Highlights
Feb 22, 2008
University of Washington
GEMSEC Partnership with a Community College for Curriculum Development
To create a nationally replicable model of a sustainable and continuously up-gradable hands-on undergraduate teaching laboratory of scanning probe methods, GEMSEC is working with researchers from the UW's Center for Nanotechnology, educators from North Seattle Community College, representatives from a scanning probe microscopy manufacturer, and a nanotechnology SPM distributor. This partnership, NUE UNIQUE, will inaugurate a new paradigm of initiating, operating, and maintaining a SPM laboratory to serve entire classes of undergraduate students with a student to instrument ratio of ~3:1.
Feb 22, 2008
University of Washington
Multi-faceted Education and Partnerships at GEMSEC
With a particular focus on engaging and including Native Americans in its entire range of programs, GEMSEC is weaving a fabric of education offerings to seamlessly support and complement its research thrusts.
Feb 22, 2008
Princeton University
Self-Assembly of Soft Materials: A Multiscale Computational Approach
Seed and IRG 2: Maria Sammalkorpi, Mikko Haataja, and Athanassios Panagiotopoulos
Surfactant adsorption at solid-liquid interfaces is important in many industrial processes, including corrosion inhibition, dispersion stabilization, and lubrication. Furthermore, surfactant adsorption may provide novel and exciting means to guide soft materials to self-assemble into a myriad of tailored shapes. Recently, PCCM researchers have made a breakthrough in elucidating the physical mechanisms behind surfactant self-assembly on a graphite surface [1].
Feb 22, 2008
Princeton University
Direct-Transfer Patterning on Three- Dimensional Surfaces
Xin Xu and Steve Forrest
While many approaches have been developed over the years to transfer patterns onto flat surfaces, faithfully transferring patterns onto curves substrates remains a major obstacle to the development of large-area electronics. Recently, PCCM researchers have successfully patterned domed polyester substrates with metal stripes (gold, silver, etc.). They employed a soft, pre-patterned elastomeric stamp coated with a thin layer of metal by electron-beam evaporation, bent into a complementary hemisphere.
Feb 22, 2008
Princeton University
Doping Affects Electronic Transport Through Molecular Junctions
Antoine Kahn and David Cahen (Weizmann Inst.)
Electronic transport through a junction formed between silicon (Si), a monolayer of alkyl chains (C14H29) self-assembled on Si, and a metal (M) is dominated by thermionic emission above the semiconductor barrier and tunneling through the insulating molecular layer [1].
Feb 22, 2008
Princeton University
Breaking the Mold to Produce Submicron Polymeric Gratings with Large Areas
L. F. Pease III, P. Deshpande, S. Y. Chou, and W. B. Russel
PCCM researchers have discovered a new method for making gratings: by prying apart two rigid plates that sandwich a thin, glassy polymeric film. The process fractures the film into complementary sets of ridges on each plate, with the ridges on one corresponding to the valleys on the other. The technique produces patterns with periodic spacing from 120 nm to 200 Â’µm, and the period simply scales as four times the film thickness, regardless of the molecular weight or chemical composition of the glassy polymer.
Feb 18, 2008
Princeton University
Si Nanowire Grids Polarize Down to 193 nm
Young-Rae Hong, Koji Asakawa (Toshiba), Doug Adamson, Paul Chaikin (NYU), and Rick Register
The continual decrease in microelectronic device feature size, captured in the famous "Moore's Law", has come in part from a decrease in the wavelength of light used in the photolithographic steps used to pattern these features. Today, the most advanced production photolithography uses 193 nm ultraviolet (UV) light from an ArF excimer laser. At such short wavelengths, control of the polarization of the light becomes critical for achieving minimum feature size.
Feb 18, 2008
Princeton University
An Electronic Density-Wave Turns into a Superconductor
Dong Qian, David Hsieh, Lewis Wray, Emilia Morosan, Robert Cava, and Zahid Hasan
At low temperatures, the electrons in most layered transition-metal chalcogenides undergo a phase transition into an interesting, highly-ordered state called the charge-density-wave (CDW), in which the electron density spontaneously acquires a weak, periodic spatial modulation. In a small subset of materials, the CDW state is destroyed and replaced by the superconducting state.
Jan 20, 2008
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A story of two spin off companies
Fundamental MRSEC research often leads to new technologies that in turn create innovative start-up companies. QD Vision and Luminus Devices are two exciting examples of this process. In both cases, MRSEC-supported research at MIT helped to develop the basic platform for these new technologies.
Nov 28, 2007
Stanford University
Closing the Loop on Recycling: Can We Stop the oil-to-Landfill Treadmill?
James L. Hedrick, Robert W. Waymouth
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), a widely used engineering thermoplastic for carpet, clothing (fibers), tire cords, soda bottles and other containers, film, automotive, electronics, displays etc., will contribute several billion pounds of waste to landfills this year alone! According to the American Plastics Council, PET packaging was originally used for soft drinks, but packing applications today include other beverages such as water, juice, beer, in addition to other foods such as peanut butter and ketchup and a variety of other household products.
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