Nonequilibrium Structure of Metal Films

该奖项是在材料化学和化学加工倡议中颁发的，以支持爱荷华州立大学的Thiel和Evans教授的合作研究。化学和材料研究部提供联合资金。本研究的重点是研究在低温条件下金属衬底上的金属膜的扩散限制结构，在低温条件下，薄膜内的热扩散缓慢，薄膜结构受吸附事件特性的强烈影响。利用分子动力学模拟和蒙特卡罗模拟和/或速率方程分析的独特组合，将开发出复杂的薄膜生长模型，这些模型产生的统计量可以与实验数据进行比较。要研究的典型体系是表面自由能高的金属，如铁或镍，表面自由能低的金属，如银或金。实验将采用两种主要的互补技术，低能电子衍射和扫描隧道显微镜。

This award is made in the Materials Chemistry and Chemical Processing Initiative in support of the collaborative research of Professors Thiel and Evans at Iowa State University. Joint funding is provided by the Divisions of Chemistry and Materials Research. The thrust of the research is an investigation of the diffusion-limited structure of metal films on metal substrates in the low-temperature regime, where thermal diffusion within the film is slow and film structure is strongly influenced by characteristics of the adsorption event. Sophisticated models for film growth will be developed, using a unique combination of molecular dynamics simulations and Monte Carlo simulations and/or rate equation analyses which yield statistical quantities which can be compared to experimental data. Typical systems to be studied are high-surface free energy metals such as iron or nickel on low-surface free energy metals such as silver or gold. Experimentally, two main complementary techniques, low-energy electron diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy will be employed.