Hong Koo Kim, PhD

512 Benedum Hall | 3700 O’Hara Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15261 P: 412-624-9673

hkk@pitt.edu Bell of Pennsylvania/Bell Atlantic Professor

Nano-optics and nano-electronics: materials and devices; hierarchical integration of nanoscale structures into systems for multifunctional operations. Study of plasmonic phenomena as a possible gateway to merging optics with electronics and overcoming their limits. Use of nanoscale void (air) channel as a medium for low-voltage, ultrafast transport of electrons. Nano-plasmonics as an enabling technology for implementing nanosystems-on-a-chip that offer multifunctionality across heterogeneous domains including optical, electrical, chemical, and biological domains.

Nanoelectronics, Nanophotonics, and Plasmonics

Professor Kim’s research in nano-electronics area deals with developing a new class of devices that offer femtosecond transit time operating at a single-electron level at room temperature. The operating principle involves ballistic transport of electrons in localized nanochannels. This study aims at developing a fundamental understanding of the charge transport process and its application to ultrafast, low power device operation. His research in nano-optics area focuses on: elucidation of the mechanisms of the interactions of light and metal at nanoscale; visualization of surface plasmon dynamics and interplays between polarization charges, electromagnetic fields, and energy flow on nanostructured surfaces of metal and dielectrics; utilization of these interactions in a controlled manner to enable novel functions of beam shaping and spectral filtering that can go beyond the conventional diffractive/refractive optics limits. In nanosystems-on-a-chip research his group investigates multiscale integration of nanostructures into hierarchical systems

Relevant Publications

1. H. K. Kim and M. Kim, “Suspended Graphene” (book chapter) in Carbon Nanomaterials Sourcebook, ed. K. D. Sattler (CRC Press), pp. 3-27 (2016). 2. S. Srisonphan, M. Kim, and H. K. Kim, “Space charge neutralization by electrontransparent suspended graphene,” Scientific Reports 4, 3764(6) (2014). 3. H. K. Kim, G. W. Hanson, and D. A. Geller, “Are gold clusters in RF fields hot or not?” Science 340, 441-442 (2013). 4. S. Srisonphan, Y. S. Jung, and H. K. Kim, “Metaloxide-semiconductor fieldeffect-transistor with a vacuum channel,” Nature Nanotechnology 7, 504-508 (2012).

involving various functional materials such as wide bandgap semiconductors, ferroelectric films, and plasmonic nanostructured materials. Single-domain ordered nanochannel arrays with controlled symmetry have been developed on macroscale area of wafer surface using a directed self-organization method, and have been investigated as an interaction medium.

Surface-plasmon phenomena occurring in nano-optic structures are of particular interest, since many novel properties can be derived from those and can be incorporated into an on-chip configuration for interaction with other functional materials. His group investigates plasmonics as an enabling technology for implementing nanosystems-on-a-chip that offer multifunctionality across heterogeneous domains. He has authored five patents in nanotechnology area: selforganized nanostructured wafers; metal nanolenses; chip-scale optical spectrum analyzers and multispectral imaging devices; nano-optics-enabled photovoltaic devices; single-electron-level ballistic devices.