Electronic and Photonic Materials

All proposals submitted to this Program that are not governed by another solicitation (such as CAREER) must be submitted to the solicitation: Division of Materials Research: Topical Materials Research Programs (DMR:TMRP) (NSF 22-609). Proposals under this solicitation are accepted any time.

Proposers should be aware that there is no change expected in the average time to decision and release of reviews. Considering that NSF’s fiscal year begins on October 1^st and ends on September 30^th, proposals submitted between February and August are more likely to be awarded in the following fiscal year.

The Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) program advances the field of electronics and photonics by supporting basic, potentially transformative materials science research. The scope of the program encompasses the discovery, understanding and development of materials with potential for major technological innovations. The program focuses on advanced materials and their integration that enables advanced electronics, optoelectronics, and photonics with the potential to offer new paradigms in computing, communications, and sensing. The program covers identifying and understanding phenomena and fundamental mechanisms associated with growth and processing of electronic and photonic materials at atomic and molecular levels. The EPM program encourages the development of new experimental techniques to explore electronic and photonic materials. EPM also supports research that combines experiment with modeling or theory, including machine learning, to advance materials discovery.

Research topics supported by EPM include, but are not limited to bulk, thin films and nanostructures; self-assembly and nanopatterning; interface-related phenomena and properties; defect and doping control; and relations between synthesis/processing, structure, and optical/electronic properties. EPM supports research into semiconductors including narrow gap, ultrawidegap, organic and organic/inorganic hybrids, materials with reduced dimensionality (zero-, one- and two-dimensional), photonic materials including metamaterials and plasmonics, semimetals, and materials exhibiting novel phenomena such as ferroelectric and spintronic properties. Proposals submitted to EPM program may be discussed with other programs, and jointly reviewed or transferred depending on the extent of alignment with the goals of both programs. PIs might also refer to the other program websites to determine the best programmatic fit for their intended proposal submission.