William Andrew Transport Phenomena in Micro- and Nanoscale Functional Materials and Devices (Micro and Nano Technologies)

Transport Phenomena in Micro- and Nanoscale Functional Materials and Devices offers an experiment-orientated, pragmatic view on transport phenomena for micro- and nanoscale materials and devices, both as a research tool and as a means to implant new functions in a material. Part I emphasises transport properties (TP) as a powerful research tool at the micro/nano level, and also gives an experimental view on the underlying techniques. The relevance of TP is highlighted through the interplay between a micro/nanocarrier’s characteristics and the media characteristics: long/short-range order and disorder (atomic, magnetic, electric), excitations, couplings and in energy conversions. The role of external parameters and driving "forces", in static or dynamic regimes, to functionalize TP includes thermo-magneto-galvanic and changes in carrier concentrations (also with phonons), as well as direct energy conversions such as thermoelectric and photoelectric. In suitable functional media, external agents can also induce switching, memory phenomena and phase transitions, and these can be sharply reflected in different transport properties. The TP characteristics and their high experimental accuracy provide extreme sensitivity to minute changes in the media, thus amplifying their functionalities at the micro/nanoscale level. Part II contains case studies, giving up-to-date perspectives on the role of transport properties in functional nanomaterials in forefront science and technological applications. This includes transport in thin films and Nanostructures, from nanogranular films to graphene and 2D semiconductors, spintronics, from read heads, MRAMs and sensors to nano-oscillators, and energy conversion, from figures of merit, micro-coolers and micro-heaters, to spincaloritronics. A pragmatic description of electrical transport phenomena in micro- and nanoscale materials and devices from an experimental viewpoint An in-depth overview of the experimental techniques available to measure transport phenomena in micro- and nanoscale materials, featuring case studies to illustrate how each works Highlights emerging areas of interest in micro- and nanomaterial transport phenomena, including spintronics Review Addresses the transport of charge, spin and energy in functional materials, focusing on the micro- and nanoscale in research and technology About the Author João Oliveira Ventura is a Research Scientist at the Institute of Materials Physics, University of Porto, Portugal, where he has worked on nano-fabrication since 2008. His research interests more widely include spintronics, nanostructures, magnetic nanostructures, ion beam deposition, and lithography. João Bessa Sousa is Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Porto, Portugal, His research activity focuses on micro and nanotechnologies, particularly spintronics and their applications in magneto-optical and self-organization at the nanometer level. He has published over 260 articles in peer-reviewed international journals. In 2004, he was made Commander of the Order of the Sword Sant`Iago, one of Portugal’s highest civil honors. In 2005 he was awarded the Prize for Scientific Excellence by the Foundation for Science and Technology. João Pedro Araújo is Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Porto, Portugal. His research focuses on the preparation and fundamental studies on materials exhibiting strong interplay between electronic, spin, orbital and lattice degree of freedom. His is also working on thin-film preparation (Ion bem Deposition and Laser Ablation) and physical aspects of nanodevices, in particular spinvalve and tunnel-junctions. He is interested in bottom up-approaches for nanofabrication namely using nanoporous alumina templates and on using them for various application ranging from optics, solar/water-splitting -cells up to biotechnological applications. André Pereira is Assista