This project provides support for a planning visit to the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. The U.S. principal investigator is Gordon Matthew from the University of Arkansas. The U.K. collaborator is James Bradley.
The main goal of this planning visit is to establish an international collaborative research and curriculum development effort in plasma sciences with applications in nanotechnology, biotechnology and manufacturing. This visit will also allow the PI to obtain hands-on experience with some advanced plasma diagnostic equipment (Langmuir probe and mass and energy residual gas analyzer) that is routinely used in the UK lab. Such equipment will soon be acquired by the PI for installation in his US lab and the hands on experience gained in the UK will be very valuable.
This collaboration brings together two unique and complementary plasma systems that each group has. The US group has an RF magnetron sputtering system and the UK group has a DC pulsed magnetron sputtering system. There is much interest in a thorough comparative study of the strengths and weaknesses of these two systems. This effort will also lead to an active educational program for US students and through active laboratory collaboration and exchange visits.
