Silicon microscopic interactions

As for direct emulsions, the presence of excess surfactant induces depletion interaction followed by phase separation. Such a mechanism was proposed by Binks et al. [ 12] to explain the flocculation of inverse emulsion droplets in the presence of microemulsion-swollen micelles. The microscopic origin of the interaction driven by the presence of the bad solvent is more speculative. From empirical considerations, it can be deduced that surfactant chains mix more easily with alkanes than with vegetable, silicone, and some functionalized oils. The size dependence of such a mechanism, reflected by the shifts in the phase transition thresholds, is... 

Although surface reactions at the silicon/electrolyte interface have been studied for many years, the nature of the interactions between the silicon surface and fluoride containing electrolytes are only recently becoming understood. Recent characterizations using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques have resulted in new insight into the properties of silicon surfaces on an atomistic scale. Significant issues remain to be resolved, however, such as the reaction mechanisms, the processes leading to pore formation, and the nature of surface oxides. 

The study of molecule-surface interactions is very old because of its importance in a myriad of applications (Somorjai 1981 Gasser 1985 Zangwill 1988). The first ideas can be found as far back as the turn of the century in relationship to heterogeneous catalysis later work was concerned with aerodynamics and, more recently, in this age of silicon, many investigations have been driven by the needs of the microelectronics industry. Nevertheless, it is only in the last two decades that detailed information has been learned about the microscopic details. This has occurred for a number of reasons. First, the early theoretical work mainly used thermodynamics and kinetics, which of course provide no information on the microscopic dynamics (except for fanciful interpretations). The few dynamical treatments focused on simplistic one-dimensional models and qualitative descriptions (Lennard-Jones 1932). Second, the early experiments utilized polycrystalline surfaces and relatively high pressures, both of which lead to confusion about the state of the surface, or the impinging molecule, or both. These observations are not intended to be critical comments about the early work. The fact is that the necessary theoretical and experimental tools were simply unavailable to these early researchers. 

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