Orders of Magnitude with Copper Cu

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Orders of Magnitude with Copper (Cu)

• Purpose to make orders of magnitude visuals of
  nanotechnology importance
• From atom to cm nanomaterials, nanoconcepts
• Copper is used in various everyday objects at
  various dimensions including nanomaterials
• Penny, copper wire, copper powder, and IBM copper
  chips
• Explain top-down vs. bottom-up approaches to
  nanofabrication
• Top-down chisel away material to make nanoscale
  objects
• Bottom-up simulation of Cu nanowire fabrication
  by electrodeposition
• Different and better Think Outside the box
• Interactive scatter questions for students to
  answer.
• Most if not all orders of magnitude (powers of
  ten) images on the web is large to small. A
  different presentation is small to large
  starting with Cu atom.
• Cu atom ---(how many atoms to form Cu cluster)---
  Cu cluster ---(how many clusters to form Cu
  powder) --- Cu powder ---etc.

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Orders of Magnitude with Copper (Cu)
Examples of copper
Thickness of individual wire is 350 µm
19 mm(19,000 µm)
Particle size 10 µm
0.13 µm (130 nm) is thewidth of the smallest Cu
wire
Copper electrical wire
Old penny(95 Cu, 5 Zn)
Copper powder
Scanning electron microscope image of IBM copper
chip(courtesy of IBM)
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All these are made of copper atoms (Cu). Cu atoms
are too small to see. This is a computer
rendition of Cu atom electron density.
Diameter is 256 pm(0.256 nm)
Cu atom electron density computed from quantum
chemistry(http//chemviz.ncsa.uiuc.edu)
another image, with less transparency
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A small cluster of copper atoms can be seen with
an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). A 50-nm cluster
of copper atoms contains about xx Cu atoms. (cf.
a mole of Cu contains 6.02 x 1023 atoms ask
some mole questions)
20-100 nm (0.02-0.1 µm)
50-100 nm (0.05-0.1 µm)
AFM image of Cuatom clusters(courtesy of M.
Karulkar)
another image showing larger clusters
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An example of an object 50-nm side is a Cu
nanowire. Copper nanowires in IBM copper chip are
fabricated by the bottom-up approach. (Explain
bottom-up in simple terms e.g., assemble atom
by atom compare to top-down.) nucleus,
proton, quark
0.13 µm (130 nm) is thewidth of the smallest Cu
wire
Scanning electron microscope image of IBM copper
chip(courtesy of IBM)
Simulation of Copper nanowire formation
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The IBM Cu wires are too small to see with an
optical microscope. 10-µm particles in Cu powder
are visible under the optical microscope (1 µm
is the limit of optical microscope).
Microscope image (400X) of copper powder
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Copper wire and copper powder under the same
magnification
X 35
350 µm
10 µm
Microscope image (100X) of copper wire
Microscope image (100X) of copper powder
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Thickness of individual wire is 350 µm
19 mm(19,000 µm)
X 54
Penny(95 Cu, 5 Zn)
Copper electrical wire