2002 NSLS Users' Meeting

In situ Studies of Materials Processing

Physics Department, Bldg. 510, Large Seminar Room

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Organizers: Karl Ludwig, Boston University, 617-353-9346, Randy Headrick, Uni. of Vermont, 802-656-0048, and Chi-Chang Kao, NSLS, 631-344-4494

Advanced materials continue to be at the forefront of science and technology. In many cases, the formation of these materials requires increasingly sophisticated thin film growth techniques, surface modification regimens, or carefully controlled phase transformations. Important progress has often been made through heuristic approaches, or on the basis of information obtained from detailed post mortem analysis of materials that have undergone processing. However, in many cases, the realization of these approaches' full potential will require a more detailed understanding of the atomic-level processes occurring during processing. Synchrotron-based real-time x-ray studies offer the ability to examine the evolution of materials structure under a wide variety of processing conditions, either in a surface-sensitive or a bulk-sensitive mode, with microsecond resolution on length scales from 0.1-100 nm. This workshop will examine both current efforts utilizing synchrotron radiation for in-situ studies of materials processing, as well as promising areas where such applications are still developing, or have yet to develop. These include wide-bandgap, oxide and organic thin film growth, surface modification by sputtering/plasma processing and thin silicide film formation via solid phase epitaxy. A brief overview will also be given of ongoing efforts to construct an in-situ x-ray scattering facility at the NSLS for real-time studies of surface processing.