Dr. Fred L. Fontaine
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
The goal of this project is to develop a course on solid-state materials to serve as a first course on materials science with emphasis on electrical, optical and related properties of semiconductors and metals. The focus of the work this semester has been a literature search, initial study and outline of the course content, and initial contact with other universities in the Gateway coalition. At the Cooper Union, the work is being conducted by myself, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. I participated in the Gateway Conference in Philadelphia in October. I am also in the process of joining the materials science subgroup of Gateway Coalition members that will be in regular contact via Internet to facilitate coordinating my efforts with those undertaken in with other colleges. The difficulty with selecting a single text for the course is that most texts either are too physics oriented, providing too much detail and background theoretical information before arriving at the applications and materials of interest in the course, or are too advanced, assuming too much knowledge of mechanical and thermal properties of materials. A list of reference texts is attached. It seems likely that the required text for the course will be [Poll90], although the text will not be followed too closely. In particular, supplementary lecture notes on crystal structures at the start of the course and a more in-depth treatment of semiconductor phenomena at the end of the course will need to be prepared. However, overall, this seems to be the text that covers most of the relevant material at the appropriate level, for Junior level engineering students. A detailed course outline as well as list of references is attached. The course will be offered for the first time in Fall 1994.