Summer Research at Cornell UniversityIn today's world of nanotechnology, the properties of extremely
small materials have become extremely important. It turns out that,
Houghton professor Dr. Brandon Hoffman collaborates with Dr. Shefford Baker at Cornell University. Each summer, students study the properties of thin metal films at the Cornell Center for Materials Research. The films are deposited and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Each student is placed in charge of one area of the project and performs both the background research and experimental work of that particular area. This gives the students a sense of ownership and expertise in the project. Research Pictures |
as the size (or thickness) of a material becomes small, the
properties change dramatically. A thin (~10-1000nm) film deposited
onto a larger substrate, for example, supports several times the
stress of the "normal" size material! For this reason, a whole field
in science is dedicated to the study of thin films.
