Nonequilibrium Structure of Metal Films

该奖项是由材料化学和化学加工倡议颁发的，以支持爱荷华州立大学的Thiel和Evans教授的合作研究。联合资助由化学和材料研究部提供。研究的重点是研究金属衬底上金属薄膜在低温下的扩散受限结构，在低温区域，薄膜内部的热扩散是缓慢的，并且薄膜结构受到吸附事件特性的强烈影响。将开发复杂的薄膜生长模型，使用分子动力学模拟与蒙特卡罗模拟和/或速率方程分析的独特组合，产生可与实验数据进行比较的统计量。要研究的典型体系是高表面自由能金属，如铁或镍，低表面自由能金属，如银或金。在实验上，将使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.