Jeffrey Elam

American chemist and researcher

Jeffrey Elam

Alma mater| Cornell University (BA), University of Chicago (PhD)
Known for| Atomic layer deposition
Title| Distinguished Fellow, Senior Chemist and Group Leader
Scientific career
Fields| Chemistry, materials science, thin films
Institutions| Argonne National Laboratory
Website| www.anl.gov/profile/jeffrey-w-elam

Jeffrey Elam is a Distinguished Fellow, Senior Chemist and Group Leader[1] in the Applied Materials Division at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. He leads Argonne's atomic layer deposition (ALD) research program, where he directs research and development and commercialization of thin film coating technologies for energy applications.

Elam is a fellow of the Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering,[2] and staff member at the Center for Molecular Engineering at Argonne.[3] He also manages the Functional Coatings Group in Argonne's Applied Materials Division[4] and is a principal investigator in the US-Israel Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center (CoWERC), and the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems Center,[5] a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center.

## Education

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Elam graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, followed by the University of Chicago with a PhD in physical chemistry in the lab of Donald H. Levy.[6] Elam pursued postdoctoral studies with Steven M. George at the University of Colorado where he developed ALD thin film growth methods.[7][8]

## Research

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### Oleo Sponge

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Elam co-invented (with Seth Darling) the Oleo Sponge,[9] a polyurethane foam engineered to absorb oil from water. Researchers engineered the material to be oleophilic and hydrophobic using sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS),[10] a patented-material synthesis method Elam co-invented that has been cited by multiple companies.[11][12][13] SIS was used to coat the interior surfaces of the foam with a thin layer of metal oxide “primer” that acts as a glue for attaching a monolayer of oleophilic molecules. The result is a reusable sponge capable of adsorbing up to 90 times its weight in oil.[14]

### Large Area Microchannel Plates

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Elam was part of the team that developed the world's largest microchannel plate (MCP),[15] a solid-state, 2-dimensional electron amplifier critical to a variety of imaging and sensing applications. This was achieved by using ALD nanocomposite coatings to create a manufacturing strategy for MCPs that drove down cost, improved performance, and widened applications.[16] The ALD coatings have been implemented by Incom, Inc. to manufacture large area MCPs[17] and are being incorporated into large area photodetectors.[18] The patent for fabricating the technology has been cited by more than a dozen companies, including Samsung, Nova Scientific and Nissan.[19]

### Scale-up of Transparent Conducting Oxide Coatings

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Elam led a team to create ALD methods for depositing ITO films, a common transparent conducting thin film found in devices such as solar cells, flat panel displays, and touch screens, onto nanoporous supports and over large substrate areas. One patented method,[20] which used two oxygen-sources “synergistically”[21] to allow materials to grow at lower-than-normal temperatures, proved[20] capable of coating nanoporous materials with high precision and uniformity.

## Publications

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Elam has authored over 300 papers on the subject of ALD, his work has been cited over 34,000 times.[22] His most cited study, published in 2003, demonstrated the low temperature growth of Al2O3 ALD films—which have the potential to coat thermally fragile substrates such as organic, polymeric, or biological materials—at temperatures as low as 33 °C.[23] His research group has amassed over 50 inventions in ALD coating technology and holds numerous patents.[24]

## Honors

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Elam is a fellow of the American Vacuum Society. In 2017, he received the ALD Innovation Award[25] from the AVS for original work and leadership in ALD. In 2019 he received a lifetime achievement award from Argonne.[26]

## Notable patents

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* Metal fluoride passivation coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition for Li-ion batteries, (2019).[27]
* Sequential infiltration synthesis for enhancing multiple-patterning lithography, (2015).[12][28]
* Tunable Resistance Coatings, (2014).[29]
* Growth Rate Control in ALD by Surface Functionalization, (2015).[30]
* Microchannel plate detectors and methods for their fabrication, (2015).[31]

## References

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1. ^ "Jeffrey W. Elam | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
2. ^ "Members – NAISE Institute". www.naise.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
3. ^ "Staff Directory | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
4. ^ "Functional Coatings | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
5. ^ "Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems Center | Our Team | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
6. ^ "Jeffrey W. Elam | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
7. ^ "Jeffrey W. Elam". www.aiche.org. 2017-08-07. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
8. ^ "UAH College of Engineering welcomes Dr. Jeffrey W. Elam of Argonne National Laboratory". The University of Alabama in Huntsville. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
9. ^ "Argonne invents reusable sponge that soaks up oil, could revolutionize oil spill and diesel cleanup | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
10. ^ Elam, J. W.; Biswas, M.; Darling, S.; Yanguas-Gil, A.; Emery, J. D.; Martinson, A. B. F.; Nealey, P. F.; Segal-Peretz, T.; Peng, Q.; Winterstein, J.; Liddle, J. A. (2015-10-02). "New Insights into Sequential Infiltration Synthesis". ECS Transactions. 69 (7): 147–157\. Bibcode:2015ECSTr..69g.147E. doi:10.1149/06907.0147ecst. ISSN 1938-6737. PMC 5424714. PMID 28503252.
11. ^ "The promise of deep grooves | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. October 2018. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
12. ^ a b US 9786511, Darling, Seth B.; Elam, Jeffrey W. & Tseng, Yu-Chih et al., "Sequential infiltration synthesis for advanced lithography", published 2017-10-10, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
13. ^ "New Vapor Deposition Method Lets Engineers Build Untraditional Materials". Machine Design. 2018-10-12. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
14. ^ "Oleo Sponge Could Make Oil Spill Cleanup More Efficient". The Wall Street Journal. March 16, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
15. ^ Mane, Anil U.; Peng, Qing; Elam, Jeffrey W.; Bennis, Daniel C.; Craven, Christopher A.; Detarando, Michael A.; Escolas, John R.; Frisch, Henry J.; Jokela, Slade J.; McPhate, Jason; Minot, Michael J. (2012-01-01). "An Atomic Layer Deposition Method to Fabricate Economical and Robust Large Area Microchannel Plates for Photodetectors". Physics Procedia. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics (TIPP 2011). 37: 722–732\. Bibcode:2012PhPro..37..722M. doi:10.1016/j.phpro.2012.03.720. ISSN 1875-3892.
16. ^ "Nanocomposite Coatings with Tunable Properties Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition". Sigma-Aldrich. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
17. ^ "MCP / Microchannel Plate / Photon and Electron Amplification". Incom. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
18. ^ Adams, Bernhard W.; Attenkofer, Klaus; Bogdan, Mircea; Byrum, Karen; Elagin, Andrey; Elam, Jeffrey W.; Frisch, Henry J.; Genat, Jean-Francois; Grabas, Herve; Gregar, Joseph; Hahn, Elaine (2016-03-06). "A Brief Technical History of the Large-Area Picosecond Photodetector (LAPPD) Collaboration". arXiv:1603.01843 [physics.ins-det].
19. ^ US 8969823, Elam, Jeffrey W.; Mane, Anil U. & Peng, Qing, "Microchannel plate detector and methods for their fabrication", published 2015-03-03, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
20. ^ a b US 10131991, Elam, Jeffrey W. & Libera, Joseph A., "Method for depositing transparent conducting oxides", published 2018-11-20, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
21. ^ Libera, Joseph A.; Hryn, John N.; Elam, Jeffrey W. (2011-04-26). "Indium Oxide Atomic Layer Deposition Facilitated by the Synergy between Oxygen and Water". Chemistry of Materials. 23 (8): 2150–2158\. doi:10.1021/cm103637t. ISSN 0897-4756.
22. ^ "Jeffrey Elam - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
23. ^ Groner, M. D.; Fabreguette, F. H.; Elam, J. W.; George, S. M. (2004-02-01). "Low-Temperature Al2O3 Atomic Layer Deposition". Chemistry of Materials. 16 (4): 639–645\. doi:10.1021/cm0304546. ISSN 0897-4756.
24. ^ "Jeffrey W. Elam Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
25. ^ "Awards". ald2018.avs.org. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
26. ^ "Congratulations to winners of 2019 Argonne Commercialization Excellence Awards". Argonne Today. May 21, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
27. ^ US 10177365, Mane, Anil U.; Elam, Jeffrey W. & Park, Joong Sun et al., "Metal fluoride passivation coatings prepared by atomic layer deposition for Li-ion batteries", published 2019-01-08, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
28. ^ US 8980418, Darling, Seth B.; Elam, Jeffrey W. & Tseng, Yu-Chih et al., "Sequential infiltration synthesis for advanced lithography", published 2015-03-17, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
29. ^ US 8921799, Elam, Jeffrey W. & Mane, Anil U., "Tunable resistance coatings", published 2014-12-30, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
30. ^ US 8951615, Elam, Jeffrey W. & Yanguas-Gil, Angel, "Doping control by ALD surface functionalization", published 2015-02-10, assigned to UChicago Argonne LLC
31. ^ US 8969823, Elam, Jeffrey W.; Mane, Anil U. & Peng, Qing, "Microchannel plate detector and methods for their fabrication", published 2015-03-03