Materials for Devices

The course runs during Michaelmas term as part of the IA Materials Science course in the Natural Sciences Tripos. This page contains a copy of the lecture notes, the problem sets, and the solutions to the problems.

Slides

Lecture 1. Dielectric materials I: slides

Lecture 2. Dielectric materials II: slides

Lecture 3. Dielectric materials III: slides

Lecture 4. Dielectric materials IV: slides

Lecture 5. Magnetic materials I: slides

Lecture 6. Magnetic materials II: slides

Lecture 7. Ionic conductors I: slides

Lecture 8. Ionic conductors II: slides

Lecture 9. Ionic conductors III: slides

Lecture 10. Liquid crystals I: slides

Lecture 11. Liquid crystals II: slides

Lecture 12. Liquid crystals III: slides

Lecture Notes

The course has 12 lectures covering:

Dielectric materials. An introduction to dielectric materials and their applications. Topics include electric polarisation, ferroelectricity, Landau theory, and hysteresis.

Magnetic materials. An introduction to magnetic materials and their applications. Topics include basics of magnetism, diamagnetism, paramagnetism, and ferromagnetism.

Ionic conductors. An introduction to ionic conductors and their applications. Topics include diffusion, drift, defects in materials, and fuel cells.

Liquid crystals. An introduction to liquid crystals and their applications. Topics include polymers, birefringence, order parameters, and liquid crystal displays.

Problems and solutions

The course has four problem sets with a total of 17 problems. I recommend you first try to solve the problems independently, and only check the solutions provided after you have successfully solved the problem, or after you have tried for a reasonable amount of time.

Problem set 1. Dielectric materials: problems and solutions

Problem set 2. Dielectric materials and magnetic materials: problems and solutions

Problem set 3. Ionic conductors: problems and solutions

Problem set 4. Liquid crystals: problems and solutions