An Upper-Division Materials Physics Laboratory

University Of San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

Physics (13) The roles of advanced materials in both American society and the economy have grown rapidly over the last quarter century. This project is developing a Materials Physics curriculum to educate students in the principles and practices relevant to high-technology materials by adapting experiments from the educational and research literature. The program prepares undergraduates for careers in semiconductor and other advanced materials industries. The curriculum adds computer programming, chemistry, industrial internships, and new advanced materials courses. As the backbone of the Materials Physics curriculum, this project enables the university to offer a new set of upper-division laboratories. The instrumentation for the new laboratory sequence includes a vapor-deposition module, a photolithography module, electronics for conductivity measurements, an absorption spectrometer, a nitrogen laser, and a dye laser. The laboratories form a holistic series of modular experiments to develop familiarity with techniques relevant to materials processing and characterization. These include a coherent top-to-bottom sequence: creation of thin-films; Atomic Force Microscope imaging of the films; subsequent patterning of the films via industrial techniques used to pattern silicon in microchips; and concluding conductivity measurements of the films over a range of temperatures. In addition, students collect a series of emission and absorption measurements from promising laser materials. Computer interfacing plays a major role in several of the new experiments. After completing these experiments in their junior years, Materials Physics majors are ready for summer internships in local industry.