Understanding tungsten migration blazes trail for nano electronic device development
Thursday, September 15, 2011 - 13:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Trios of tungsten atoms are greatly influenced in their migration across the wilds of a tiny particle by the shape of the particle, according to a team of experts, including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Dr. Fei Gao. The U.S. and China team performed complex computational simulations to determine the energetics involved in the tungsten cluster migration. They found that the 3 to 4 adatom, or surface atom, clusters prefer to form close-packed islands. The reorientation is the dominant migration mechanism for the dimer, while the net migration of lager clusters can be accomplished by the dimer shearing, concerted motion and rotation mechanisms.
