Personal statement
I use electron beams to interrogate the structure, defects and light emission from solids. Together with students and colleagues here at Strathclyde and from across the world, I work on new developments and novel applications of the scanning electron microscopy techniques of electron backscatter diffraction, electron channelling contrast imaging and cathodoluminescence imaging. In particular we have developed novel techniques to rapidly and non-destructively analyse defects in nitride semiconductors used for production of UV and visible LEDs and transistor structures.
I currently lecture on solid state physics, electron and scanning probe microscopy and public engagement of research and supervise student projects.
I am also committed to public engagement giving lectures, writing articles, running workshops, quizzes, street busking, leading science street tours and providing kits to schools and am an enthusiastic contributor to the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, the Glasgow Science Festival and to Explorathon (European Researchers Night Scotland). I was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2014.
Research interests
Our research is driven by the need for rapid, non-destructive techniques to reveal and analyse defects in crystalline materials, in particular in nitride semiconductor thin films. III-nitride materials are presently the basis of a fast-growing, multi-billion dollar solid-state lighting industry and commercial AlGaN/GaN electronic devices are now in use in cell phone base stations, satellite communication systems and cable television networks. However, the ultimate performance of these nitride semiconductor based light emitters and electronic devices is limited by extended defects such as threading dislocations (TDs), partial dislocations (PDs), stacking faults (SFs) and grain boundaries (GBs). If we want to develop LEDs to be an effective replacement for the light bulb, or have sufficient power to purify water or develop efficient power electronics for electric vehicles, we need to eliminate these defects as they act as scattering centres for light and charge carriers and give rise to nonradiative recombination and to leakage currents, severely limiting device performance. The first step to this goal is the detection of these defects – we exploit electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) in a field emission scanning electron microscope to rapidly and non-destructively detect and analyze TDs, PDs, SFs, GBs and map crystal structure, texture, and strain with a lateral and depth resolution on the order of tens of nanometers.
We are involved in both the development and exploitation of the ECCI and EBSD techniques. For example, in collaboration with the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford and the National Physical Laboratory, we are developing new direct electron imaging detectors for electron backscatter diffraction. We are exploiting the digital complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor hybrid pixel detector, Timepix. Timepix is one of the outcomes of an international collaboration (Medipix) hosted at CERN, established to provide a solution for a range of problems in X-ray and gamma-ray imaging in hostile conditions. Using the Timepix allows digital direct electron detection and energy filtering; it enables electron backscatter diffraction patterns to be acquired with reduced noise and increased contrast, and an unprecedented increase in detail is observed in the patterns. This is allowing us to interrogate the fundamental physics of pattern formation and will enable, in the longer term, the application of the EBSD technique to be expanded to materials for which conventional EBSD analysis is not presently practicable. For more information see: Scanning electron microscopy of nitrides: Nanoscale characterisation of nitride semiconductor thin films using EBSD, ECCI, CL and EBIC.
Collaborators
We collaborate with researchers from around the globe including the Universities of Sheffield; Nottingham; Cambridge; Oxford; Bristol; Bath; Tyndall Institute/University College Cork; Aalto University;Technischen Universität Berlin; The National Physical Laboratory and Bruker Nano, Berlin.
Professional activities
- UVLED Technology and Application Requirements Workshop
- Organiser
- 22/3/2017
- Invited talk at German Physical Society Spring Meeting, Regensburg, Germany. March 2016. Title: Nanocharacterisation of the structural and luminescence properties of materials in the scanning electron microscope
- Invited speaker
- 8/3/2016
- Lecture at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata, India, January 2015 "Nitrides - The Rainbow Material"
- Speaker
- 18/1/2016
- Lecture Series in India as part of "Science and Beyond" organised by the British Council, January 2016. Gave talks on - "Studying structure and light emission in the scanning electron microscope" and "Engaging the Public with Science and Technology – from statues to rainbows"
- Invited speaker
- 10/1/2016
- Scientific Organiser of Royal Microscopical Society Electron Backscatter Diffraction Conference, Glasgow, March 2015
- Organiser
- 29/3/2015
- Maxwell Lecture at King's College London, March 2015 "Nitrides – The Rainbow Material"
- Speaker
- 2/3/2015
more professional activities
Projects
- Enhanced Electron Backscatter Diffraction by Energy Filtered Direct Electron Detection
- Trager-Cowan, Carol (Principal Investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2014 - 31-Mar-2018
- An EPSRC Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre for Medical Devices | Dowd, Peter Dylan
- Trager-Cowan, Carol (Principal Investigator) Dowd, Peter Dylan (Research Co-investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2006 - 15-Nov-2014
- Quantitative non-destructive nanoscale characterisation of advanced materials
- Hourahine, Benjamin (Principal Investigator) Edwards, Paul (Co-investigator) Roper, Richard (Co-investigator) Trager-Cowan, Carol (Co-investigator) Gunasekar, Naresh (Researcher)
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- Period 01-Jun-2017 - 30-Nov-2020
- Novel applications of direct electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope
- Trager-Cowan, Carol (Principal Investigator)
- Period 01-Sep-2016 - 31-Oct-2016
- EBSD Research project with NPL
- Trager-Cowan, Carol (Principal Investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2015 - 31-Dec-2015
- Industrial Case Account 2014 | Pascal, Elena
- Trager-Cowan, Carol (Principal Investigator) Hourahine, Benjamin (Co-investigator) Pascal, Elena (Research Co-investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2014 - 01-Oct-2018
more projects
Address
Physics
John Anderson Building
John Anderson Building
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