CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

Frances Hellman will describe the developement of a series of experiments based on MEMS "lab-on-a-chip" devices utilizing a silicon nitride membrane as a thermal isolation platform which allows us to study orders of magnitude smaller sample sizes than other available thermodynamic measurements such as thin films (as thin as 20nm), nanoparticles, and tiny crystals. Experiments include heat capacity measurements, thermal conductivity and thermopower measurements.