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Advanced Nanotechnology (A)

Credits: 3

Lecturers: Pau, Chun-Wei (RCAS) and Chen, Chii-Dong (IoP)

Classroom: P101 Meeting Room, IoP

Class hour: Wednesday, 09:10-12:00

Course overview:

This course will be focused in two parts; in the first part, we will focus on the formation and evolution of nanostructures. In the second part, the focus will be laid on electron transport in low dimensional systems.

This course will cover the following topics:

PART I: Formation and Evolution of Nanostructures

1. Review of thermodynamics and phase diagrams
2. Capilliary effects on nanocrystals:
   Surface/interface energies, size effects on nanocrystal phase stabilities, Wulff plot, nanocrystal shape.
3. Nucleation and growth of nanomaterials:
   Homo- vs. heterogeneous nucleation, nucleation in solids, growth mechanisms of CVD graphene, VLS growth of nanowire.
4. Diffusion:
   Driving force of diffusion, Einstein’s relation, atomistic/statistical picture of diffusion, fast diffusion paths in materials.
5. Diffusion driven by external fields and surface/interface curvature:
   Diffusional creep, grain boundary grooving, Raleigh instability (nanofiber-nanosphere transition), Asaro-Tiller instability (quantum dot formation), Li ion diffusion in nanocrystalline anode/cathode materials.
6. Phase separation:
   Spinodal decomposition, Ostwald ripening, and self-assembled nanostructures
7. Mechanical properties of nanomaterials (1 week):
   Mechanical properties of nanocrystalline materials and thin films, mechanical properties of graphene and nanotubes

PART II: Electron transport in low dimensional systems

1. Introduction
   Quantum vs. classical transport, electron scattering, screening length, diffusive conduction, hopping conduction, Anderson localization, Ballistic transport
   
2. Electronic states in 1D, 2D crystals
   Wave function in 1D wires, rings, and chains, Brillouin zone in 1D crystals, Peierls’ distortion, Brillouin zone in 2D crystals, Graphene, Dirac point, from graphene to carbon nanotube (CNT), metallic vs. semiconductor CNTs
3. Mesoscopic phenomena
   Fermi wavelength, mean free path, magnetic length, phase breaking length, quantum interference, weak localization, Aharonov-Bohm effect, conductance quantization, Landauer-Butticker formalism, 2D electron gas
4. Tunneling and Single electron transistors (SETs)
   From FET to SET, quantum tunneling, charging effect, higher order tunneling, Spin-dependent tunneling, Cooper pair tunneling in superconducting SET, effect of EM environment
5. Quantum dot devices
   Quantized energy levels, coupling to electron reservoirs, level broadening, Thouless criterion, conductance quantization (revisit), coupled quantum dots, superposition states, quantum bits
6. Device Fabrication
   Photolithography, Moore’s law, state-of-the-art technology in semiconductor fabs and issues, e-beam lithography for research laboratories
7. Measurement techniques, Applications of nano electronic devices
   Low-level electrical measurement techniques, nanowire FET, charge sensor, molecular sensor, graphene optoelectronics, emerging 2D materials

Reference

1. D.A. Porter and K.E. Easterling “Phase Transformations in Metals and Alloys”
2. Robert T. DeHoff “Thermodynamics in Materials Science”
3. Quantum Transport: Atom to Transistor by Supriyo Datta (2005)
4. Electronic Transport in Mesoscopic Systems by Supriyo Datta
   (Cambridge Studies in Semiconductor Physics and Microelectronic Engineering)
5. Charles Kittel: Solid State Physics, 8th edition
   Ch. 18, pp 519~561 by Paul McEuen, Cornell University
6. Quantum Transport in Semiconductor Nanostructures, Solid State Physics, 44, 1-228 (1991), C. W. J. Beenakker and H. van Houten
7. Single Charge Tunneling: Coulomb Blockade Phenomena in Nanostructures
   Editors: Hermann Grabert and Michel H. Devoret, Plenum Press, NATO ASI 1991