Organic crystal mountain

The scientist sits atop, Mountains of organic crystal snow, Yonder the electrons flow?

This visual pattern of high-performance organic semiconductor crystals 6,13-Bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene was obtained using cross-polarized optical microscopy at 10 times magnification. The nucleating point shows a pattern that resembles a lone man wearing a curious hat on top of a snowy mountain of the organic crystals. The cross-polarizer modulates the brightness of the different mountain tops, providing an interesting perspective of depth.

Benjamin Tee, Stanford University, USA

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The answers will be in the June 2013 issue.

Thin-film space invaders

In this army of hydrogenated amorphous-silicon thin-film transistors (TFTs) on a 1-mm thick glass substrate, the black areas are the chrome transistor source/drain/gate contacts, while the brown areas are comprised of a 150-nm thick amorphous-silicon channel. The gate dielectric, 300-nm transparent silicon nitride, is not visible. The field of view is 2 cm × 3 cm.

Warren S. Rieutort-Louis, Princeton University, USA

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February 2013 answer key

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Images on the top were submitted to the Materials Research Society “Science as Art” competition.

Images on the bottom were modified in Adobe Photoshop for this “Look Again” activity.