RUI: Surface Roughness Studies Using the Scanning Tunnel Microscope

该项目将在阿巴拉契亚州立大学建立一个扫描隧道/原子力显微镜(STM/AFM)项目。该课程将作为本科生的教学工具，并将为应用物理的本科生和研究生提供研究机会。这些研究项目将侧重于菲尔·罗素博士提供的材料的表面表征，这是亚利桑那州立大学和北卡罗来纳州立大学精密工程中心的合作努力。扫描隧道显微镜将被用来研究三个特定的领域：金属覆层的表面粗糙度，光学元件质量，以及纳米金属化。扫描隧道显微镜是一种表面分析工具，仅限于对导电样品的研究。将检查绝缘子上薄金属覆盖层的表面粗糙度，以试图找到这样的材料：形成均匀的覆盖层；可以用扫描隧道显微镜进行研究；以及保持绝缘子表面的表面形貌。表面粗糙度研究还可用于深入了解高质量光学元件的加工过程，深入了解高质量光学元件的加工过程，这通常要求表面特征小于几个原子单位。最后，利用来自扫描隧道显微镜的低能(-10 eV)电子束将Pd从Pd-Ac薄膜中解离出来，从而探索硅的纳米金属化。

This project is to establish a Scanning Tunnel/Atomic Force Microscopy (STM/AFM) program at Appalachian State University. This program will be used as a teaching tool for undergraduates and will provide research opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students in Applied Physics. The research projects will focus on the surface characterization of materials provided by Dr. Phil Russell as a collaborative effort between ASU and the Precision Engineering Center at North Carolina State University. The STM will be used to study three specific areas: surface roughness of metal overlayers, optical component quality, and nanometer metallization. The STM is a surface analysis tool which is limited to the study of conducting samples. The surface roughness of thin metal overlayers on insulators will be examined in an attempt to find materials which: form a uniform overlayer; can be studied with the STM; and preserve the insulator surface topography. Surface roughness studies can also be used to provide insight into the processing of high quality optical insight into the processing of high quality optical components, which often requires surface features to be less than a few atomic units. Lastly, nanometer metallization of silicon will be explored by using a low energy (-10eV) beam from the STM to dissociate PD from Pd-Ac thin films.