The "Scanning Tunneling Microscope for Undergraduate Instruction in Thin Film Science" project is proposed to enhance the undergraduate Electronic Thin Film laboratory for seniors in the Materials Science and Engineering Department. Because surface thermodynamics and kinetics play a key role in the growth and processing of thin film electronic materials, we seek to expand the topics for our laboratory to include surface atomic structure and surface thermodynamics and kinetics. The invention of the STM allows undergraduate students the opportunity to actually observe not only atoms individually but also to measure fundamental properties of materials on the most basic level. It will be used in our laboratory to observe the dynamics of the interactions between the atoms on the surface which is key to understanding the basic materials processes such as diffusion, coalescence and grain growth. Drawing on our personal experience with STM and the input of colleagues we have assembled set of experiments to be investigated for their suitability for undergraduate instruction. Experiments include tunneling phenomena, structure and microstructure characterization including atomic resolution of individual organic adsorbates and the 2-D ordering of polymers. However the majority of the development of this work will be focused toward designing experiments which emphasis core concepts in materials science: Nucleation and Growth. A report which details these experiments will be written as a laboratory manual.
