Gerd Duscher

Professor

Biography

Dr. Duscher earned his master’s degree (Diplom) in Physics from the University of Regensburg, Germany in 1990, and his Dr. Sci. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Stuttgart in 1996.  His dissertation research was performed at the Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research, Stuttgart, where he held a Fellowship.  He used analytic TEM methods at both his masters and his doctoral research to investigate the reslationship between the atomic structure  and macroscopic properties. In his dissertation research he studied the influence of oxide precipitates on the electrical activity of grain boundaries in silicon. In 1997, Dr. Duscher joined the group of Dr. Steve Pennycook in the Solid State Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a Postdoctoral Research Associate where he studied grain boundaries in oxides.  In 1998, Dr. Duscher was a staff member of the Max-Planck Institute and in 1999 he accepted a position as a Research Assistant Professor for Theoretical Physics with Dr. Sokrates Pantelides at Vanderbilt University.  There he taught Quantum Mechanics II and advanced the simulation of Energy Loss Near Edge Structure in Electron Energy Loss Spectra .  In 2001 Dr. Duscher joined the faculty at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and in 2006 he became the director of the Silicon Wafer Engineering and Defect Science a NSF IUCRC center.  In 2008 Dr. Duscher joined the faculty at The University of Tennessee . He  has authored or co-authored more than 100 technical papers  and has contributed to over 50 (25 invited) technical presentations at national and international conferences.

Research

• Electrical activity at interfaces and crystal defects
• Atomic and electronic structure at interfaces
• Atomic resolution Z-contrast imaging
• Atomic resolution electron energy-loss spectroscopy
• Atomic structure calculations with density functional theory

Education

Ph.D., Stuttgart: Interfaces in Electronic and Structural Materials, Analytic Transmission Electron Microscopy

Professional Service

• Member: Materials Research Society (MRS) , Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Elektronenmikroskopie (DGE) Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG)  , American Physical Society (APS)
• Faculty Advisor for MRS student chapter at NCSU
• Symposium Organizer for TMS/ACERS Spring Meeting 2006, Symposium: Interfaces in Oxides
• Symposium Organizer for MRS Spring Meeting 2005, Symposium R: Magnetic Nanostructures
• Symposium Organizer for APS (FIAP) Meeting 2005: Gate Stacks
• Symposium Organizer for EMSA Meeting 2003: EELS with an Aberration Corrected TEM
• Symposium Organizer for APS (FIAP) Meeting 2003: Nanostructured Interfaces
• Symposium Organizer for MRS Spring Meeting 2002, Symposium R: Nanostructured Interfaces

Awards and Recognitions

2011 Research Fellow Award UT College of Engineering 

2008 George H. Bessis Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor Award, NCSU

2004 Nano Technology Industrial Impact Award

2001 R.F. Bushaah Award (best paper at international AVS meeting)

1995 Early promotion to Research Scientist

1993 Research Fellowship of the Max-Planck-Society

Publications

1. Liu, F., and G. Duscher, Chemical Composition Changes Across the Interface of Amorphous LaScO3 on Si (001) , Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, Art. No. 152901, 2007
2. Zhao, W, G. Duscher, M.A. Zikry, S. Chopra, M.C. Ozturk, and G. Rozgonyi Correlation of Strain in a TEM sample and in Bulk for a Recessed SiGe CMOS Test Structure,  Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, Art. No. 191907, 2007
3. Rhuo, S. V., G. Duscher, and D. A. Bonnell: Low-Temperature Resistance Anomaly at SrTiO3 Grain Boundaries: Evidence for an Interface-Induced Phase Transition, Phys. Rev. Lett., 95: Art. No. 197601, 2005
4. Duscher, G., M. F. Chisholm, U. Alber, and M. Ruhle: Bismuth Induced Embrittlement of Copper Grain Boundaries, Nature Materials, 3: 621-626, 2004
5. Kim M., G. Duscher, R. F. Klier, N. D. Browning, S. J. Pennycook, K. Sohlberg and S. T. Pantelides: Non-Stoichiometry and Electrical Activity of Grain Boundary in SrTiO3, Phys. Rev. Lett., 86: 4056-4059, 2001