Weak Adsorption on Complex Surfaces

该项目是一项合作研究，采用实验和理论方法来研究有关表面力及其对薄膜结构和动力学的影响的基本问题。要解决的关键问题包括简单的吸附物在复杂的表面，如准晶体的基本性质，在这些系统中的竞争相互作用的影响。 要研究的性质包括吸附能，膜结构，润湿和熔化。 将采用的技术是低能电子衍射，氦原子散射，计算机模拟和国家的最先进的理论方法。 这些研究的重要性在于，它们将提供对吸附现象的基本理解，这些现象将适用于许多不同的领域，包括纳米图案化、自组装单层、涂层技术、摩擦学和芯片制造。 学生和博士后学者将接受适用于上述技术的基本方法的培训。 该研究还将包括国际合作，特别是美国，英国和芬兰之间的学生和博士后学者的交流。表面科学是一门重要的学科，既有基本的兴趣，也有许多技术的潜在应用。在这个项目中将探索的主要问题包括只有一个分子厚的薄膜的结构。 这项研究的重点是确定单个分子相对于底层支撑表面的位置。第二个主要课题是这些薄膜与表面的结合强度以及它们的动力学。在某些情况下，这种膜在高温下结合到表面，但在低温下不结合。在其他情况下，情况正好相反。 这些现象和许多其他现象将通过不同的实验，理论和计算方法进行探索，其中一些将作为研究的一部分进一步改进。 学生将接受基本方法的培训，这些方法适用于工业问题，如涂料，润滑剂和计算机芯片的开发和制造。 该研究计划还包括国际部分，包括美国，英国和芬兰之间的学生和博士后学者交流。

This project is a collaborative study employing both experimental and theoretical methods to study fundamental questions about forces at surfaces and their implications for the structure and dynamics of thin films. Key problems to be addressed include the basic properties of simple adsorbates on complex surfaces, such as quasicrystals, and the effects of competing interactions in these systems. Properties to be studied include the adsorption energies, film structures, wetting and melting. The techniques to be employed are low-energy electron diffraction, He-atom scattering, computer simulations and state-of-the-art theoretical methods. The importance of these studies is that they will provide a fundamental understanding of adsorption phenomena that will be applicable to many different fields, including nano-patterning, self-assembled monolayers, coatings technology, tribology and chip fabrication. Students and postdoctoral scholars will be trained in fundamental methods, which are applicable to the aforementioned technologies. The research will also include international collaborations, specifically the exchange of students and postdoctoral scholars between US, UK and Finland.%%%%%Surface science is of importance as a subject of both fundamental interest and potential application to many technologies. Principal problems that will be explored in this project include the structures of films that are just one molecule thick. A focus of this research is the determination of where individual molecules sit in relation to the underlying supporting surface. A second major topic is the question of how strongly these films are bound to the surface as well as their dynamics. In some cases, such films are bound to the surface at high temperature, but not at low temperature. In other cases, the reverse is true. These phenomena, and many others, will be explored with diverse experimental, theoretical and computational methods, some of which will be further improved as part of the research. Students will be trained in fundamental methods, which are applicable to industrial concerns such as the development and fabrication of coatings, lubricants, and computer chips. There is also an international component to this research program, including the exchange of students and postdoctoral scholars between US, UK and Finland.