Irene Goldthorpe

Biography

Irene Goldthorpe is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department and is also a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Waterloo. Professor Goldthorpe is currently involved in the design of electronic textiles. Her goal is to integrate metal and semiconductor materials with threads and fabrics to make textiles conductive as well as give them functionality such as the ability to generate energy and monitor health. She is also developing a transparent nanowire film coating that can make plastic and glass electrically conductive. The latter will be useful in the development of devices such as next generation solar cells as the electrodes made from nanowires are cheaper and more mechanically flexible than currently available materials. Professor Goldthorpe has also created novel materials for a range of devices such as LEDs, solar cells, transistors, sensors and liquid crystal displays. She has experience in the deposition of nanostructures and thin films of both group IV (silicon and germanium) and compound semiconductor materials, as well as metals. She also specializes in a variety of characterization techniques for investigating the properties and microstructure of materials including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Professor Goldthorpe received her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where she held a Stanford Graduate Fellowship, a Julie Payette NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, and the Intel Foundation PhD Fellowship.

Research Interest

Synthesis of nanostructures and thin-films Nanoelectronic and optoelectronic materials and devices (Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), transistors, solar cells, sensors) Materials characterization, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM)