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© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC
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 The Science of Materials
The extraordinary diversity of todays advanced materials is
based on better knowledge of how to attain novel structures
displaying new properties that lead to improved performance

by Gerald 1. lied I

ometime in the eighth millennium powerful new theories and instrumen­ vide the first insights into details of the

S B.C. human beings found that a

piece of clay shaped into a pot
could be hardened by fire and that the
tation has made investigative science
an essential driving force for advances
in engineering.
era's materials technology and the lev­
el of artisans' understanding of their
materials.
pot, once fired, would retain liquid They knew, for example, how to
and resist deformation even when it
was set in hot coals. A soft, malleable A stick of wood, a stone and a bed of
clay are naturally occurring ma­
combine charcoal with an ore in smelt­
ing in order to reduce the ore to its me­
material had been converted into a terials. They are also technological tallic content, how to mix two metals
hard, stonelike one. That first inten­ materials, because they can become a to form an alloy more workable and
tional transformation of an inorgan­ club, an ax and a pottery bowl. A tech­ ultimately stronger than either met­
ic natural material into a new mate­ nological material is a natural one that al alone, how to harden a metal by
rial displaying novel properties was is put to use by human beings or is quenching or hammering. Such work­
the beginning of materials technology processed and thereby given new prop­ ing knowledge of materials and proc­
or engineering. erties that transform it into a useful esses, although impressive, had clearly
Some 7,000 years later Greek phi­ object. A stick is converted into a club come from practical experience. Little
losophers speculated that all matter simply by being seen as potentially if anything had been contributed by
consists of minute, indivisible particles useful and being picked up; a stone is scholars. Alchemists did not talk to
of the same basic substance. That ear­ shaped into an ax. The clay, however, blacksmiths.
ly attempt to understand the nature of requires both shaping and conversion This lack of intellectual input per­
material things can be taken as the be­ by heat if it is to become an effective sisted even through the scientific revo­
ginning of materials science. pot. The choice of the best clay avail­ lution of the 17th and 18th centuries,
Until very recently the practitioners able, the application of the correct the Industrial Revolution and the first
of materials engineering and materials amount of heat for the right time and burgeoning of industry in the early
science remained separated by a wide the proper cooling and surface treat­ 19th century. Technological materials
gulf. Craftsmanship and technology ment of the fired pot all contribute to were simply too complicated and too
flourished. The selection, modifica­ the making of an effective utensil. unpredictable for investigators and for
tion and processing of materials came The early artisans developed their the instruments at their disposal. Arti­
to be fundamental elements of human knowledge of materials-first ceramics sans knew that each material had spe­
cultures. Yet the science of materials­ and then bronze and iron-and of tech­ cific qualities and knew how to work
an attempt to understand their funda­ niques for manipulating them empiri­ the material, exploiting its qualities to
mental nature and why particular ma­ cally. Archaeologists unearth their ar­ make marketable goods. It was expla­
nipUlations of them have particular tifacts; materials scientists can analyze nation that was lacking, and without
effects-was slow to develop beyond the artifacts and deduce something explanation there could be no accurate
the level of speculation. It was not un­ about the techniques whereby they prediction of how a change in process­
til the 19th century that chemistry and were produced, but there is no way to ing might improve the performance of
to a lesser extent physics began to sup­ gauge how well artisans understood a material.
port the largely empirical efforts of the nature of their materials until after
artisans and engineers with applica­
ble theories and novel analytical tools.
the advent of printing. Such 16th-cen­
tury works as the De La Pirotechnia of T he first spin-offs from real under­
standing of materials came later in
Within the past half century the col­ Vannoccio Biringuccio and the De Re the 19th century. It began with chem­
laboration has thrived. The advent of Metallica of Georgius Agricola pro- istry. Chemical theory proved to be
helpful as a guide to the more efficient
processing of materials that had been
known for centuries. For example,
knowledge of oxidation was applied
MICROSTRUCTURE of an aluminum-lithium alloy is revealed in a photomicrograph,
to steelmaking: controlled amounts of
made under polarized light, of a cross section of the sample. The micrograph, in which the
sample is enlarged some 265 diameters, was made at Alcoa Laboratories. Differently
oxygen, supplied under pressure to a
colored regions represent differently oriented crystal grains of the alloy, which is lighter molten metal, combine with impuri­
and stiffer than unalloyed aluminum. Better control of microstructure has greatly in­ ties to form oxides that can be re­
creased the ability of materials scientists to develop materials having novel properties. moved from the melt, as in the Besse-

127

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

mer process. Chemical analysis came nal observation of changes in the inter­ ten) cryolite, a sodium aluminum fluo­
to be an essential tool for choosing the nal structure of a metal, coupled with ride. Within the next few decades sig­
right raw material and for the control the new knowledge about composition nificant new processes were developed
of processing. Assaying procedures from analytical chemistry, signaled for the production of high-carbon, sili­
monitored the fate of particular ele­ a profound change in the degree to con and stainless steels.
ments, such as carbon, in the course of which the fundamental nature of ma­ It has been in the 20th century, and
steelmaking. terials could be understood. particularly in the past 40 years, that
A new tool was brought to bear in By the last quarter of the 19th centu­ chemists and physicists have been able
1866, when Henry Clifton Sorby, an ry chemistry and physics had essential to achieve the fundamental insights
English geologist and pioneer in mi­ process-control roles in many estab­ that now drive advances in the devel­
croscopy, first applied the light micro­ lished materials industries. In 1886 opment of new materials and new
scope to the study of steel. He ob­ physical science laid the groundwork processing technology. The deeper
served that the texture of a fractured for a brand-new materials industry: theoretical understanding of materi­
surface was actually crystalline in na­ the American chemist Charles Martin als, coupled with powerful analytical
ture and that it differed depending on Hall learned how to produce metallic tools for studying materials, has led to
the precise composition of the steel aluminum economically by passing an close cooperation between materials
and its thermal treatment. This semi- electric current through fused (mol- scientists and engineers.
The key contribution of science was

ELEMENTS··
the coupling of a material's external
properties to its internal structure.
Materials were discovered to possess
an inner architecture-a hierarchy of

0 Strontian
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..... successive structural levels. The archi­

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we tecture was seen to be complex enough

Hydro,sen.
¥ to account for the widely varying ob­
served behaviors of materials. This.

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recognition in turn implied that the be­
\, havior of a particular material could
,
be predicted from close study of its in­
68 ternal architecture.
Such study has been facilitated by a
battery of new instruments and tech­

Iron
10
Cal'bon niques that reveal increasingly fine de­
tail. What Sorby had glimpsed through

$i
his microscope was the microstructure

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of steel. In time optical microscopy
was followed first by transmission
Oxygen Zinc electron microscopy, which resolves
details of substructure, and then by
scanning electron microscopy, which

Phosphorus .9
provides important three-dimensional

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.
surface information. X-ray diffraction
maps the spatial arrangement of atoms

SUlphur Js ©
or molecules in a crystal. The very
identity of a material's atoms is re­

Lead vealed by various excitation spectros­

copies, and bombardment of a materi­

Mas"esla � ®
al with high-energy particles probes
the atomic nucleus.

Silver T he newly disclosed internal struc­

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ture of materials has provided a
framework for understanding the solid

Cold state in general and individual mate­

rials in particular. The combination
of theory and analysis with empirical

®
knowledge has led not only to more ef­

Soda Platina
fective manipulation of natural mate­
28 rials but also to an extraordinary di­
versity of new, manmade materials:

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synthetic polymer fibers and plastics,
high-strength and high-temperature
Mercury metal alloys, glass fibers that serve as
optical waveguides, magnets made of
rare-earth elements, high-strength ce­
ramics, composite materials and the
ATOMIC THEORY was advanced by John Dalton at the beginning of the 19th century. semiconductors that gave birth to the
In a chart displayed during lectures he showed symbols for what he took to be the irre­ microelectronics industry.
ducible "elements or atoms," with atomic weights based on a weight of 1 for hydrogen. This array of advances has been

128

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

 IONIC BOND COVALENT BOND METALLIC BOND

(QJ(gg
(gg (g
g(gg VAN DER WAALS BOND HYDROGEN BOND

�---d
CHEMICAL BONDS, determined by the electronic structure of a
� \
'�
pairs of atoms share their outer electrons and thus fill their outer
material, are directly related to a material's properties. The five electron shell. In a metal all the outer-shell electrons are shared
kinds of bond are shown here highly schematically; in most mate­ among atoms, moving through the lattice of atoms as conducting
rials there is some combination of bonds. The ionic bond forms be­ electrons. The van der Waals bond is a weak attraction between
tween ions, or positively and negatively charged atoms; opposite­ nearby neutral atoms or molecules. The weak hydrogen bond is
ly charged ions are attracted to each other. In the covalent bond mediated by a hydrogen atom that is shared by two molecules.

achieved by what can now be consid­ acteristic responses to external stimuli. Structure, properties and perform­
ered an integrated discipline: materials For example, the mechanical proper­ ance are tied together by processing,
science and engineering. Its practition­ ties of a material, such as strength and which can be defined as the control or
ers, whether they consider themselves elastic modulus, relate deformation to modification of any level of the inter­
to be scientists or engineers, deal with an applied load or force. Does a steel nal structure of a material in order
the relations among structure, proper­ rod subjected to an increasing force to achieve desired properties and per­
ties and performance, and with how applied in a particular direction bend formance. Processing, in other words,
those mutual interactions are affect­ or break? When? If it bends, does it is what makes it all happen.
ed by processing. These terms deserve spring back when the force is no longer
some definition.
A material has structure: particular
applied? Such electrical properties as
conductivity and its reciprocal, resis­ M aterials scientists have for the
most part studied structure and
arrangements, or configurations, of in­ tivity, are responses to the stimulus of properties and the relation between
ternal components. To begin with, it an electric field. A solid material has a them. Materials engineers, on the oth­
has subatomic structure: one studies wide range of other properties of inter­ er hand, have concentrated on the
the locations and densities of electrons est, including thermal, magnetic, opti­ relation of structure and properties
and their mutual interactions. Pro­ cal and chemical. to performance and on processing
ceeding to the next level, one investi­ The structure and properties of a techniques that improve performance.
gates the organization of atoms or material largely determine its per­ Now, as more becomes known about
molecules, for example the precise ar­ formance, or how it behaves in actual how processing can modify a materi­
rangement of atoms in the lattice of a use. Performance introduces a new set al's structure, and thus its properties
crystalline material. The next structur­ of concerns. For example; to know the and ultimately its performance, scien­
al realm consists of very large groups mechanical properties of a material is tists are becoming more interested in
of atoms that have identifiable charac­ to be able to describe the response of processing and are having more im­
teristics, such as the individual grains that material to a well-defined "ideal­ pact on it. Their findings have been
of a metal or a ceramic. These groups ized" force. In actual use the force translated into improved processes in
agglomerate to form the microstruc­ may instead be far from well defined. areas ranging from steel manufacture
ture and in turn the macroscopic struc­ It is likely, in fact, to be a complex sys­ to the production of pure glass fibers.
tural elements that can be seen with tem of varied and variable forces that A striking example of scientific input
the unaided eye. may have competing, additive or syn­ is the development of ways to grow the
A material also has properties: char- ergistic effects. very large single crystals of the semi-

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© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

conductor silicon from which integrat­ materials composed of an infinite, or­ concept of defects. They found that
ed-circuit chips are made. derly and rigid array of atoms. The some atomic sites in an array are left
Scientists ordinarily prefer to work orderly array provided a convenient unoccupied under normal conditions,
with idealized materials and simple framework for theories and could ex­ that atoms can occupy what should be
structures or processes. Their results plain some properties of metals. It holes in the array, that one kind of
can nonetheless lead to at least a qual­ was observed, however, that the actu­ atom can substitute for another kind
itative understanding of more com­ al strength of materials was orders of and that atoms actually vibrate rather
plex materials. Then too, a theoretical magnitude less than their theoretical than being stationary. Moreover, there
model based on an idealized material strength based on ideal crystalline sol­ can be deviations from the exact peri­
can be modified to fit a real technolog­ ids. It became clear that such proper­ odicity of the crystal array: disloca­
ical material. For example, much of ties as strength are sensitive to devi­ tions, stacking faults, grain boundaries
the early work of solid-state physicists ations from ideal-crystal structure. and so on. In time theories were devel­
on metals dealt with crystalline solids: The realization led physicists to the oped to explain the origin of the de­
fects and their role in altering proper­
ties. That in turn has made it possible
to manipulate the 'generation of inten­
tional defects and so obtain desired
structures and properties. In the case
of noncrystalline materials it is much
harder to predict the effect of process­
ing. In glass and in most polymers, for
example, a small deviation in process­
ing can have a large and unexpected
effect on properties and performance.

M uch as crystallography provided

a framework for understanding
the crystalline structure of real mate­
rials, the science and laws of thermo­
. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . dynamics have provided information
about what is called the equilibrium
state of a material. Thermodynamics
determines the effect of environment,
in particular of pressure and tempera­
ture, on the equilibrium state (the rest
state) of a material or any other sys­
tem. The laws of thermodynamics re­
late the energy of a system and the en­
vironmental variables to describe the
system's equilibrium state or a change
of state. The equilibrium state, then, is
the minimum-energy state of a materi­
al for a given temperature, pressure
and composition. To take just one ex­
ample, a body in which a temperature
gradient has been imposed prefers to
have a uniform temperature and will
seek to attain it.
Now, a material that is a mixture
of two or more component substances
may consist of two or more phases:
homogeneous, physically distinct and
mechanically separable portions, the
analogues of, say, oil and water. (In
this sense most good structural materi­
als are composites.) Under idealized
conditions the phases are in equilibri­
um. Again, however, in practice one
operates under conditions that are not
idealized ones. When a material, be it
clay or steel, is heated, worked and
cooled, it may well pass through var­
ious nonequilibrium states. Indeed,
HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE at the Institute for Materials Science
most of the technologically important
of the University of Antwerp can resolve the atomic structure of a sample of material.
Electrons accelerated to an energy of 1.25 million volts by a Cockcroft-Walton voltage
materials have long been manipulated
multiplier in the large tank are focused on the sample by electromagnetic lenses in the through nonequilibrium states and in
column below. The image is examined on a fluorescent screen or recorded on a photo­ due course put into service in a "meta­
graphic plate. The high acceleration of the electrons, which enables them to penetrate a stable" state.
thick sample, makes this kind of electron microscope effective for analysis of materials. The quenching of a steel, for exam-

130

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

pie, retards the equilibrium reaction a powder, a ribbon or slivers. There structJre. In a micrograph of an al­
involving its iron and carbon atoms are some specialized applications for loy cooled at ordinary cooling rates
and in effect freezes the material into which such forms are appropriate, as coarse, branching crystal forms called
configurations in which it does not in the case of recorder heads made dendrites can be seen. These forms
really "want" to be. Although differ­ from rapidly cooled ribbons or sheets. arise because one phase solidifies first
ential quenching has long been prac­ In most cases, however, the particles when a multicomponent material so­
ticed in the manufacture of high-grade or ribbons must be consolidated into lidifies. As the solid phase grows, local
steels, for lack of theoretical knowl­ more appropriate bulk forms. conditions of heat and mass transfer at
edge it was primarily by altering One of the more striking results the growing interface tend to generate
chemical composition that one could of fast cooling is its effect on micro- dendritic shapes, the spaces between
effectively control the processing of
established materials and attempt to
synthesize new ones. Eventually in­
creased understanding of idealized
equilibrium states, and of the particu­
lar deviations from the ideal that re­
sult in metastable states, made it possi­
ble to vary structural configurations
through the control of processing.
A number of different specialized
thermal treatments for steel in the sol­
id state, for example, give rise to a va­
riety of structural configurations. In­
cluded are such metastable phases as
martensite, which is notable for its
strength and hardness. As a matter of
fact, it is the extent to which the prop­
erties of steel can be readily varied by
thermal treatment that makes steel ef­
fective in so many technological appli­
cations. Other metallic alloys, as well
as ceramics, glasses and polymers, can
also be altered structurally by differ­
ential processing to achieve special­
ized properties.
It is primarily by the processing of CONVENTIONALLY CAST aluminum-silicon alloy is magnified 385 diameters in a pho­
materials far from equilibrium that a tomicrograph made by Thomas H. B. Sanders, Jr., of Purdue University. Two "phases"
range of truly new structures-indeed, are evident. The lighter phase (which has a lower silicon content than the darker one) has
of new atomic configurations-are be­ the typical dendritic (treelike) morphology of an alloy cooled at a relatively low rate.
ing brought on the scene, tailor-made
to have new properties and perform
in new ways. One of the conceptually
simplest ways to push a material far
from equilibrium is to cool it at an ex­
tremely high rate.

I nnia1960Institute
Pol E. Duwez of the Califor­
of Technology and his
co-workers devised "splat" cooling, in
which a small amount of molten metal
is propelled at high velocity to impact
on a very cold surface. They showed
that metals could thereby be cooled
from the liquid state at rates on the or­
der of 10,000 degrees Celsius per sec­
ond (compared with typical rates of
hundreds or perhaps 1,000 degrees per
second), and that such rapid quench­
ing would give rise to an entire range
of new characteristics.
By now a variety of techniques have
been developed for very fast cooling.
In all of them rapid heat transfer is
accomplished by impelling, squeezing
or spraying molten metal into sudden·
RAPIDLY COOLED aluminum-cobalt alloy is magnified 125,000 diameters in an elec­
contact with an extremely cold medi­ tron micrograph made by Sanders. The material, solidified as a "melt-spun" ribbon, was
um. At least one dimension of the rap­ cooled at the rate of about a million degrees Celsius per second. There was not enough
idly cooled solid is therefore restrict­ time for separate phases to form and the resulting "nonequilibrium" material has only a
ed: the solid is in the form of either single, microcrystalline phase. Feathery elements are differently oriented microcrystals.

131

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

which are ultimately filled in by the ness, toughness and resistance to wear modulated structures and investigat­
phase or phases that solidify more and corrosion but also specify its be­ ing their properties. Most of the work
slowly. The spacing of the dendrites havior in a magnetic field. has been done with crystalline semi­
decreases as the rate of cooling in­ conductor "superlattices" made of al­
creases. (The correlation between den­
drite spacing and cooling rate, inciden­ A line of research leading to a quite
different kind of structural modi­
ternating thin layers of two different
semiconductor materials. One of the
tally, provides an indirect measure of fication was initiated in 1970 by Leo more promising techniques has been
the rate at which a sample has been Esaki and Raphael Tsu of the IBM molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), by
cooled-a value that can be difficult to Thomas J. Watson Research Center. means of which exquisitely thin layers
establish with precision.) They proposed that it might be possi­ of different semiconductor materials
The finer microstructures obtained ble to synthesize a "modulated" struc­ are deposited 'successively almost as if
by moderate increases in cooling rate ture. It had been known for a long time by a spray gun. Beams of atoms or
display new properties. Now the cool­ that many minerals and alloys display molecules of the materials are emitted
ing rate can be pushed to a million what are termed long-wavelength in turn from heated effusion cells, or
or even a billion degrees per second. chemical modulations: periodic de­ crucibles, and are directed against a
Under such conditions the formation fects or variations that are superim­ substrate on a temperature-controlled
of separate phases is completely sup­ posed, in the case of a crystalline mate­ substrate holder in an ultrahigh-vacu­
pressed. Instead extremely small sin­ rial, on the basic crystal lattice. Esaki um chamber. The result is an epitaxy:
gle-phase microcrystals are formed, or and Tsu suggested that if one imposed an oriented overgrowth, in which each
even an amorphous, glasslike struc­ an artificial periodicity on a semicon­ successive layer tends to (but does not
ture. When one couples control of ductor crystal-a periodicity one or quite) assume the lattice orientation of
chemical composition with the wide two orders of magnitude larger than its the layer under it. The modulation, in
range of structural control made avail­ natural lattice spacing-the resulting other words, is both chemical and
able by rapid solidification, the po­ material ought to have novel and po­ structural.
tential for developing new properties tentially valuable electrical and opti­ The characteristics of MBE unique­
is practically unlimited. By manipulat­ cal properties. Iy satisfy the stringent requirements
ing these variables one can not only In the past 15 years much effort has for an effective semiconductor super­
improve a material's strength, hard- been directed toward fabricating such lattice. The low growth rate makes
close control of the thickness of each
layer feasible. The rather low temper­
ature at which deposition takes place
minimizes the interdiffusion of the
two materials, so that their interfac­
es are clean and abrupt. The fact that
growth takes place in two dimensions,
or plane by plane, makes it possible to
generate surfaces that are smooth at a
near-atomic level.

M BEtechnology
is not yet a production-line
for the manufacture
of integrated circuits, but it may be
soon. Even as production people work
toward that end, interesting questions
about the growth and the electronic
structure of superlattices are being
investigated by experimentalists and
theorists.
For example, in a high-magnifica­
tion electron micrograph of an inter­
face one can in effect see the individ­
ual atoms of the two different semi­
conductors. (One actually sees images
formed by the diffraction of electrons
from each atom's electron cloud.) It
can be seen that the inevitable strain
at the interface between these mis­
matched lattices is accommodated by
a regular array of "misfit" disloca­
COLORED SURFACES in this phase diagram developed at Alcoa Laboratories show tions. Just how do such interfaces
what phases will be present in an aluminum-magnesium-silicon alloy of a given composi­ between adjoining layers affect the
tion if it is heat-treated at a given temperature. The vertical axis gives the temperature; growth of these structures? Again, the
the two horizontal axes give the content of silicon and of magnesium. The phases are the basic role of periodicity in determin­
aluminum (AI) matrix, a magnesium-silicon (Mg,Si) precipitate and a silicon (Si) solid
ing the electronic properties of solids
solution. Within the three-dimensional space above the orange surface only the aluminum
phase is present (up to the melting point of aluminum, 660 degrees C.). Both the alumi­
is put to new tests in the artificially
num and the magnesium-silicon phases are present between the orange and green sur­
created world of the superlattice. It
faces, all three phases between the green and blue surfaces and only the aluminum and should be possible to synthesize solids
silicon phases between the blue and purple ones. The interactive computer program that in which electrons display new ranges
generates the diagram was developed by Dhruba J. Chakrabarti and Sharon L. Ramsey. of energy and move from one ener-

132

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

gy state to another or from one site
to another. Not only the bulk proper­
ties of the alternating layers but also
the electronic effects of the interfac­
es themselves will have to be under­
stood if such properties are to be pre­
dicted effectively.
The ability to synthesize modulat­
ed structures opens up an entire new
realm of structures tailored to have
desired properties. This will surely be
true not only for semiconductor super­
lattices but also for many other mate­
rials that have very different potential
applications. MBE should, for example,
eventually be able to produce optical
coatings that give a mirror specialized
responses in specific parts of the spec­
ULTRAHIGH­
trum, so-called nonlinear optical de­ VACUUM
vices (which may become elements of CHAMBER
optical computers), surface layers for
the prevention of corrosion and mate­
rials that exhibit specialized responses
to a magnetic field.

As has so often been the case, the

Il.. progress made in materials sci­
ence in the past decade or so has been
facilitated by a number of improve­
ments in techniques for characteriz­
ing materials. Structures have been re­ TO ULTRAHIGH·
vealed in ever finer detail by new VACUUM PUMPS
microscopies. The conventional trans­ MOLECULAR-BEAM EPITAXY synthesizes such nonequilibrium materials as superlat­
mission electron microscope has pro­ tices, in which thin layers of different materials are deposited alternately on a substrate
vided some of the more startling re­ that has similar atomic periodicity. The materials are vaporized in ovenlike effusion cells;
sults. The high-voltage electron micro­ the beams are directed at the substrate, which is in an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber. Liquid
scope can resolve structures almost as nitrogen keeps surfaces cold, trapping stray gases and helping to maintain the vacuum.
small as a tenth of a nanometer, or The drawing is simplified: MBE systems include control equipment and instrumentation.
one ten-millionth of a millimeter, in
diameter, which is approximately the
size of atoms. also of photons, the particles of elec­ olution X-ray-diffraction maps of de­
Three-dimensional information is tromagnetic radiation. It can take the tails in material structures that could
provided by the scanning electron mi­ place of conventional sources of radia­ not be studied before. Such details,
croscope and the new analytical elec­ tion in spectroscopy, which is an im­ whether in the bulk material or at the
tron microscope. The latter is a new portant analytical technique for mate­ surface, provide information bearing
integrated system that combines the rials scientists. on a material's strength, electronic
functions of a conventional transmis­ Spectroscopy examines the charac­ properties, resistance to corrosion and
sion electron microscope, a scanning teristic spectrum resulting from the in­ behavior as a catalyst.
electron microscope and two kinds of teraction of photons of a particular en­ Today there are seven synchrotron­
analytical spectroscopy. A number of ergy with the electrons of a material. radiation facilities in the U.S., two of
other exotic new microscopies are spe­ Two basic classes of experiments can which have become available within
cifically designed to provide hard-to­ be carried out: one can study either the the past two years: a facility at the Unic
get information about the surfaces scattering or the absorption of pho­ versity of Wisconsin that provides ra­
of materials. The various image-form­ tons. The photons can be in the infra­ diation in the ultraviolet spectrum and
ing techniques are being supplement­ red, visible, ultraviolet or X-ray range one at the Brookhaven National Lab­
ed by electron-diffraction maps, which of the spectrum depending on what oratory that provides far-ultraviolet
make it possible to obtain data on the part of the electronic structure is be­ and X-ray radiation. In recognition of
periodicity of a lattice and other crys­ ing probed. Synchrotron radiation is the major potential of synchrotron ra­
tallographic information. of higher intensity and is more highly diation, a recent National Academy of
One of the most significant devel­ collimated than radiation from con­ Sciences report on facilities needed for
opments in analytical technology has ventional sources, and that makes materials research gave first priority
come in the past 15 years with the ap­ for more sensitivity in measurement. to a new source of high-energy syn­
plication to materials research of syn­ Moreover, its broad range of energies chrotron X rays.
chrotron radiation. Radiation is emit­ (from the far infrared to the X-ray
ted when charged particles in an ac­
celerator such as a synchrotron are
region and beyond) makes it possible
for the experimenter to select the opti­ P owerful experimental facilities are,
to be sure, just one element in the
deflected by a magnetic field. A syn­ mum energy for a given measurement. advance of materials science. As the
chrotron is therefore a source not only Quite aside from spectroscopy, syn­ articles preceding this one have em­
of high-speed elementary particles but chrotron X rays can generate high-res- phasized, the major stimulus for ef-

133

© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC

 forts to improve existing materials and dict those structures and properties,

Amateur synthesize novel ones has been the crit­

ical need of the marketplace for entire­
and instrumentation assesses the de­
gree to which the predictions are ful­

1Nescope
ly new kinds of performance. As I filled. As the articles that follow this
have tried to show, improved perform­ one will make clear, new theory and
ance stems from the development of instrumentation and innovative proc­

MaJdng
processing methods that achieve new essing technologies have already yield­
structures exhibiting new properties. ed an array of advanced materials un­
Sound theory makes it possible to pre- dreamed of only a few decades ago.

Edited by Albert G. Ingalls

Foreword by Harlow Shapley

This three-book set is the

authoritative reference librar y
of the enthralling hobby of
amateur telescope making.
Through these books thou­
sands have discovered a fasci -
nating mechanical art com­
bined wit h a great science.
BOOK ONE begins at the
beginning, teaches the basics
of glass grinding and how to
complete the first telescope.
(510 pages, 300 illustrations.)
BOOK TWO leads on into ad­
vanced methods of amateur
THREE-LAYER SUPERLATTICE built by molecular-beam epitaxy has been enlarged
optical work and describes 800,000 diameters in a dark-field electron micrograph, made by Nobuo Otsuka of Purdue,
new projects for the tele­ of a cross section. The light bands are zinc-selenium and the major dark ones are zinc­
scope maker. (650 pages, manganese-selenium; each thin, dark stripe is a single unit cell of manganese-selenium.

361 illustrations.)
BOOK THREE opens up
further fields of enterprise:
binoculars, camera lenses,
spectrographs, Schmidt
optics, ray tracing (made
easy). (646 pages, 320
illustrations.)

I I
rSCIENTIFIC ------ -,
AM E RI CAN ATM Dept,
415 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y 10017
I I
I Please send me postpaid the I
I following AMATEUR TELE- I
I SCOPE MAKING books. I
I My remittance of $ I

I
__

I is enclosed. I
D BOOK ONE $10.00 I

I
D BOOK TWO $12.50 I
I
I D BOOK THREE $12.50
For U.S. shipments add $1.00 each;
I elsewhere add $2.00 each. I
I I
I Name I
I Address I
I City I INDIVIDUAL ATOMS (actually their diffraction images) are resolved in an electron

I I micrograph of the interface between gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride layers in a

I State Zip
I
superlattice. A cross section has been enlarged 5.1 million diameters in the micrograph,

I Residents of New York City please add I

which Otsuka made with the million-volt instrument at the Tokyo Institute of Tech­

I city sales tax. Other NYS residents nology. The lower part of the image shows gallium and arsenic atoms, the upper part cad­
e d a s I mium and tellurium atoms. "Misfit" dislocations accommodate strains at the interface.
L� �� ����� -=-:� ���-.l
134
© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC
Ever wonder ifthe same
people twistjpgyourarm
are also pu your 1 �

Whether out of pride, prejudice ust eye-opening facts.

desperation,everybody tells you their place To see if Maryland belongs on your
is the place for you to locate your business. list, contact Michael Lofton, Department of
But if you want to make an informed Economic and Community Development,
decision, you don' t need the same old story. Department 152 ,45 Calvert Street,Annapolis,
You need timely, meaningful information, Maryland 21401. (301)269-3514.

.. land
intelligently prepared and presented.
That's the Maryland approach.We offer
business more than you can imagine. So

More thanyou can imagine.

we can make a strong case for the Maryland
move,with no arm-twisting or leg-pulling.
© 1986 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC