Students will learn how to visualize and fabricate patterns at the micro and nanoscales. The will see examples of these patterns and learn about their applications. When they complete the Activities, they will be ready for the Design Project in which they will fabricate, test, and evaluate a prototype pixel array.
By incorporating everyday materials into science lessons, the Materials World Modules (MWM) program at Northwestern University has found the solution to getting students excited about learning science while helping teachers meet national and state education standards.

The modules are easy to organize and inexpensive to run. They can be incorporated into any science class because of the breadth of subjects covered in the Activity and Design Project sections. Each module is a supplemental science unit that takes 1-3 weeks of class time (approximately 10 hours) to complete.

» Module At-a-Glance
» Connecting to Your Curriculum
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Activity 1: Packing and Patterns
One of the more common forms of self-assembly is the aggregation of near-uniform particles into close-packed patterns. By examining macroscale examples of how uniform groups of objects pack together, students will be able to visualize the packing that occurs in nanoscale systems.

Activity 2: Searching for Nanopatterns
Students will do independent web research on natural and man-made nanopatterns. They will encounter the two main methods for making patterns, top-down and bottom-up, and explore the applications of both approaches.

Activity 3: Diffraction Patterns
Diffraction patterns are one means of visualizing patterns of structures that are too small to see directly. By analyzing how light scatters off the structures, patterns with a length scale near the wavelength of light can be discerned

Activity 4: Patterns and Scaling
Students will make their own ‘master’ patterns using Shrinky Dink plastic. After designing creative two-dimensional patterns, students must use appropriate scaling to create a diffraction grating pattern of a particular size. Finally, they will make molds of the patterns and of a CD grating to use in the next activity.

Activity 5: Double Replica Molding
Students use the molds they made in Activity 4 to make replicas of their original patterns on flexible substrates. By molding both sides of the substrate students can create patterns with more complex diffraction patterns.

Design Project: Prototype OLED Array
Based on the techniques they learned in the Activities, students will design and then fabricate a prototype of a pixel array on a flexible substrate. They will also develop evaluation criteria and perform tests on their prototypes,
the results of which will be presented in class.

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Materials World Modules are simple to organize and inexpensive to run. They are designed to be easily incorporated into any middle school science or high school science lab or lecture course. The chart below lists the subjects covered in the Activities and Design Projects sections of this module.

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Unconventional patterning at the nanoscale
This Course is a video lab manual for hands on fabrication and characterization of materials at the nanoscale.

Nanopatterning: The science of making things small from the top down
A description of replica molding and microcontact printing and etching activities appropriate for middle school and up.

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