" Bhattacharyya, D.; Pillai, K.; Chyan, O. ; Tang, L.; Timmons, R. B. Chemistry of Materials (2007), 19(9), 2222-2228.
• "Method of Making Integrated Circuits Using Ruthenium and Its Oxides as Cu Diffusion Barrier", Chyan, O. Ponnuswamy, T.; U.S. Patent 7247554, 2007.
• "Arrayed CNx NT-RuO2 nanocomposites directly grown on Ti-buffered Si substrate for supercapacitor applications" Fang, W.C.; Chyan, O.; Sun, C.L.; Wu, C.T.; Chen, C.P.; Chen, K.H.; Chen, L.C.; Huang, J.H.. Electrochemistry Communications (2007), 9(2), 239-244.
• "Enhanced Electrochemical Properties of Arrayed CNx Nanotubes Directly Grown on Ti-Buffered Silicon Substrates" Fang, W.C.; Sun, C.L.; Huang, J.H.; Chen, L.C.; Chyan, O.; Chen, K.H.; Papakonstantinou, P. Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters (2006), 9(3), A175-A178.
• "Interfacial diffusion studies of Cu/(5 nm Ru)/Si structures physical vapor deposited vs electrochemically deposited Cu"Arunagiri, T. N.; Zhang, Y..; Chyan, O.; Kim, M. J.; Hurd, T.Q. Journal of the Electrochemical Society (2005), 152(11), G808-G812.
• "Photochemically Induced Metallization of Surface Silicon Using Dinuclear Metal Carbonyl Compounds. Anchoring of Ru to a Si(111) Surface through Covalent Ru-Si Bond Formation" Nalla, P.; Huang, S.H.; Zhang, Y.B.; Chyan, O.; Richmond, M. G.; El Bouanani, M. Chemistry of Materials (2005), 17(24), 5951-5956.