This project introduces Scanning Tunneling Microscopes (STMs) into the first-year college curriculum in physics and chemistry. Phase I SBIR research at L3 Consulting resulted in a design which uses advanced electroceramic actuators, audio quality data converters, and a digital signal processor to produce a very inexpensive microscope. L3 also demonstrated how this microscope would enable students to image atomic steps at the surface of metals and semiconductors, examine integrated circuits or compact discs with resolution below the diffraction limit of optical microscopes, and otherwise explore physical phenomena at the nanometer scale. Continuing efforts in Phase II include developing prototypes of the instrument and of accompanying laboratory exercises, testing these prototypes with college students in regular classes, and evaluating the impact of these new tools on students' interest in and understanding of the physical sciences. The courseware emphasizes the relationship between microscopic features of materials and their macroscopic properties. It encourages students to inquire how the abstract fundamental concepts stressed in introductory courses can be applied to explain the behavior of real-world materials and devices. Students will gain valuable technical skills while learning how to operate these microscopes, how to interpret the images they obtain, and how to extrapolate from those images. College and university faculty can present STMs as examples of modern research instruments and can use STM-based labs to expand their coverage of contemporary physics and chemistry.
The potential commercial applications as described by the awardee: Successful Phase II research will lead to a refined design for a microscope/courseware package suitable for commercial production and distribution. The primary target market for the product is formed by large introductory classes in physics and chemistry which are taken by students of engineering, medicine and the allied health professions, education, and architecture, as well as by future scientists. Derivative products might be suitable at other educational levels, or for industrial use.
