Michele Conroy
About
Michele graduated with a BSc. from University College Cork (UCC) in 2011. She joined the MCAG group in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Justin Holmes. She is co-supervised by Prof. Peter Parbrook based in Tyndall National Institute within the Nitrides Materials Group (NMG). Currently, Michele is a Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA.
Her research is based on III-N materials focusing on Ultra-Violet light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) as an alternative to Hg based lamps. Using Metal-Organic Vapour Epitaxy (MOVPE) she grows Multiple Quantum Well structures for LED production. In semiconductor materials, crystal defects critically affect device performance. Using electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction combined, a deeper understanding of how these defects are formed is achieved. Her research also involves methods to produce nanorods in III-N materials and use them to produce lower defect density templates for overgrowth of III-N devices. Novel self-assembled nano masks are made from block co-polymers and silica spheres for a top-down approach to produce nano-rods of various different diameters. Finally, within her research, the impact of defects in device performance especially device assessing failure mechanisms is examined for III-N transistors and UV LEDs.
Research Interests
III-N materials; MOVPE growth; Transmission electron microscope (TEM).
