Eva Olsson, Professor of Experimental Physics, Microscopy and Microanalysis at the Department of Applied Physics at Chalmers.

Research interests: functional microstructures including in-situ studies, mainly by electron microscopy and other scanning probe techniques.

Eva Olsson was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics, with an emphasis on analytical material physics, on September 1, 2001.

She was born in Göteborg in 1960. She graduated from Chalmers University of Technology in 1983 with an MScEng in Engineering Physics and obtained her PhD in Material Science at the Department of Physics in 1988. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights from 1989 to 1991. In 1991 she became an Assistant Professor at Chalmers, in 1994 she was appointed 'docent' in Physics and in 1996 she became a Lecturer. In 1997 she was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics, with a special emphasis on analytical electron microscopy, at the Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University.

Summary of the research

Eva Olsson's research deals with the functional microstructure of electronic materials and devices. The microstructure is characterised mainly through the use of high-resolution analytical electron microscopy. Information is extracted on the macro, micro, nano and Ångström scale in order to reveal how the atomic structure affects the properties. The information is crucial to both immediate material and device development and also to the fundamental understanding of materials and the formulation of theoretical models, where the materials of the future emerge from simulations. As the dimensions decrease it is even more important to correlate local structure directly with properties in order to formulate, confirm or reject predictions and models. Part of Eva Olsson's research is therefore concerned with in situ characterisation of electrical properties and structure. Often new and unique equipment needs to be developed, with the application of the latest in nanoscience.

The research is often carried out in collaboration with other research groups that are involved in material synthesis, thin film growth and the characterisation of different properties. We are now able to build materials and structures atom by atom. This opens up unique potential to optimise and tailor properties. Unexpected potential emerges and it is only our ingenuity and imagination that limits our ability. In the future we will use combinations of materials that were previously considered impossible. The information that is obtained from analytical electron microscopy and the research on functional microstructure is vitally important to research into, and the development of, the materials and devices of tomorrow.