Dennis W. Hess
Thomas C. DeLoach, Jr. Chair
Contact Information
Building: Ford ES&T
Office:
2204-2205
Phone: 404.894.5922
Fax: 404.894.2866
email
Mailing Address
Georgia Institute of Technology
School of Chemical &
Biomolecular Engineering
311 Ferst Drive, N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30332-0100
Links
Dennis W. Hess
Education
B.S. 1968, Albright College
M.S. 1970, Lehigh University
Ph.D. 1973, Lehigh University
Research Interests
Dr. Hess's research interests are primarily in thin film science and technology, microelectronics processing and electronic materials. His group's work focuses on the establishment of fundamental structure-property relationships and their connection to chemical process sequences used in the fabrication of electronic materials and devices. Specifically, the electrical, optical, mechanical and chemical properties of thin films are related to the chemical structure and bonding configurations that result from specific process technology. This permits the "design" of film materials for particular applications. Similarly, control of the surface properties of materials such as dielectrics, semiconductors, metals, and paper or paper board by film deposition or surface modification allows the tailoring of such surfaces for a variety of applications in packages and sensors.
Dr. Hess's group investigates the use of glow discharges or plasmas for the deposition, etching, and polymerization of thin films. In addition, surface cleaning and modification for control of material properties using liquid and vapor phase approaches are also of interest. Of specific interest is the use of elevated pressure fluids, including supercritical fluids, for environmentally benign surface cleaning. Chemical/physical models of film growth, etching or modification are established to aid in the improvement of manufacturing processes and for the development of novel process schemes.