This Presidential Young Investigator Award project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfield of dynamic surface processes. The emphasis of the research activities that are enabled by this award is on the time- dependence of fundamental surface phenomena. Surface diffusion, surface relaxation kinetics, desorption dynamics, and vibrational and electronic energy relaxation on surfaces are the main areas of investigation. These studies are being performed on well- characterized metal, semiconductor, and oxide surfaces that are relevant to heterogeneous catalysis, electronic device fabrication, and photochemical energy conversion. In order to measure surface diffusion and surface reaction kinetics, Professor George is utilizing laser-induced thermal desorption (LITD) techniques. Of particular interest is the ability of LITD techniques to explore the effects of surface additives such as carbon and sulfur on the surface kinetics of catalytically relevant processes. He is also using LITD techniques to investigate the surface kinetics of processes that are important in semiconductor processing. Additionally, Professor George is exploring chemical bonding and reaction kinetics on silicon surfaces using transmission Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) as a vibrational spectroscopic probe of these surface processes. He is also seeking to characterize the interactions and electronic energy transfer between chromophores on dielectric oxide surfaces using laser induced fluorescence (LIF) techniques that provide both structural and time-dependent information with sub-monolayer sensitivity.
