ME 381R 7
Nanoscale Energy Transport and Conversion
Fall 2012 (Unique Number: 18823)
Lecture meeting times: Tuesday & Thursday 2-3:30 pm.
Lecture meeting place: ETC 9.130
Prerequisite: Two of the following four undergraduate courses or equivalent: (i) Solid State
Physics/Devices/Materials; (ii) Heat Transfer; (iii) Fluid Mechanics; (iv) Thermodynamics
Instructor: Prof. Li Shi, ETC 7.140, lishi@mail.utexas.edu, (512) 471-3109
Class Website: courses.utexas.edu (login with UT EID)
Office Hours:
Tuesday 4:30-5:30 pm and Thursday 3:30-4:00 pm, and by appointments
Textbook: Gang Chen, 2005, Nanoscale Energy Transport and Conversion, Oxford
Useful References:
Kittel, 1996, Introduction to Solid-State Physics, 7th ed., John Wiley
Tien, Majumdar, Gerner, eds., 1998, Microscale Energy Transport, Taylor & Francis
Kaviany, 2008, Heat Transfer Physics, Cambridge
Zhang, 2007, Nano/Microscale Heat Transfer, Mcgraw-Hill
Pierret, 1996, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison-Wesley
Nolas et al., 2001, Thermoelectrics: Basic Principles and New Materials Developments, Springer
Nelson, 2003, The Physics of Solar Cells, Imperial College Press
Chen, 2004, online course notes at http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mechanical-Engineering/2-57Fall2004/CourseHome/index.htm
Course Catalog Description: Nanoscale transport phenomena and energy conversion processes. Parallel
theoretical treatment of transport and conversion processes of electrons, phonons, photons, and molecules
in various applications including photovoltaic and thermoelectric energy conversions, microelectronics,
microfluidics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), nanomaterials, and laser materials processing.
Student Evaluation: Final grades will be based on about seven homework assignments (28%), a midterm
exam (20%), a course project (12%), and a comprehensive final exam (40%). The course project topic can
be either literature review or the student’s own graduate research project, and will be presented by the
student in an oral presentation. In lieu of a written report, the presentation slides will be collected for
evaluation. The emphasis of the course project is on the use of the materials learned from the lectures to
analyze the results reported in the literature or from the student’s own research. The midterm and final
exams are open-books & notes.
Academic Honesty: The academic honesty policy of the University of Texas at Austin will be strictly
enforced. Collaboration of any form on the midterm and final exams is not allowed.
Miscellaneous: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic
adjustments for students with disabilities. Any student with a documented physical or cognitive disability
who requires special academic accommodations should contact the Office of the Dean of Students (4716259, 471-4241 TDD) or the College of Engineering Director of Students with Disabilities at 471-4321 as
soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations.
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Tentative Schedule
Date
Day
Topic (Textbook Chapter)
30-Aug
Th Introduction (1.1; 1.2)
4-Sep
T
6-Sep
Th Energy Carriers, Kinetic Theory, Size Effects (1.4; 1.5)
11-Sep
T
13-Sep
Th Examples of Energy Quantization (2.3)
18-Sep
T
20-Sep
Th Electron Energy States in Crystals (3.2)
25-Sep
T
27-Sep
Th Density of States (3.4) and Quantum Structures (3.5)
Macroscopic Energy Transport and Conversion Processes (1.3)
Material Waves (2.1; 2.2)
Crystal Structures (3.1)
Lattice Vibration (3.3) and Phonons (3.3)
2-Oct
T
Statistical Distribution Functions (4.1.4), Internal Energy and Specific Heat (4.2)
4-Oct
Th Specific Heat and Size Effects (4.2, 4.3)
9-Oct
T
Thermal Boundary Resistance (5.2.4)
Energy Transfer in Nanostructures: Landauer Formalism (5.5), Transition to Particle
11-Oct
Th Description (5.6)
16-Oct
T
18-Oct
Th Boltzmann Equation (6.1.2), Intensity of Energy Flow (6.1.3)
23-Oct
T
25-Oct
Th Fourier’s Law and Phonon Thermal Conductivity (6.3.1)
30-Oct
T
1-Nov
Th Thermoelectric Effects (6.3.4; handout)
6-Nov
T
8-Nov
Th Carrier Scattering, Generation, and Recombination (8.1)
13-Nov
T
15-Nov
Th Hot Electron and Phonon Effects in Semiconductor Devices (8.2.2)
20-Nov
T
Energy Exchange in Semiconductor Devices (8.3)
27-Nov
T
Thermoelectric Energy Conversion (8.4.1)
29-Nov
Th Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (8.4.2)
4-Dec
T
6-Dec
Th Review
Midterm Exam
Carrier Scattering (6.2)
Ohm’s Law, Wiedemann-Franz Law (6.3.3)
Classical Size Effects (7.1; 7.2)
Ultrafast Laser Heating (6.3.5; 8.2; 8.2.1)
Course Project Presentations
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