Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
---|---|---|---|
2500097 Physics | OT | 4 | 2 |
It is recommendable, although not mandatory, to have taken Solid State Physics previously.
This course intends to provide the students with the fundamentals to be able to understand how do the physical properties (electronic, optical, thermal, magnetic and transport) of the materials change when reduced to nanometric scale.
1. NANOCRYSTALS and NANOCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS obtention methods
1.1. Nucleation and Growth
1.2 From the vapour phase
1.3. From the liquid phase
1.4. From the solid phase
2. SIZE effects on the physical properties.
2.1 Electronic properties: 1D, 2D and 3D confinement
2.1.1. Linear or circular chain of carbon atoms.
2.1.2. Particles in square wells.
2.1.3. Band structure and density of states as a function of dimensionality.
2.1.4. Confinement in the presence of an electric field: triangular potential well.
2.1.5. Confinement in the presence of a magnetic field: parabolic potential well.
2.1.5.1. Landau levels. Quantum Hall effect.
2.2. Electronic transport
2.2.1 Balistic transport: Landauer formulism
2.2.2. Tunnel transport: step function. Square barrier. Current in 1D. Resonant tunnel effect. Tunnelling in heterostructures.
2.2.3 Applications: Electronic and magnetic devices based on heterostructures.
2.3. Optical properties
2.3.1 Excitons: coulomb interactions.
2.3.2 Light emission and absorption (interband, intersubband).
2.3.3 Technological applications.
2.4. Thermal properties
2.4.1 Heat Capacity
2.4.2 Melting temperature and enthalpy in metallic and semiconductor nanoparticles.
2.4.4 Thermal transport.
2.4.5 Seebeck and Peltier effects.
2.4.6 Figure of Merit. Effects of dimensionality
This course offers specific contents about physics at the nanoscale. A list of the learning activities used to teach the course is detailed in the following lines. The working hours corresponding to each activity are just a guide and have been calculated for an average student. In this course we try to encourage students to participate in an active way, as part of the learning process.
Guided learning activities:
Lectures: the lecturer will explain the most relevant concepts of each of the topic of the course. Normally, this type of class is carried out on the blackboard, although slides will be used in some occasions. The students will have the notes for the different topics in advance.
Practicum: In these classes, the teacher will explain how to solve some sample problems. From the whole list, only part of the exercises will be solved in class. From this same list, the teacher will ask the students to deliver one of the problems from each topic. This is a mandatory activity, as it is part of the evaluation.
Discussion class: The students will have to read a scientific article related to each of the topics from the course. Some of the classes will be dedicated to discussing the contents of each of these articles altogether.
Laboratory: The students will perform some laboratory practices as part of the learning activities.
Supervised learning activities:
Tutorials: during the attention hours, the lecturers of the course will be available for any type of questions and doubts related to the different topics of the course.
Autonomous learning activities:
Problem solving and deliveringof extra exercises: the student will have to solve the problems from the list that the teacher will specify. The students can also solve some extra exercises to improve their mark.
Study and exam preparation: Individual work from the student with the aim of acquiring the theoretical concepts from the course and the necessary skills to solve the problems.
Extra activities: the students have the opportunity to perform some extra projects, which will require a certain level of code programming, where they can solve some problems related to the different topics of the subject.
Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|
Type: Directed | |||
Laboratory | 7 | 0.28 | |
Lectures | 27 | 1.08 | |
Practicum | 12 | 0.48 | |
Scientific articles discussion | 3 | 0.12 | |
Type: Autonomous | |||
Exercise solving and extra exercises delivering | 17 | 0.68 | |
Extra materials preparation | 20 | 0.8 | |
Study and exam preparation | 51 | 2.04 | |
Tutorials | 5 | 0.2 |
Problem solving and article reading: 25 % of the final mark.
Practicum (realization, report, interview): 15 % of the final mark.
First exam: 30% of the final mark.
Second exam: 30% of the final mark.
(2nd chance) Exam: 60% of the final mark. (Only the students that have been previously evaluated or 2/3 of the evaluation will have the chance to do this exam)
Minimum mark of each of the exams in order to pass the course: 4
Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Exercises delivering and article reading | 25% | 0 | 0 | 15, 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 24, 9, 10, 11, 7, 8, 12, 14, 21, 17, 18, 22, 23, 20, 19 |
Partial exam I | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 3, 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 7, 8, 12, 14, 21, 17, 18, 22, 20, 19 |
Partial exam II | 30% | 2 | 0.08 | 15, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 7, 8, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 19 |
Partial exams (2nd chance) | 60% | 3 | 0.12 | 15, 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 7, 8, 12, 14, 21, 17, 18, 22, 20, 19 |
Practicum | 15% | 1 | 0.04 | 15, 2, 4, 5, 24, 9, 10, 11, 7, 8, 13, 16, 21, 17, 22, 23, 20, 19 |
Solid State Physics, N.W.Ashcroft, N.D. Mermin, Saunders College Publishing.
The Physics of Low dimensional semiconductors: An introduction, J.H.Davies, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Quantum semiconductor structures: Fundamentals and applications , C.Weisbuch, B.Vinter, Academic Press, 1991.
Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Properties and Applications, Ed. A. S. Edelstein, R. C. Cammarata, Institute of Physics, 1998.
The atomistic nature of crystal growth, B.Mutaftschiev,... Springer-verlag, 2003.