Project SCALE RH: Semiconductor Modeling Program Engineering First Time Researcher (FTR) Fellowship Term Spring 2026 Status Closed Research Area Radiation hardening, microelectronics, electron emission physics, device modeling Description This project is restricted to Purdue SCALE Students. Please go to the SCALE FTR Page in the SCALE group on nanoHUB to read the full project description and requirements: https://nanohub.org/groups/scale/research/purdue/ftr All questions about this project should go to the faculty and mentor listed on the project description. Abbreviated description: Commercial off-the-shelf electronics are appealing for satellite applications because of their high capabilities (e.g., processing speed or memory). While these microelectronics devices are generally tested for reliability for terrestrial applications, they are not tested for ionizing radiation environments such as space or nuclear reactors, and exposure to radiation can change their electrical operation. One of the important limits for device operation is the space-charge limit, which corresponds to the maximum allowed current before no more electrons can be emitted into a diode. This limit is given by the Mott-Gurney (MG) law in a trap-free solid or the Mark-Helfrich law for a solid with traps distributed exponentially in energy. Figure 1. Nexus plot comparing the experimental conditions for gas breakdown in a device at atmospheric pressure to the theoretical transition between the Fowler-Nordheim (FN), Mott-Gurney (MG), and Child-Langmuir (CL) laws assuming fixed mobility ?=0.0059 m2V-1s-1 at atmospheric pressure using a semi-empirical relationship between mobility, pressure, and electric field. Because ionizing radiation will create electrons and ions in a semiconductor device, this project will involve assessing the behavior of these charges on these limits. This may include using simulations to characterize device responses to ionizing radiation or adapting analytic theories to incorporate realistic device geometries or mechanisms to elucidate device response. Supervisor Allen L Garner Mentor Tanya A Faltens Type of work required Depending on student interest, the student may perform simulations of semiconductor devices using commercial-off-the-shelf software or conduct theory using first-principles derivations with Mathematica and MATLAB. Websites https://sites.google.com/site/garnerresearchgroup/
https://nanohub.org/groups/scale/research/purdue/ftr Qualifications 1. You must be a SCALE student to be considered for this project. SCALE Students: Please check that your IDP and other information (resume, Linked In, Career Goals, etc.) in the SCALE Web App is up-to-date. If you are not yet a SCALE student, you can concurrently apply to SCALE and to this FTR project. Read more about SCALE and access the SCALE application link here: https://www.scale4me.org/students. 2. Preferred majors: All Engineering majors can apply, PHYS 3. Academic Years Eligible: All academic years 4. Required Experience and Skills: PHYS 241 (Electricity and Optics) or 272 (Electric and Magnetic Interactions) MA 266 (Ordinary Differential Equations) 5. Desired Experience and Skills: Interest in applying physics to guide engineering system design. Credit Hours 0 Weekly Hours 10 (estimated)