Graduate Student Seminar

September 12, 2025

12:45 p.m. ET

7500 Wean Hall

Synthesis of 2D and Quantum Materials using AI/ML

Two-dimensional (2D) and other quantum materials are of interest for next-generation devices such as lightweight transistors and efficient optical sensors, as well as for demonstrating novel physics. However, the synthesis of 2D materials is significantly more complicated than traditional semiconductor thin film growth. In this talk, I will discuss our to synthesize high-quality 2D and quantum materials using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). 2D materials are particularly challenging to grow since the van der Waals bonding between layers means that they are prone to the formation of antiphase domains, pyramidal growth, and spiral dislocations. I will discuss the general recipe that we have found for growing wafer-scale 2D materials with a low density of these defects and a highly controllable thickness. This recipe works to grow films down to a few monolayers, allowing the unusual quantum mechanical effects to be observed. I will then discuss our recent efforts to use AI/ML techniques to improve film synthesis. I will show the development of a model that connects growth conditions to film properties in GaSe, allowing the grower to choose growth parameters to obtain the desired properties. Finally, I will show how Bayesian optimization can be used to quickly and efficiently find the optimal growth conditions for new materials, and in particular, can be used to grow polytype-pure films of In2Se3.

Stephanie LawStephanie Law, Associate Professor and the Norris B. McFarlane Faculty Career Development Chair in the department of Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State University

Professor Law holds affiliate appointments in the Penn State Department of Physics and the Institute for Energy and the Environment. She is the Director of Education, Outreach, and Diversity programs for the Penn State Two-Dimensional Crystal Consortium and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. She received her B.S. in Physics from Iowa State University and her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She then held a postdoctoral position in the Electrical Engineering department at Illinois before moving to the University of Delaware as an Assistant Professor. Prof. Law has won the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy Young Investigator award, the Department of Energy Early Career award, the AVS Peter Mark Memorial Award, the International Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy Young Investigator Award, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She is a fellow of the American Vacuum Society.

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