MSE 215

Introduction to Nanoscale Functional Materials
Term Offered: Fall 2004
Text(s): Text: Poole and Owens, Introduction to Nanotechnology.
Reserve Materials and BB postings:
An Introduction to Electronic and Ionic Materials by W. Gao and N. M. Sammes
Electronic Properties of Engineering Materials, J. D. Livingston
Chemical World Phil Ball
Solid State Electronic Devices, Ben Streetman
Nanoelectronics and Information Technology, edited by R. Waiser
"The VTU Nano-book" (Evoy and friends - could be text if it turns out good) Articles from Materials World, MRS Bulletin etc.
Appropriate websites, technical and entreprenurial
Instructor(s): J. E. Fischer, 409 LRSM, fischer@lrsm.upenn.edu, 898-6924
Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites: Sophomore standing (Chem 101/102, Math 140/141, EAS 201?? MSE221 concurrent??)
Grading:  
Course Home Page URL:  
Course Description: The purpose of this first course in the major is to introduce the student to key concepts underlying the design, properties and processing of nanoscale functional materials, and how they are employed in practical applications. Fundamental chemical and physical principles underlying the properties of electronic, dielectric and magnetic materials will be developed in the context of metals, semiconductors, insulators, crystals, glasses, polymers and ceramics. Miniaturization and the nanotechnology revolution confronts materials science with limitations and opportunities; examples in which nanoscale materials are really different from our macro world experience will be explored.

Course Outline:
1. Electrical transport - "ideal gas" of electrons, Brownian motion, drift velocity, Ohm's law, collisions and mean free path, diffusive/dispersive/ballistic conduction. The I-V curve.

2. Metal/insulator/semiconductor - review LCAO, energy bands, Pauli principle, extended systems. Chemistry + structure + morphology = function. Crystal vs. glass. Resistivity vs. temperature. Bragg's law and x-ray diffraction. Pair distribution function. Energy band structure.

3. Nano-electronics - nanotubes and nanowires, FET, Coulomb blockade and single-electron transistor. Assembly of simple logic circuits. Generic FET characteristics.

4. Molecular electronics - molecular wires, thiol chemistry, switching via molecular orbitals, self-assembly

5. Nano-photonics - semiconductor nanoparticles, bandgap engineering, heterostructures and superlattices, LED, diode laser, solar cell, photonic crystal. Wave-particle duality and photons. Binary and pseudo-binary phase diagram.
6. Defects and impurities semiconductor doping, equilibrium defect concentration, control of nanoscale defects in thin film epitaxy (GaN). Energy band with defect levels.

7. Nanomaterials in energy technologies: tailored nanoporous materials for batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage and catalysis Electrochemical charge/discharge.

8. Nano-magnetics - synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles, domain vs. particle size, GMR materials, magnetic materials for digital data storage. Magnetization curves, hysteresis loops.

9. Dielectric materials - absorption, dispersion, scattering. Permanent and induced dipoles. Oxide materials and defects/impurities; high-k and low-k materials, solid state laser. Applications in fiber optics, cellphones, nanoscale transistors. Frequency-dependent dielectric function. Free energy in solid state reactions.

10. Materials for nano-sensors: force and pressure (MEMS/NEMS), chemical, biological, nano-fluidics. Sensitivity, specificity, response and recovery, hysteresis. Activation energy and jump frequency.

11. Nano-synthesis and manufacturing: sol-gel, soft chemistry, e-beam lithography, inkjet circuit printing, electronic paper.

 


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