Surface & Thin-Film Analysis

Chemistry 8840

Fall Semester, Even Numbered Years, Room 551

12:30-1:45 PM, Tues., Thur.

Dr. Marcus D. Lay

mlay@chem.uga.edu

Phone: 542-1985, Office 520

 

Office Hours

2:45 – 3:45 Tuesday and Thursday and by appointment.  Feel free to email me with questions as well.

 

Course Text

There is no text required for this class, but Surface Science, Foundations of Catalysis and Nanoscience is an excellent resource.  In addition, much of the reading material for the course is available through the university’s Electronic Course Reserve System.  You can also find course lecture notes by logging into your WebCT account. 

 

Questions in Class

I encourage discussion in class.  Please feel free to ask questions, before, during and after class. 

 

 

Tentative course schedule

 

3-D crystal structures, ideal surfaces, Miller Indices

Real surfaces - surface reconstructions

Unit cells - adsorption sites, surface atom densities

Self-Assembled Monolayers - thiols on Au

Adsorption/desorption processes

Chemisorption vs. physisorption

Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Surface Processes

Scanning Probe Microscopy

Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) - Instrument design & principles                                    

STM - Research & applications        

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) - Instrument design & principles          

AFM - Research & applications

 

Exam #1                                                                                              (Topics for short talk due)

Properties of gasses, mean free path

Langmuir isotherm, surface diffusion

Ultra-high vacuum equipment - getting from ambient to UHV, pumps and gauges

UHV Sample Preparation - sample mounting, ion sputtering, annealing, leak valves

Ultra-high vacuum analytical techniques

Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD)

Electron spectroscopies, depth sensitivities  (Outline of proposal due)

Auger electron spectroscopy

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED)

                                   

Exam #2                     

Student oral presentations

Final Exam

 

 

Academic Honesty

We expect students at the University of Georgia to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity.  The UGA Student Handbook discusses the University regulations regarding student academic conduct.  Please familiarize yourself with these regulations.  All work presented by you in this course is expected to be your own best effort, unless you are specifically instructed to work with other students on a particular problem.  Copying of the work of others, and particularly plagiarism, which is the use of the work of others without proper credit or citation, will not be tolerated.  The penalty for plagiarism or other academic dishonesty can include a judicial hearing and possible assignment of an F grade in the course, or even expulsion in extreme cases.

 

Additional Help

Professor John Stickney is an excellent source of information on ultra-high vacuum surface techniques and electrodeposition.  Professor Jim Anderson is an excellent source of knowledge on electrochemistry.  They are very busy this semester, but I am sure they would be willing to help.  Also, feel free to ask questions of my graduate students as well.

 

Additional Resources

Introduction to Surface and Thin Film Processes, John A. Venables, Cambridge University Press (2000)

Surface Chemistry, Elaine M. McCash, Oxford University Press (2001)

Fundamentals of Surface and Thin Film Analysis, Leonard C. Feldman, James Mayer, Prentice-Hall (1986)

Surface Science, Kurt W. Kolasinski, Wiley (2004)

Nano Letters

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Angewandte Chemie

Chemistry of Materials

Langmuir

Nature Materials

www.nanotechweb.org

www.nano.gov

www.nanotec.org.uk

 

Grading: 

Exams                         30%     (300 pts)

Quizzes/Homework    20%     (200 pts)

Final Exam

Presentation                20%     (200 pts)

Proposal                      30%     (300 pts)

               

Your course average will be calculated based on the exams, quizzes, presentations and any other assignments.  The trend in your performance does not matter.  Your overall course grade will be determined with respect to performance on class norms. 

           

Tests   There will be two in class tests, each worth 15% of your overall grade:

Tuesday, September 19th.

Thursday, Oct. 26th.

 

Your grade will reflect your level of work in this course, not any outside influences.  Work hard from the start, as small differences in performance can make a big difference in your grade.

 

Quizzes/Homework

            There will be a series of quizzes and homework assignments worth a total of 20% of your final grade.  The quizzes are unannounced and cover work from recent previous lectures or presentations. 

 

Attendance 

            Attendance is not mandatory, but I give pop quizzes, especially if there are many people missing.  Further, important announcements about the class will be made during the lectures.

 

Final Exam

            The final exam will be composed of an oral presentation of literature reports related to a topic in nanotechnology and a written presentation of a unique research proposal related to the subject covered in the oral presentation.  This is an opportunity for you to explore a topic that interests you.  As part of your oral presentation, submit at least two recent (year 2001 to present) peer-reviewed articles that are related to your chosen subject

 

1.  Oral Presentation (200 pts)

An oral presentation of the final report will be scheduled for the last part of the semester.  A list of available dates will be made available soon, and will be assigned on a first come first served basis.

For the oral presentation, provide the class with a brief overview of fundamental operating principles, sensitivity, operating environments, types of samples, advantages/disadvantages, etc., for this technique.  Plan for your talk to last 40 minutes, with additional time for questions.  Consider this “practice” for your departmental seminars.

It’s okay to “borrow” figures from articles or websites, but the source must be cited on the slide.

Every slide should deliver a key message.

Every slide should have a title & text.

 

2.     Written Proposal (300 pts)

The proposal is a concise review of scientific literature related to your oral presentation (feel free to use the same images and points used in your oral presentation) and then a thorough explanation of your proposed line a research.  The format of your proposal must conform to the following: up to 15 single-spaced pages with size 12 font, including figures.  This page limit excludes references.

a.)   Provide a concise, but complete, discussion of previous work related to what you propose (use the information you provided in your talk).  (70 pts)

b.)   Summarize the principle method of detection, its limits and environments (UHV/ambient?) used for this technique.  (60 pts)

c.)   Present a unique research proposal that provides new knowledge in your area of interest.  This should include a discussion of the intellectual merit of the proposed activity and the results you intend to obtain.  Also, give an explicate explanation of the intellectual merit of the proposed activity; how will it advance knowledge within its field?  How important is it to a wider audience (other fields)?  (120 pts)

d.)   What will be the outcome of the successful completion of your proposed work?  What will you, and the wider scientific community gain?  (60 pts)

 

Points will be subtracted for bad grammar, poor quality figures and, spelling errors.

It’s okay to “borrow” figures from articles or websites and journal articles, but the source must be cited in the figure caption.

Points will be added for creativity, design & organization!

 

 

Academic Honesty

We expect students at the University of Georgia to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity.  The UGA Student Handbook discusses the University regulations regarding student academic conduct.  Please familiarize yourself with these regulations.  All work presented by you in this course is expected to be your own best effort, unless you are specifically instructed to work with other students on a particular problem.  Copying of the work of others, and particularly plagiarism, which is the use of the work of others without proper credit or citation, will not be tolerated.  The penalty for plagiarism or other academic dishonesty can include a judicial hearing and possible assignment of an F grade in the course, or even expulsion in extreme cases.