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Oral Qualifying Exam on Defects in Crystals
This exam requires a working knowledge of point and line defects in crystalline materials on the level of the following references:
Point defects
R. A. Swalin, Thermodynamics of Solids (Wiley 1972), chs. 11-15. Y.-M. Chiang, D. Birnie, W. D. Kingery, Physical Ceramics (Wylie 1997), chs. 2-3
Line defects
J. Weertman and J. R. Weertman, Elementary Dislocation Theory (Macmillan 1964) D. Hull and D. J. Bacon, Introduction to Dislocations (Pergamon 1984)
Web reference with detailed explanations and illustrations
www.techfak.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat
The exam is oral:
The student must have the ability to understand spoken questions from the examiners and to give responses, both in words and by writing equations or figures on the blackboard. The student is strongly advised to find study partners and practice answering oral questions at the blackboard beginning as soon as possible.
The following is a non-exclusive list of the topics which may appear:
I. Point defects in equilibrium
Microstructural configurations
Energetics of formation
Equilibrium populations (law of mass action)
Transport by drift and diffusion
II. Point defects out of equilibrium
Energetic ion interactions with solids
Quenching
Annealing kinetics
III. Line defects
Continuum theory of dislocations
Nucleation and motion of dislocations
Dislocation interactions
IV. Applications
Semiconductors and dielectrics
- transient enhanced and non-Fickian diffusion
- deep level electronic defects o dislocations in thin films and heterostructures
- compositional disorder and doping
Ionic conductors
- chemical sensors
- fuel cells, batteries
Metals
- plasticity: interaction of point and line defects
- radiation damage