Address:
Department of Physics,
Indian Insitute of Technology Bombay. Mumbai, 400 076. India.

Tel: Office : +91-22-2576 7567 (work), +91-22-2576 8567 (home).
Fax : +91-22-2576 7552
E-mail : syed@iitb.ac.in

B.Sc. with Physics Honours (Patna University) -1978
M.Sc. in Physics (I I T Kanpur) -1980
Ph. D. in Physics (I I T Delhi) - 1986
Thesis Title
Transparent Conducting Zinc Oxide Films Deposited by Spray Pyrolysis

Senior Scientific Officer, IIT Delhi (1986-1988)
Lecturer, IIT Bombay (1988 -1989)
Assistant Professor, IIT Bombay (1989 – 1994)
Associate Professor, IIT Bombay (1994 -1998)
Professor, IIT Bombay (1998 - )

Theory Courses
Mechanics (UG level)
Thermodynamics
Introduction to Solid State Physics
Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics – I
Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics –II*
Applied Solid State Physics*
Methods in Analytical Techniques*
Current Trends in Physics Module (Ph.D. level) – Organic Conductors*
Current Trends in Physics Module (Ph.D. level) – Nano-science*

Laboratory Courses
First Year UG Laboratory Course in Physics*
General Physics Laboratory
Solid State Physics Laboratory Course*
Advanced Solid State Physics Laboratory Course (M.Sc. level)
Analytical Techniques

* contributed to the development of these courses

Area and Specialization
Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
- Semiconductor Thin Films
- Organized Molecular Films
- Nanostructured Materials & Inorganic-Organic Nanocomposites

Current Interests
Zinc Oxide, polycrystalline films, epilayers, electrical and optical
properties, heavy doping effects
Sputtered Gallium Nitride films & epilayers, GaAsN and InGaN alloy films, microstructure and optical properties, doping effects
Langmuir Blodgett multilayers of prototypic surfactants and conducting polymers: molecular organization and layered structure
Synthesis of sulphide and oxide nanocrystallites by LB route: organization, structure and optical properties

Thesis Supervision
Doctoral thesis supervisor - 09
Doctoral thesis co-supervisor - 02
Also supervised M.Tech /M.Sc./B.Tech projects

Sponsored Projects

As Principal investigator:
Chemical vapour deposited transparent conducting oxide films for amorphous silicon solar cells (DST)
Thin film diffusion barriers for silicon metallization (CSIR)
Chemistry and physics of Layered structures, Phase I: a study in preparation and characterization of conducting and photosensitive Langmuir Blodgett films (DST)
Chemistry and physics of Layered structures, Phase II: a study of conducting polymer Langmuir Blodgett films (DST)
Raman spectroscopic Studies of conducting polymer Langmuir Blodgett films (BRNS)
Development of LEED-AES system of study of thin films and surfaces (DST)
Development of semiconductor nanocrystal – conducting polymer based light emitting diodes (MHRD)

As co-investigator:
Development of scientific and technical skills in the area of molecular electronics (DST)
Growth of HgCdTe on ZnCdTe by MOCVD (DRDO)
Growth and study of ZnO epitaxial layers and nanowires (MHRD)
Study of rf sputtered GaN and related alloys (MHRD)
Doping of sputtered GaN films (BRNS)

1. Transparent Conductors - A. Status Review, K.L. Chopra, S. Major and D.K. Pandya, Thin Solid Films, 102 (1983) 1-46.
2. Highly Transparent and Conducting Indium Doped Zinc Oxide Films by Spray Pyrolysis, S. Major, A. Banerjee and K.L. Chopra, Thin Solid Films, 108 (1983) 333-340.
3. Annealing Studies of Undoped and Indium Doped Films of Zinc Oxide, S. Major, A. Banerjee and K.L. Chopra, Thin Solid Films, 122 (1984) 31-43.
4. Optical and Electronic Properties of Zinc Oxide Films Prepared by Spray Pyrolysis, S. Major, A. Banerjee and K.L. Chopra, Thin Solid Films, 125 (1985) 179-185.
5. Electrical and Optical Transport in Indium Doped Zinc Oxide Films, S. Major, A. Banerjee and K.L. Chopra, Journal of Materials Research, 1 (1986) 300-310.
6. Thickness Dependent Properties of Indium Doped ZnO Films, S. Major, A. Banerjee, K.L. Chopra, and K.C. Nagpal, Thin Solid Films, 143 (1986) 19-30.
7. Effect of Hydrogen Plasma Treatment of Transparent Conducting Oxides, S. Major, Satyendra Kumar, Mukesh Bhatnagar and K.L. Chopra, Applied Physics Letters, 49 (1986) 294-396.
8. Degradation of Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide Films in Hydrogen Plasma, S. Major, M. Bhatnagar, S. Kumar and K.L. Chopra, Journal of Vacuum Science &. Technology, A6 (1988) 2415-2420.
9. Effect of Hydrogen Plasma on the Properties of Indium-Tin Oxide Films, S. Major, M. Bhatnagar, S.Kumar and K.L.Chopra, Journal of Materials Research, 3 (1988) 723-28.
10. In-doped ZnO Films as Transparent Electrode for Solar Cells, S. Major and K.L. Chopra, Solar Energy Materials, 17 (1988) 319-327.
11. Study of Sputtered Molybdenum Nitride as a Diffusion Barrier, V.P. Anitha, A. Bhattacharya, N.G. Patil and S. Major, Thin Solid Films, 236 (1993) 306-310.
12. Structure and Properties of Reactively Sputtered -Mo2N Hard Coatings, V.P. Anitha, S. Vitta and S. Major, Thin Solid Films , 245 (1994) 1-3.
13. Deposition of Thin Multilayers of Titanium Arachidate and 10, 12-Pentacosadiynoate using Langmuir-Blodgett Technique, A. Dhanabalan, S.S. Talwar and S. Major, Materials Science and Engineering, C3 (1995) 235-240.
14. Determination of Contact Resistivity by a Modified Cox and Strack Method in the case of Finite Metal Sheet Resistance, M. Ahmed, T. Ganguli, N. Patil, S. Major, Y.G.K. Patro and B.M. Arora, Solid State Electronics, 38 (1995) 1437-1440.
15. Deposition of -Mo2N Thin Films by RF Reactive Magnetron Sputtering, V.P. Anitha, S. Major, D. Chandrashekaram and M. Bhatnagar, Surface Coatings and Technology, 79 (1996) 50-54.
16. Effect of F, Cl and Br Doping on Electrical Properties of Sprayed SnO2 Films, C. Agashe and S. Major, Journal of Materials Science Letters, 15 (1996) 497-499.
17. Effect of Heavy Doping in SnO2 : F/ Films, Chitra Agashe and S. Major, Journal of Materials Science , 31 (1996) 2965-2969.
18. Structure and Polymerization Behaviour of Cadmium 10, 12 Pentacosadiynoate LB Films, A. Dhanabalan, S.S. Talwar and S. Major, Thin Solid Films, 279 (1996) 221-227.
19. Structure of CdS Nanoparticles Containing Cadmium Arachidate LB Films, A. Dhanabalan, H. Kudrolli, S. Major and S.S. Talwar, Solid State Communications, 94 (1996) 859-862.
20. The Effect of F, Cl and Br Doping on the Growth and Structural Properties of Sprayed SnO2 Films, Chitra Agashe and S.S. Major, Journal of Physics D : Applied Physics, 29 (1996) 2988-2991.
21. Preparation and Characterization of Mixed LB Films of Polyaniline and Cadmium Arachidate, A. Dhanbalan, R.B. Dabke, S.N. Datta, N. Prasanth Kumar, S.S. Major, S.S. Talwar and A.Q. Contractor, Thin Solid Films, 295 (1997) 255-259.
22. Formation of Highly Condensed Ferric Stearate Monolayers at the Air-Water Interface, A. Datta, M.K. Sanyal, A. Dhanabalan and S.S. Major, Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 101 (1997) 9280-9286.
23. Study of Langmuir and Langmuir - Blodgett Films of Indium Arachidate, A. Dhanabalan, S.S. Talwar and S.S. Major, Thin Solid Films, 298 (1997) 237-240.
24. A Study of Langumir and Langumir - Blodgett Films of Polyaniline, A. Dhanabalan, R.B. Dabke, N. Prasanth Kumar, S.S. Talwar, S. Major, R. Lal and A.Q. Contractor, Langmuir, 13, (1997) 4395-4400.
25. Structure of CdS-Cd Arachidate/Arachidic Acid Composite Multilayers, S. Vitta, T.H. Metzger, S.S. Major, A. Dhanabalan and S.S. Talwar, Langmuir, 14 (1998)1799-1803.
26. Variations in the Cox and Strack Curve for Non-zero Metal Resistance, M. Ahmad, T. Ganguli, S. Major, N.R. Roy and B.M. Arora, Solid State Electronics, 42 (1998) 473-476.
27. LB Films of Non-amphiphilic Diacetylene - 1, 4 (Bis .. (3-QUINOLYL) - BUTA -1, 3-DIYNE) (DQ), A. Dhanabalan, S. Major and S.S. Talwar, Thin Solid Fims, 327-329 (1998) 378-382.
28. The Effect of Different Metal Cation Incorporation in Arachidic Acid LB Monolayer Films, Aparna Rajgopal, A. Dhanabalan, S.S. Major and S.K. Kulkarni, Applied Surface Science ,125 (1998) 178-186.
29. Variation of Monolayer Behaviour and Molecular Packing in Zinc Arachidate LB Films with Subphase pH, A. Dhanabalan, N. Prasanth Kumar, S.Major and S. S. Talwar, Thin Solid Films, 327-329 (1998) 787-791.
30. Sputter Deposition of Gallium Nitride Films using a GaAs Target, N. Elkashef,R. S. Srinivasa, S. Major, S. C. Sabharwal and K. P. Muthe, Thin Solid Films, 333 (1998) 9-12.
31. Electrochemistry of Polyaniline LB Films, A. Dhanabalan, R. B. Dabke, N. Prasanth Kumar, S. Major, S. S. Talwar , R. Lal and A. Q. contractor, Thin Solid Films, 335 (1998) 203-208.
32. Growth of GaN Films by Reactive Sputtering of GaAs, N. A. Preschila, N. M. Elkashef, R. S. Srinivasa and S. Major, Surface Coatings Technology, 108-109 (1998) 328-331.
33. Polyaniline-CdS Composite Films obtained from Polyaniline-Cadmium Arachidate Multilayers,A. Dhanabalan,S. S. Talwar, A. Q. Contractor, N. P. Kumar, S. N. Narang, S. S. Major, K. P. Muthe and J. C. Vyas, Journal of Materials Science Letters 18(1999)603-606.
34. Structural assembly of Cd-arachidate molecules in multilayers, Satish Vitta, T. H. Metzger and S. S. Major, Journal of Chemical Physics 111(1999)11088-11094.
35. Nanocrystalline Gallium Nitride Thin Films, Nisha Preschilla A, S. Major, Nigvendra Kumar, A. Samajdar and R. S. Srinivasa, Applied Physics, Letters 77 (2000) 1861.
36. Structure of CdS-arachidic acid Composite LB multilayers, N. Prasanth Kumar, S. N. Narang, S.S. Major, S.Vitta, S.S. Talwar, P.Dubcek, H. Amenitsch and S. Bernstorff, Colloids and Surfaces A 198-200 (2002) 59-66.
37. Molecular Packing in CdS containing Conducting Polymer Composite Multilayers, V. Vidya, N. Prasanth Kumar, S. N. Narang, S.S. Major, S.Vitta, S.S. Talwar, P.Dubcek, H. Amenitsch and S. Bernstorff, Colloids and Surfaces A 198-200 (2002) 67-74.
38. Development of Metal sulfide- poly (3-octylthiophene) Composite Multilayers, V. Vidya, S. Ambily, S. N. Narang, S.S. Major, S.S. Talwar, Colloids and Surfaces A 198-200 (2002) 383-388.
39. Molecular Packing in Cadmium and Zinc Arachidate LB multilayers, N. Prasanth Kumar, S.S. Major, S.Vitta, S.S. Talwar, P.Dubcek, H. Amenitsch and S. Bernstorff, V. Ganesan, Ajay Gupta and B.A. Dasannacharya, Colloids and Surfaces A 198-200 (2002) 75-81.
40. Poly [1,4-(bis-3-qyinolyl)-buta-1,3-diyne] non linear optical properties and its Langmuir and Langmuir Blodgett film formation, D.T. Balogh, C.R. Mendonca, A. Dhanabalan, S. Major, S. S. Talwar, S.C. Zilio and O.N. Oliviera, Jr., Materials Chemistry and Physics, 9847 (2003)1-7.
41. ZnS nanoclusters in LB multilayers, M. Parhizkar, N. Prasanth Kumar, B. Shukla, R.S. Srinivasa, Satish Vitta, Nigvendra Kumar, S.S. Talwar and S.S. Major, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 257-258 (2005) 177.
42. Nanocrystalline CuO films prepared by pyrolysis of Cu-arachidate LB multilayers, M. Parhizkar, Sukhvinder Singh, P. K. Nayak, Nigvendra Kumar, K. P. Muthe, S. K. Gupta, R. S. Srinivasa, S. S. Talwar and S.S.Major, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 257-258, (2005) 277.
43. Nanocrystalline ZnO films prepared by pyrolysis of Zn-arachidate LB multilayers, M. Parhizkar, Nigvendra Kumar, P. K. Nayak, Sukhvinder Singh, S. S. Talwar, S. S. Major and R. S. Srinivasa,, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 257-258 (2005) 445.
44. M. Parhizkar, Nigvendra Kumar, P. K. Nayak, S.S.Talwar, S.S. Major and R.S. Srinivasa, “CdxZn1−xS-arachidic acid composite LB films, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 257-258, (2005) 405.
45. Structure of polymorphic phases in zinc arachidate LB multilayers, N. P. Kumar, S.S. Major, S. Vitta, S.S. Talwar, Ajay Gupta and B.A. Dasannacharya, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 257–258 (2005) 243.
46. Photoisomerization of amphiphilic azobenzene derivatives in Langmuir Blodgett films prepared as polyion complexes, using ionic polymers, V. R. Shembekar, A. Q. Contractor, S. S. Major and S. S. Talwar, Thin Solid Films, 510 (2006) 297.
47. Reactively sputtered GaAsxN1-x Thin films, Brajesh S. Yadav, S. S. Major and R. S. Srinivasa, Thin Solid Films, 515 (2006) 1043.
48. Effect of cadmium arachidate on molecular packing of zinc arachidate LB multilayers, P. K. Nayak, S. S. Talwar, S. S. Major and R. S. Srinivasa, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 284-285 (2006) 187.
49. Dependence of the structure of zinc arachidate LB multilayers on subphase zinc ion concentration and pH, P. K. Nayak, S. Singh, S. S. Talwar, R. S. Srinivasa and S. S. Major, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 284-285 (2006) 192.
50. Langmuir Blodgett multilayers and related nanostructures, S. S. Major, S. S. Talwar and R. S. Srinivasa, Pramana Journal of Physics, 67 (2006) 121.
51. Nanocrystalline CuO obtained by oxidation of Copper Arachidate LB multilayers transferred at different subphase pH, Sukhvinder Singh, R.S. Srinivasa, S.S. Talwar and S.S. Major, Materials Letters 61 (2007) 3224
52. ZnO and Zn1-xCdxO nanocrystallites obtained by oxidation of precursor Langmuir Blodgett multilayers Sukhvinder Singh, R.S. Srinivasa, S.S. Talwar, SS. Major, Thin Solid Films 515, (2007) 8714.
53. Effect of substrate temperature on the structure and optical properties of ZnO thin films deposited by reactive rf magnetron sputtering Sukhvinder Singh, R. S. Srinivasa, and S. S. Major, Thin Solid Films 515, (2007). 8718.
54. ZnO nanocrystallites obtained by oxidation of zinc arachidate - arachidic acid composite multilayers, Sukhvinder Singh, R.S. Srinivasa, S.S. Talwar, SS. Major, Physica Status Solidi (a) 204, (2007) 1658.
55. Growth and structure of sputtered gallium nitride films, by Brajesh S. Yadav, S. S. Major, and R. S. Srinivasa, J. Appl. Phys. 102 (2007) 073516.
56. Orange-red luminescence from Cu doped CdS nanophosphor prepare d using mixed Langmuir Blodgett multilayers, P. Mandal, R.S. Srinivasa, S.S. Talwar and S.S. Major, J. Chem. Phys. 128 (2008) 114703.
57. Spectroscopic Ellipsometry studies of GaN Films deposited by rf sputtering of GaAs target, Arup Biswas, D. Bhattacharya, N. K. Sahoo, B. S. Yadav, S. S. Major and R.S. Srinivasa, J. Appl. Phys. 103 (2008) 08354.
58. CdS/ZnS core-shell nanoparticles in arachidic acid LB films, P. Mandal, R.S. Srinivasa, S.S. Talwar and S.S. Major. Appl. Surf. Sci. 254 (2008) 5028.
59. Highly Oriented GaN Films Grown on ZnO Buffer Layer over Quartz Substrates by Reactive Sputtering of GaAs Target, Brajesh. S. Yadav, Sukhvinder Singh, Tapas Ganguli , Ravi Kumar, S. S. Major and R. S. Srinivasa, Thin Solid Films 517 (2008) 488.
60. Substrate temperature dependence of growth mode, microstructure and optical properties of highly oriented zinc oxide films deposited by reactive sputtering, Sukhvinder Singh, Tapas Ganguli, Ravi Kumar, R. S. Srinivasa and S. S. Major, Thin Solid Films 517 (2008) 661.
61. High optical quality ZnO epilayers on sapphire substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering of zinc target, Sukhvinder Singh, Ravi Kumar, Tapas Ganguli, R. S. Srinivasa and S. S. Major, J. Crystal Growth 310 (2008) 4640.
62. Strong blue excitonic emission from CdS nanocrystallites prepared by LB technique P. Mandal, S. S. Talwar, R. S. Srinivasa, S. S. Major, Applied Physics A (2008) - in press