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Preparing the 21st Century Global Workforce in Micro- and Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization in the First Two Years of Engineering Education

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Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Preparing Engineering Students for the Global Workplace

Tagged Division

International

Page Count

12

Page Numbers

25.1061.1 - 25.1061.12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21818

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21818

Download Count

499

Paper Authors

biography

Wesley Crowell Sanders Salt Lake Community College

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Wesley Crowell Sanders earned a B.S.Ed. in science education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., in 1999. After teaching high school science for four years in Charlotte, N.C., he pursued a M.S. in chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Upon receiving his M.S. in chemistry in 2005, he enrolled in a chemistry Ph.D. program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Soon after the receipt of his doctorate in chemistry in 2008, he was awarded an ASEE postdoctoral fellowship that allowed him to work as a researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C. Currently, he is an instrumentation lab coordinator at Salt Lake Community College. He is tasked with maintaining the atomic force microscope and instructing students and faculty on its use. He also teaches courses in the areas of scanning probe microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and nanotechnology.

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Abstract

Preparing the 21st Century Global Workforce in Micro- and Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization in the First Two Years of Engineering Education As the demand for smaller and faster electronic devices increases, so does the need for aworkforce familiar with the basics of micro- and nanoscale fabrication. Additionally, experiencewith various forms of microscopy for characterization purposes is a necessity. This workforcewill come primarily from post secondary institutions. Therefore, it is important fornanotechnology instructors at non-research based post secondary institutions to providelaboratory exercises that introduce students to the fundamental concepts of micro-/nano-fabrication and surface characterization. Presented are a series of cost effective lab activities to demonstrate micro-/nanoscalefabrication and characterization. One of these lab activities involves soft lithography, morespecifically micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC). MIMIC involves placing a patterned stampon the surface of a substrate. Then the channels of the stamp are filled with an alcoholic saltsolution. Upon evaporation of the alcohol solvent, nanoscale crystalline patterns are formed.Soft lithography is an ideal hands-on lab exercise to use for the purpose of introducing studentsat non-research based institutions to the fundamentals of micro-/nanoscale fabrication.Advantages of soft lithography labs include low cost, simple methodology, and easily accessiblematerials. Another lab exercise involves the fabrication of silver nanowires using a basic, singlereplacement reaction between copper sputtered on a small silicon dioxide wafer and silvernitrate. These laboratory exercises also contain a component involving qualitative andquantitative surface characterization of student fabricated micro-/nanoscale structures atinstitutions with on-site access to an atomic force microscope (AFM), or access via anotherfacility.     MIMIC Lab Exercise  AFM Image of Silver Nanowires  

Sanders, W. C. (2012, June), Preparing the 21st Century Global Workforce in Micro- and Nanoscale Fabrication and Characterization in the First Two Years of Engineering Education Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21818

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