Research
Chemical Vapour Deposition is a fundamental process for making coatings and thin layers of materials. It is used in the manufacturing of electronics, cutting tools and photochromic windows. My research is about understanding and developing CVD: which chemical reactions happens during CVD of a certain material, and how can these be controlled to make better CVD processes and better materials? The aim is to facilitate new and better electronics by developing CVD for lower temperatures and higher precision.
I received my M.Sc. in Chemistry 2004, my Ph.D. in Materials Science 2008, both from Linköping University. After a stint as industrial researcher at Sandvik Tooling Research and Development center in Stockholm, Sweden 2009-2010, I returned to academia and is today Professor of Inorganic Chemistry. I have been also been visiting professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada 2016.
My research is done at the interface between chemistry, physics, materials science, and electronics. My research group therefore consists of synthetic chemists, physical chemists, quantum chemists, materials scientists, and semiconductor physicists.
In one of our ongoing projects, we study how time-resolved CVD can be used to improve the material quality, and thereby the performance, of the group 13 nitrides AlN, GaN, InN, and their alloys. Here we use the most well-known time-resolved CVD method; atomic layer deposition (ALD) with time-resolved supply of precursor molecules and energy in the form of plasma discharges. An important part of the project is to develop new precursor molecules for the group 13 metals. This is done in close collaboration with Professor Seán Barry vid Carleton University i Ottawa, Canada. Another important part is to study how molecules react at the surface during the ALD process, it is mainly done by quantum chemical computations in close collaboration with Professor Lars Ojamäe at Linköping University.
In another project we develop a new CVD method where the free electrons in a plasma discharge are used to reduce the metal centers in chemisorbed precursors to a metallic film. This research is done in close collaboration with Professor Daniel Lundin at Linköping University. The aim of this research is to develop new methods for metal deposition and an understanding of how plasma electrons can be used for surface chemistry.
In our research on CVD of boronbased materials we work with boron carbide for neutron detectors. Since neutrons are electrically neutral, they are very hard to detect. A nuclear reaction is needed where neutrons react with certain isotopes such as 10B or 157Gd. In collaboration with Professor Jens Birch at Linköping University and the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden, we study thin films with high concentration of 10B that will be the basis of several neutron detectors at ESS. We also study CVD of boron nitride as a possible future electronic material in collaboration with Docent Hans Högberg at Linköping University.
Feels free to contact me if You are interested in a research collaboration.
Teaching
I teach basic- and advanced level chemistry. You will meet me at the introductory courses on General-, Inorganic-, and Environmental Chemistry at the Chemistry-, Analytical Chemistry Technology-, and Chemical Biology Bachelor’s programmes, and in Materials Chemistry at the Master’s programme in Chemistry. My fundamental teaching philosophy is that “learning chemistry is to learn how to think chemistry”. I constantly try to point to how almost everything in Chemistry can be related back to fundamental concepts like electronegativity and atomic- and molecular orbitals. I also try to point out how much understanding you can get on a molecule by looking at its structure.
