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Course Summary: This course is designed for new graduate students within CIT as well as within the Departments of Physics and Chemistry who plan to pursue research related to data storage. Students will be given an introduction to a set of standard laboratory methods and measurement techniques used within the data storage research community. Each week a new experimental tool will be introduced, and its principles of operation will be discussed. Students will receive instruction in how to operate this tool, and will then complete a laboratory assignment using it. Evaluation will be based on the write-ups summarizing the results obtained in each laboratory assignment. Laboratory methods that will be treated in the course are as follows: microfabrication techniques with the DSSC cleanroom, including sputtering and basic lithographic patterning; magnetic characterization techniques including vibrating sample magnetometry, torque magnetometry, alternating gradient magnetometry, and B-H looper magnetometry; surface characterization techniques including stylus profilometry, atomic force microscopy, and magnetic force magnetometry, and microstructural characterization techniques like x-ray diffraction and x-ray fluorescence. In addition to treating the above techniques, this course will emphasize issues of data analysis and presentation, including uncertainty analysis, experimental design, and graphical presentation of experimental results. Given the limited number of students which these facilities can support, enrollment requires permission from the instructor and will be limited to twelve students. Preference will be given to students whose graduate research will be facilitated by access to this class. See the policies page for more details and to get a survey that should be filled out to be considered for admission to the class. |
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