James M. LeBeau

  • Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
  • B.S. Materials Science and Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara

CV

Ceramics; Electronic Materials; Energy Storage; Nanotechnology; Structural Materials; Surfaces, Interfaces, and Thin Films

LeBeau at the microscope

Research

James M. LeBeau earned his Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2010, after which he joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University as a faculty member in January 2011. His research focuses on applying and developing revolutionary (scanning) transmission electron microscopy techniques to connect the atomic structure and chemistry of defects/interfaces with material properties for quantum computing, energy storage, power electronics, dielectrics, and optical applications. He has published over 90 papers, holds a US patent, and he has received recognition for his work with a PECASE (from the DoD), an NSF CAREER award, the Microanalysis Society K.F.J Heinrich award, and as a University Faculty Scholar (NCSU).

Recent News

Inspiration at the atomic scale

November 9, 2022

With new techniques in electron microscopy, James LeBeau explores the nanoscale landscape within materials to understand their properties.  

More news about James M. LeBeau >>

Publications

2021

K. Reidy et al., “Direct imaging and electronic structure modulation of moiré superlattices at the 2D/3D interface”, Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021.
W. Nunn et al., “Hybrid molecular beam epitaxy growth of BaTiO3 films”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, vol. 39, no. 4. American Vacuum Society, p. 040404, 2021.
S. Wei, Xu, M., LeBeau, J. M., and Tasan, C. C., “Tuning mechanical metastability in FeMnCo medium entropy alloys and a peek into deformable hexagonal close-packed martensite”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 119, no. 26. AIP Publishing, p. 261905, 2021.

2020

Z. H. Lim et al., “Suspended single-crystalline oxide structures on silicon through wet-etch techniques: Effects of oxygen vacancies and dislocations on etch rates”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, vol. 38, no. 1. American Vacuum Society, p. 013406, 2020.
S. S. Jo et al., “Formation of large-area MoS2 thin films by oxygen-catalyzed sulfurization of Mo thin films”, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, vol. 38, no. 1. American Vacuum Society, p. 013405, 2020.
A. N. Penn, Koohfar, S., Kumah, D. P., and LeBeau, J. M., “On the redistribution of charge in La0.7Sr0.3CrO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 multilayer thin films”, AIP Advances, vol. 10, no. 4. AIP Publishing, p. 045113, 2020.
A. Kumar et al., “Atomic-resolution electron microscopy of nanoscale local structure in lead-based relaxor ferroelectrics”, Nature Materials. Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
M. R. Hauwiller et al., “Cathodoluminescence of silicon doped aluminum nitride with scanning transmission electron microscopy”, APL Materials, vol. 8, no. 9. AIP Publishing, p. 091110, 2020.

2019

H. Dycus et al., “The role of transient surface morphology on composition control in AlGaN layers and wells”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 114. p. 031602, 2019.
D. Pham, Dycus, J. H., LeBeau, J. M., Manga, V. R., Muralidharan, K., and Corral, E. L., “Thermochemical model on the carbothermal reduction of oxides during spark plasma sintering of zirconium diboride”, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., vol. 102. pp. 757–767, 2019.

2018

Z. H. Lim et al., “Charge transfer and tunable built-in electric fields across semiconductor-crystalline oxide interfaces”, arXiv. 2018.
W. Xu and LeBeau, J. M., “A deep convolutional neural network to analyze position averaged convergent beam electron diffraction patterns”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 188. pp. 59-69, 2018.
D. Pham, Dycus, H., LeBeau, J. M., Manga, V. R., Muralidharan, K., and Corral, E. L., “Thermochemical Model on the Carbothermal Reduction of Oxides During Spark Plasma Sintering of Zirconium Diboride”, Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 2018.
W. Xu, Dycus, J. H., and LeBeau, J. M., “Numerical modeling of specimen geometry for quantitative energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 184. pp. 100–108, 2018.
E. D. Grimley, Schenk, T., Mikolajick, T., Schroeder, U., and LeBeau, J. M., “Atomic Structure of Domain and Interphase Boundaries in Ferroelectric HfO₂”, Advanced Materials Interfaces. p. 1701258, 2018.
F. P. G. Fengler et al., “Analysis of Performance Instabilities of Hafnia-Based Ferroelectrics Using Modulus Spectroscopy and Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents”, Advanced Electronic Materials. p. 1700547, 2018.
R. Dhall et al., “Probing collective oscillation of d -orbital electrons at the nanoscale”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 112. p. 061102, 2018.
M. J. Cabral, Zhang, S., Dickey, E. C., and LeBeau, J. M., “Gradient chemical order in the relaxor Pb(Mg1∕3Nb2∕3)O₃”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 112. p. 082901, 2018.
C. C. Milleville et al., “Engineering Efficient Photon Upconversion in Semiconductor Heterostructures”, ACS Nano, vol. in press. p. acsnano.8b07062, 2018.
R. Trappen et al., “Electrostatic potential and valence modulation in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3thin films”, Sci. Rep., vol. 8. Springer US, p. 14313, 2018.
E. D. Grimley et al., “Complexities of atomic structure at CdO/MgO and CdO/Al 2O 3 interfaces”, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 124. p. 205302, 2018.
H. Dycus et al., “Structure of Ultrathin Native Oxides on III-Nitride Surfaces”, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 10. pp. 10607-10611, 2018.
S. Boyd, Dhall, R., LeBeau, J. M., and Augustyn, V., “Charge storage mechanism and degradation of P2-type sodium transition metal oxides in aqueous electrolytes”, J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 6. pp. 22266-22276, 2018.
R. Kirste et al., “6 kW/cm2 UVC laser threshold in optically pumped lasers achieved by controlling point defect formation”, Appl. Phys. Express, vol. 11. p. 082101, 2018.
S. R. Broderick, Kumar, A., Oni, A. A., LeBeau, J. M., Sinnott, S. B., and Rajan, K., “Discovering chemical site occupancy- modulus correlations in Ni based intermetallics via statistical learning methods”, Comput. Condens. Matter, vol. 14. Elsevier, pp. 8-14, 2018.
X. Chen et al., “Super Charge Separation and High Voltage Phase in Na x MnO 2”, Adv. Funct. Mater., vol. 1805105. p. 1805105, 2018.

2017

R. M. Moghadam et al., “An Ultrathin Single Crystalline Relaxor Ferroelectric Integrated on a High Mobility Semiconductor”, Nano Letters, vol. 17. pp. 6248-6257, 2017.
C. Richter et al., “Si doped hafnium oxide - A "fragile" ferroelectric system”, Adv. Electron. Mater., vol. 3. p. 1700131, 2017.
J. B. Mitchell, Lo, W. C., Genc, A., LeBeau, J. M., and Augustyn, V., “Transition from Battery to Pseudocapacitor Behavior via Structural Water in Tungsten Oxide”, Chemistry of Materials, vol. 29. pp. 3928-3937, 2017.
K. T. Faber et al., “The role of ceramic and glass science research in meeting societal challenges: Report from an NSF-sponsored workshop”, J. Am. Ceram. Soc., vol. 100. p. 1777--1803, 2017.
D. Jung et al., “Highly tensile-strained Ge/InAlAs nanocomposites”, Nature Communications, vol. 8. p. 14204, 2017.
J. H. Dycus and LeBeau, J. M., “A reliable approach to prepare brittle semiconducting materials for cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy”, Journal of Microscopy, vol. 268. pp. 225-229, 2017.
Z. H. Lim et al., “Structural and electrical properties of single crystalline SrZrO$_3$ epitaxially grown on Ge (001)”, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 122. p. 084102, 2017.
M. H. Park et al., “A comprehensive study on the structural evolution of HfO₂ thin films doped with various dopants”, Journal of Materials Chemistry C, vol. 5. pp. 4677-4690, 2017.

2016

E. D. Grimley et al., “Structural Changes Underlying Field-Cycling Phenomena in Ferroelectric HfO₂ Thin Films”, Advanced Electronic Materials, vol. 2. p. 1600173, 2016.
Z. Chen et al., “Quantitative atomic resolution elemental mapping via absolute-scale energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 168. pp. 7-16, 2016.
R. C. R. C. Haislmaier et al., “Unleashing strain induced ferroelectricity in complex oxide thin films via precise stoichiometry control”, Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 26. pp. 7271-7279, 2016.
W. Xu, Bowes, P. C., Grimley, E. D., Irving, D. L., and LeBeau, J. M., “In-situ real-space imaging of single crystal surface reconstructions via electron microscopy”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 109. p. 201601, 2016.
H. Dycus, Xu, W., Lichtenwalner, D. J., Hull, B., Palmour, J. W., and LeBeau, J. M., “Structure and chemistry of passivated SiC/SiO₂ interfaces”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 108. p. 201607, 2016.
W. Xu, Dycus, J. H., Sang, X., and LeBeau, J. M., “A numerical model for multiple detector energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in the transmission electron microscope”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 164. pp. 51–61, 2016.
A. A. Oni, Broderick, S. R., Rajan, K., and LeBeau, J. M., “Atom site preference and γ′/γ mismatch strain in NiAlCoTi superalloys”, Intermetallics, vol. 73. pp. 72-78, 2016.
S. R. S. R. Spurgeon et al., “Competing pathways for nucleation of the double perovskite structure in the epitaxial synthesis of La$_2$MnNiO$_6$”, Chem. Mater., vol. 28. pp. 3814–3822, 2016.
M. Pešić et al., “Physical Mechanisms behind the Field-Cycling Behavior of HfO 2 -Based Ferroelectric Capacitors”, Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 26. pp. 4601-4612, 2016.
A. J. Zaddach et al., “Structure and magnetic properties of a multi-principal element Ni–Fe–Cr–Co–Zn–Mn alloy”, Intermetallics, vol. 68. pp. 107-112, 2016.
X. Sang and LeBeau, J. M., “Characterizing the response of a scintillator-based detector to single electrons”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 161. pp. 3-9, 2016.
J. H. Dycus et al., “Influence of experimental conditions on atom column visibility in energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 171. pp. 1–7, 2016.
A. Nozariasbmarz et al., “Comparison of thermoelectric properties of nanostructured Mg₂Si, FeSi₂, SiGe, and nanocomposites of SiGe–Mg₂Si, SiGe–FeSi₂”, APL Materials, vol. 4. p. 104814, 2016.
D. Pham, Dycus, J. H., LeBeau, J. M., Manga, V. R., Muralidharan, K., and Corral, E. L., “Processing low-Oxide ZrB₂ ceramics with high strength using boron carbide and spark plasma sintering”, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 8. pp. 1-8, 2016.

2015

D. Eiteneer et al., “Depth-resolved composition and electronic structure of buried layers and interfaces in a LaNiO3/SrTiO3 superlattice from soft- and hard- X-ray standing-wave angle-resolved photoemission”, J. Electron Spectros. Relat. Phenomena, vol. 211. pp. 70–81, 2015.
C. Eaton et al., “Growth of SrVO3 thin films by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A Vacuum, Surfaces, Film., vol. 33. p. 061504, 2015.
J. L. Jones et al., “Combined experimental and computational methods reveal the evolution of buried interfaces during synthesis of ferroelectric thin films”, Advanced Materials Interfaces, vol. 2. p. 1500181, 2015.
A. A. Oni et al., “Large area strain analysis using scanning transmission electron microscopy across multiple images”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 106. AIP Publishing, p. 011601, 2015.
S. V. Raju et al., “Effect of B and Cr on elastic strength and crystal structure of Ni$_3$Al alloys under high pressure”, J. Alloys Compd., vol. 619. pp. 616–620, 2015.
X. Sang, Grimley, E. D., Niu, C., Irving, D. L., and LeBeau, J. M., “Direct observation of charge mediated lattice distortions in complex oxide solid solutions”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 106. AIP Publishing, p. 061913, 2015.
C. -Y. Huang et al., “Imaging magnetic and ferroelectric domains and interfacial spins in magnetoelectric La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 heterostructures”, J. Phys. Condens. Matter, vol. 27. IOP Publishing, p. 504003, 2015.
H. Dycus et al., “Accurate nanoscale crystallography in real-space using scanning transmission electron microscopy”, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 21. pp. 946-952, 2015.
C. Niu et al., “Spin-driven ordering of Cr in the equiatomic high entropy alloy NiFeCrCo”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 106. AIP Publishing, p. 161906, 2015.
X. Sang, Grimley, E. D., Schenk, T., Schroeder, U., and LeBeau, J. M., “On the structural origins of ferroelectricity in HfO2 thin films”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 106. AIP Publishing, p. 162905, 2015.
J. Zhou et al., “Thickness dependence of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 magnetoelectric interfaces”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107. pp. 0-5, 2015.
S. Srinivasan et al., “Mapping chemical selection pathways for designing multicomponent alloys: an informatics framework for materials design”, Scientific Reports, vol. 5. p. 17960, 2015.

2014

X. Sang, Oni, A. A., and LeBeau, J. M., “Atom Column Indexing: atomic resolution image analysis through a matrix representation”, Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 20. pp. 1764-1771, 2014.
P. D. Lomenzo et al., “Ferroelectric phenomena in Si-doped HfO2 thin films with TiN and Ir electrodes”, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, Nanotechnol. Microelectron. Mater. Process. Meas. Phenom., vol. 32. AVS: Science & Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing, p. 03D123, 2014.
X. Sang and LeBeau, J. M., “Revolving scanning transmission electron microscopy: Correcting sample drift distortion without prior knowledge”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 138. pp. 28-35, 2014.
E. J. Mily et al., “The role of terminal oxide structure and properties in nanothermite reactions”, Thin Solid Films, vol. 562. pp. 405–410, 2014.
E. A. Paisley et al., “Smooth cubic commensurate oxides on gallium nitride”, Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 115. p. 064101, 2014.
A. A. Oni, Hook, D., Maria, J. P., and LeBeau, J. M., “Phase coexistence in Ti$_6$Sn$_5$ intermetallics”, Intermetallics, vol. 51. pp. 48–52, 2014.
C. M. Parish, White, R. M., LeBeau, J. M., and Miller, M. K., “Response of nanostructured ferritic alloys to high-dose heavy ion irradiation”, J. Nucl. Mater., vol. 445. pp. 251-260, 2014.

2013

M. F. Sarac et al., “Airbrushed nickel nanoparticles for large-area growth of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers on metal (Al, Cu, Ti) surfaces”, ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces, vol. 5. American Chemical Society, pp. 8955–8960, 2013.
T. -ta E. Chan, LeBeau, J. M., Venkatasubramanian, R., Thomas, P., Stuart, J., and Koch, C. C., “Carrier concentration modulation by hot pressing pressure in n-type nanostructured Bi(Se)Te alloy”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 103. AIP Publishing, p. 144106, 2013.
S. D. Findlay and LeBeau, J. M., “Detector non-uniformity in scanning transmission electron microscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 124. pp. 52–60, 2013.
H. Dycus, White, R. M., Pierce, J. M., Venkatasubramanian, R., and LeBeau, J. M., “Atomic scale structure and chemistry of Bi2Te3/GaAs interfaces grown by metallorganic van der Waals epitaxy”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 102. p. 081601, 2013.
A. R. Wilson et al., “From core–shell to alloys: the preparation and characterization of solution-synthesized AuPd nanoparticle catalysts”, J. Phys. Chem. C, vol. 117. American Chemical Society, pp. 17557-17566, 2013.
J. P. Samberg et al., “Interface properties of Ga(As,P)/(In,Ga)As strained multiple quantum well structures”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 103. AIP Publishing, p. 071605, 2013.

2012

G. Ruben, Cosgriff, E. C., Alfonso, A. J. D., Findlay, S. D., LeBeau, J. M., and Allen, L. J., “Interface location by depth sectioning using a low-angle annular dark field detector”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 113. pp. 131-138, 2012.

2011

J. Xie et al., “On the strain in n-type GaN”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 99. pp. 2009-2012, 2011.
J. M. LeBeau et al., “Determining ferroelectric polarity at the nanoscale”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 98. American Institute of Physics, p. 052904, 2011.
B. D. Forbes et al., “Thermal diffuse scattering in transmission electron microscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 111. pp. 1670–1680, 2011.
A. X. Gray et al., “Insulating state of ultrathin epitaxial LaNiO$_3$ thin films detected by hard x-ray photoemission”, Phys. Rev. B, vol. 84. 2011.
Y. Hwang, Chobpattana, V., Zhang, J. Y., LeBeau, J. M., Engel-Herbert, R., and Stemmer, S., “Al-doped HfO2I0.53Ga0.47As metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitors”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 98. 2011.

2010

J. M. LeBeau, Findlay, S. D. S. D., Allen, L. J., and Stemmer, S., “Standardless atom counting in scanning transmission electron microscopy”, Nano Letters, vol. 10. pp. 4405-4408, 2010.
J. Son, LeBeau, J. M., Allen, J., and Stemmer, S., “Conductivity enhancement of ultrathin LaNiO$_3$ films in superlattices”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 97. 2010.
T. E. Buehl, LeBeau, J. M., Stemmer, S., Scarpulla, M. A., Palmstrom, C. J., and Gossard, A. C., “Growth of embedded ErAs nanorods on (411)A and (411)B GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy”, Journal of Crystal Growth, vol. 312. pp. 2089-2092, 2010.
J. M. LeBeau, Findlay, S. D., Allen, L. J., and Stemmer, S., “Position averaged convergent beam electron diffraction: Theory and applications”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 110. pp. 118-125, 2010.
J. Son et al., “Low-dimensional Mott material: Transport in ultrathin epitaxial LaNiO$_3$ films”, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 96. 2010.

2009

J. M. LeBeau et al., “Stoichiometry optimization of homoepitaxial oxide thin films using x-ray diffraction”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 95. p. 142905, 2009.
D. Bougeard et al., “Ge$_1-x$Mn$_x$ clusters: central structural and magnetic building blocks of nanoscale wire-like self-assembly in a magnetic semiconductor”, Nano Lett., vol. 9. pp. 3743–3748, 2009.
J. M. LeBeau, Alfonso, A. J. D., Findlay, S. D., Stemmer, S., and Allen, L. J., “Quantitative comparisons of contrast in experimental and simulated bright-field scanning transmission electron microscopy images”, Physical Review B, vol. 80. 2009.
J. M. LeBeau, Findlay, S. S. D. S. D., Wang, X., Jacobson, A. J. A. J. A., Allen, L. J., and Stemmer, S., “High-angle scattering of fast electrons from crystals containing heavy elements: Simulation and experiment”, Physical Review B, vol. 79. p. 214110, 2009.

2008

J. M. LeBeau, Hu, Q. O., Palmstrom, C. J., and Stemmer, S., “Atomic structure of postgrowth annealed epitaxial Fe/(001) GaAs interfaces”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 93. 2008.
D. S. Boesch, Son, J., LeBeau, J. M., Cagnon, J. el, and Stemmer, S., “Thickness dependence of the dielectric properties of epitaxial SrTiO$_3$ films on (001)Pt/SrTiO$_3$”, Appl. Phys. Express, vol. 1. p. 091602, 2008.
J. M. LeBeau and Stemmer, S., “Experimental quantification of annular dark-field images in scanning transmission electron microscopy”, Ultramicroscopy, vol. 108. pp. 1653-1658, 2008.
J. M. LeBeau, Findlay, S. D., Allen, L. J., and Stemmer, S., “Quantitative Atomic Resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 100. p. 206101, 2008.
J. M. LeBeau et al., “High temperature stability of Hf-based gate dielectric stacks with rare-earth oxide layers for threshold voltage control”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 92. 2008.
M. A. Scarpulla, Zide, J. M. O., LeBeau, J. M., Van de Walle, C. G., Gossard, A. C., and Delaney, K. T., “Near-infrared absorption and semimetal-semiconductor transition in 2 nm ErAs nanoparticles embedded in GaAs and AlAs”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 92. 2008.
A. Delabie et al., “Atomic layer deposition of hafnium oxide on Ge and GaAs substrates: precursors and surface preparation”, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, vol. 155. p. H937, 2008.

2007

D. O. Klenov, Zide, J. M. O., LeBeau, J. M., Gossard, A. C., and Stemmer, S., “Ordering of ErAs nanoparticles embedded in epitaxial InGaAs layers”, Applied Physics Letters, vol. 90. p. 121917, 2007.
J. M. LeBeau and Boonyongmaneerat, Y., “Comparison study of aqueous binder systems for slurry-based processing”, Materials Science and Engineering A, vol. 458. pp. 17-24, 2007.