Freshman Lectures on Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the art, science, and engineering of designing materials, devices, and systems at the nanoscale from bottom-up and/or top-down approaches. The material properties at the nanoscale are governed by quantum mechanics, and hence are drastically different than those at the macro/micro scale. It is thus no surprise, that nanotechnology has led to a scientific and technological revolution.

This book provides a gentle introduction to the field of nanotechnology for first-year undergraduate students. It not only covers the fundamental scientific concepts in a tutorial fashion, but also provides an overview of applications in nanoelectronics, spintronics, nanophotonics, nanofabrication and nanocharacterization. End of chapter research assignments focus on nanomanufacturing, computing and communication, renewable energy, defense applications, food processing and agriculture, automobile and aerospace technology, nanobiotechnology and bionanotechnology, industrial and consumer applications. Finally, the topics related to safety, health, and societal impact of nanotechnology are discussed.

Hassan Raza is the founding Director of the Centre for Fundamental Research (CFR), Pakistan. He is also affiliated with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy as an associate member. He received "Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching" from Purdue University in 2004. He is the recipient of a "Presidential Faculty Fellowship" in 2010 and "Old Gold Fellowship" in 2011 from the University of Iowa. His research focuses on "anything that is small" for solving the complex problems from theoretical, experimental and computational approaches. He has had the pleasure of teaching undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Iowa, Georgia Southern University, Rowan University, Quaid-e-Azam University, University of Engineering and Technology, and University of the Punjab. He was a postdoctoral associate at Cornell University during 2007-09. He received his PhD (ECE) in 2007 and MS (ECE) in 2002 from Purdue University, MS (Operations Management) in 2016 from the University of Arkansas, and BS in 2001 from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.