Nano-Processing - Property Enhancement
by Quantum Confinement and Other Effects
in Reduced Dimensions
Nanomaterials are normally described as having a typical size of 1 to 100 nm in
at least one dimension. Nanodevices may be defined as structurally organized
and functionally integrated materials systems, the dimensions of which are
expressed in nanometers. Electronic devices incorporating nanomaterials are
being extensively studied to exploit the enhancement of properties arising
out of “quantum confinement,†which is a consequence of processing the
devices in reduced dimensions. Presently, such research concentrates on
production technologies for such materials and on broad investigations of their
properties. Various techniques for production of nanometals, nanoceramics
and nanocomposites have been developed, and superior properties of
nanomaterials have been reported. Due to the large surface/interface-to-volume
ratio in nanomaterials, a wide variety of size-related effects can be introduced by
controlling the size of the particles: quantum confinement, i.e., quantization of the
energy levels of electrons/holes in reduced dimensions enhances performance
of thermoelectric devices; efficiency enhancement by quantum confinement
of optoelectronic and nonlinear optical devices by incorporating nanoclusters
and quantum dots (For example, devices are processed/developed to emit
and absorb a specific wavelength of light by changing the particle diameters.);
magnetic property enhancement by processing materials having large surfaceto-
volume ratio.
Topics
- Methods of nanoparticles/device processing and characterization leading to quantum confinement and other effects
- Finding correlations between structure and properties of nanoparticles and their activities
Organizer:
Biprodas Dutta, Catholic University of America; biprod@vsl.cua.edu
