MSE 298 Seminar (Zoom): Funny Microscope Videos - Transmission Electron Microscopy in Motion

Zoom Meeting ID: 995 8022 3426, Password: 587901

Abstract: We can watch crystals grow in an electron microscope by adding atoms one at a time onto a clean surface. The movies tell us a lot about kinetics and thermodynamics but can also be entertaining, frustrating or both at the same time. I will attempt to share the joy of this type of in situ microscopy as we aim to understand how atoms assemble into nanowires or nanocrystals and use the information to control the formation of more complicated nanostructures whose properties might make them useful for new types of electronic devices.

Bio: Frances M. Ross received her bachelor's degree in physics and doctorate in materials science from Cambridge University, U.K. Her postdoc was at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where she used in situ electron microscopy to visualize silicon oxidation and dislocation dynamics, after which she joined the National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she investigated other processes in situ including anodic etching of Si. She then moved to the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, where she imaged the growth of nanoscale materials using a microscope with deposition and focused ion beam capabilities, developed liquid cell microscopy for visualizing electrochemical processes, and measured growth and transport properties in a combined focused ion beamscanning tunneling microscope system. She joined the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2018, where her research continues to center on nanostructure self-assembly, liquid cell microscopy, epitaxy and electrochemical processes.