Sonya Hansen

Silicon-Aluminum Exchange

Email

Caudill 008

(919) 843-6852

B.S. in Chemistry

The University of Michigan, 2025

Research Summary: Sonya is trying to learn more about the process of the solid-state exchange reaction between aluminum and silicon in the context of silicon nanowires. They grow nanowires of different shapes using the lab’s silicon CVD compare optical images before and after the reaction to characterize how far the aluminum has crept. They use these images to observe the effects of time, temperature, shape, and dopant level on the reaction rate. Aluminum-silicon heterostructures and aluminum nanowires have applications in modern chip design and quantum computing.

Personal Summary: Outside of the lab, Sonya enjoys reading (all genres), playing video games, crocheting, and biking. They have many houseplants and have a cat named Nellie.