Irradiation-induced phase transformations. Final report, July 1, 1995--June 30, 1997

During the course of this two year program, the authors attention focused largely on the synthesis, structure and properties of group IV semiconductor nanocrystals. They also drew to a close the investigations of defects in amorphous silicon. Work on control of nucleation in amorphous silicon and germanium is ongoing, and has taken important new directions at the interface between basic and applied research under DOE Office of Energy Efficiency support via a subcontract from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the BES Center for Synthesis and Processing of Advanced Materials` project on High Efficiency Thin Film Photovoltaics. During the course of this project, scientific and scholarly output included: (1) 10 invited talks related to work on Si and Ge nanocrystals; (2) 5 Applied Physics Letters published on Si and Ge nanocrystals; (3) 3 Caltech Ph.D. Theses on Si and Ge Nanocrystal work; and (4) New directions on control of crystallization in thin semiconductor films