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Physical Society Colloquium
an outlook to the kinetics of small structures Dr. François Shiettekatte
Coordinated Science Laboratory and Material Research Laboratory The reduced size of the features now used in technological applications can have an important effect on the kinetics of the processes occurring in these materials (e.g. phase transitions, adsorption). Thermodynamics have proved to be a powerful tool to explain such effects. However, when these systems reach atomic scale, quantum effects have to be considered. Here, three types of nanostructures are examined: 1) indium nanoparticles, for which the "classical" effect of melting point depression has been investigated by nanocalorimetry and turns out to be significantly influenced by shell effects for particles smaller than ~6 nm; 2) nanocavities in silicon where enhanced surface adsorption can be explained in part by capillary effects; 3) point defects to extended defects transitions in implanted semiconductors for which evidences of stable 8-interstitial clusters have been found, but still need to be explained.
Tuesday, January 25th 2000, 11:00 |