Current technological
advances in the areas of Nanoparticle Science and
Nanotechnology have created a need for a simple computational tool able to
precisely and accurately predict deposition behavior of nanoparticles, and/or
film coverage on any given surface. The research which I am part of involves
the use of Electrostatic Forces (EF) to drive charged-nanoparticles of different
sizes and compositions towards a surface charge-pattern.
Known as "Nanoxerography",
the technique coined by Dr. Heiko O. Jacobs is
able to distinctively drive assembly of selected nanoparticles, either in
gas or
liquid solution. My research simulates a Self-Directed Deposition Process
of
Silicon Nanoparticles suspended in Argon Media. This model takes into account
several different parameters including gas rarefication of the silicon
nanoparticles; brownian motion, electrostatic attraction and repulsion; as
well
as substrate charge pattern geometry.
Modeling these chemically
non-interacting nanoparticles, as well as their
physical interactions, can be described through concrete statistical derivations
based mainly on the work developed by Chandrasekhar more than 50 years ago.
In
it, special analogies are established and a general theory derived.
The objective of this
research is to be able to answer fundamental questions
regarding the degree of precision, which could be accurately described through
this system.
Initial results are presented
with a time-step analysis showing the
dependency of the deposition pattern to both the physical parameters and the
geometrical considerations of the simulation. A comparison can be therefore
made to experimental work, demonstrating the level of reliability and accuracy
of our numerical model.
