This research project, supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, focuses on the study of the chemistry of modifying and controlling the surface properties of amorphous and diamond forms of carbon. Professor Miller and his students at Western Michigan University will use a broad range of ultrahigh vacuum surface tools to characterize these surfaces. The chemical modification of these surfaces will involve photochemically initiating reactions of these carbon surfaces with a variety of radical species. This thrust offers promise in developing ways to chemically modify the highly unreactive surfaces of carbon, particularly in the form of diamond. In addition to these fundamental experimental activities molecular dynamics calculations will be applied to better understand the chemistry that occurs at these surfaces involving carbenes and radicals and to develop simulations of these reactions that can be used in undergraduate and graduate teaching settings. The use of carbon materials in the semiconductor field is limited by the unreactive nature of their surfaces. In this work photochemically initiated reactions that have been shown to be feasible on both amorphous carbon and diamond surfaces will be further studied to optimize the control of these chemical reactions. Successful chemical modification of these carbon surfaces offers the potential to use carbon, especially diamond, in a number of practical applications that require the availability of particular surface functionalities including microelectronic devices, materials requiring robust adhesion, and semiconductors.
