Karen Kavanagh

Karen Kavanagh

"Transmission He Ion Microscopy"

Karen L. Kavanagh received her B.Sc. in Chemical Physics from Queen's University, Kingston and her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center. In 1988, she joined the University of California, San Diego as an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2000, she joined Simon Fraser University where she is currently a Professor of Physics. Her research interests are focussed on atomic interfaces and nanostructures aimed at semiconductor electronics. Current interests include the epitaxial growth of metal contacts on semiconductors via electrochemistry, electron transport in semiconductor nanowires, evaluation of defects and potential gradients at interfaces via electron holography, growth and characterization of 2-dimensional materials, and helium ion microscopy. Her group fabricates electrical contacts by ultra-high vacuum deposition, focussed ion beam, electrochemical, and reactive gas processes. She has extensive expertise in a range of materials characterization techniques including: scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), electron holography, focussed ion beam (FIB), high resolution x-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and ballistic electron emission microscopy (BEEM). She has been recognized with a Vancouver YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, an NSERC University Faculty Award and an NSF Presidential Young Investigator and has published over 150 papers.