Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is a premier institute of science and technology established in 2008. IITH has been consistently ranked in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/reports/" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 10 institutes</a>&nbsp;in India for Engineering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/EngineeringRanking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to NIRF</a>&nbsp;making it one of the most coveted schools for science and technology in the country.

IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/under-graduate/">undergraduate programs</a>&nbsp;in all the classical engineering disciplines, applied sciences, design, as well as several modern interdisciplinary areas. Students are given a flexibility to explore a broad set of areas, and potentially pursue a minor or double major in a discipline that is not their own. Students who wish to seek a deeper understanding of their own discipline are strongly encouraged to get involved in cutting-edge research with the help of a faculty to mentor them, and earn an Honors in their own field.

The very foundation of IIT Hyderabad is based on&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/">research and innovation</a>. The vibrant research culture is evident from the number of patents and publications that IITH produces consistently every year. IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/programmes-offered/">graduate programs</a>&nbsp;at both a masters, and a doctoral level, in several diverse areas. There are separate programs for technology, design, science, and liberal arts. The&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/post-graduate/">MTech program</a>&nbsp;is offered in various modes and durations to cater to the ever-growing need of postgraduate level professionals in the country.

IITH encourages and supports&nbsp;<a href="https://iic-iith.netlify.app/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">innovation and entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;at every stage. The minor program in entrepreneurship is open to all students of IITH, and many of the courses are offered by industrialists who are entrepreneurs themselves. There are various&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/centres-incubators/">innovation centers and incubators</a>&nbsp;that promote entrepreneurship and help mentor young innovators. IITH has been very successful in building tie-ups with leading academic institutions around the globe.

IITH enjoys a very special relationship with Japanese universities and industries that goes beyond academic and research collaborations. In fact, some of the iconic buildings in IITH campus will carry the signature of Japanese architecture.

IITH creates a unique holistic ecosystem for education that offers interactive learning, a very flexible academic structure, cutting-edge research, strong industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. This is an environment which enables students and faculty to translate their dreams into realities.

IIT Hyderabad

Phase separating systems present a unique opportunity for designing composites with hierarchical microstructure at different length scales. We report here our success in synthesizing phase separating metallic glasses exhibiting the entire spectrum of microstructural possibilities expected from a phase separating system. In particular, we report novel core shell and hierarchical structures of spherical glassy droplets, resulting from critical wetting behavior and limited diffusion. We also report synthesis of a bulk phase separating glass in a metallic glass system. The combination of unique core shell and hierarchical structures in metallic glass systems opens a new avenue for the microstructure design of metallic glasses. © 2006 The American Physical Society.

World University root node

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering

Physical Review Letters

Phase separating bulk metallic glass: A hierarchical composite

Nanostructures of microwave dielectric (Ba,Sr)TiO3 were prepared by a chemical solution decomposition route and a template assisted sol-gel route respectively. The two dimensional nanostructures exhibited a uniform and nearly monodispersed size, which was a strong function of the substrate. There seemed to be a mixture of particles with different orientations that was present in the thicker films also. The three-dimensional self-assembly showed interesting structures with promising optical characteristics.

Ceramic Transactions

Fabrication of self-assembled nanostructures of microwave dielectrics

We have studied the interfacial properties of phase separating binary system using Monte Carlo simulations. In the model, we have considered vacancy-assisted phase separation and implemented residence time Monte Carlo algorithm. We have taken an A-B binary alloy with a highly diluted vacancy concentration on a rigid lattice with face-centered-cubic structure. We have calculated the equilibrium thermodynamic properties of (100), (110) and (111) interfaces, and computed the interfacial free energy using a direct thermodynamic integration. We have also studied the effect of temperature and interaction parameters on interfacial free energy, width and roughness. We determined the equilibrium shapes of precipitates from the simulations and compared them with the corresponding Wulff shapes. The equilibrium precipitate shapes differ from the Wulff shapes and this deviation is attributed to the roughness of the interface.

Proceedings of an International Conference on Solid-Solid Phase Transformations in Inorganic Materials 2005

A Monte Carlo study of interfacial properties of phase separating alloys

The effect of anthanum substitution (0-20%) on phase formation, structural evolution and electrical properties of SrBi2Ta2O 9 (SET) ceramics were investigated. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that phase pure SBT bulk samples can be synthesized with lanthanum doping without any phase segregation. Raman spectroscopy was used to understand the lattice vibrational characteristics of La substituted SBT compound. The ferroelectric soft mode at 27 cm-1 was shifted towards the lower frequencies at room temperature with increase in La concentrations. The octahedral stretching mode (O-Ta-O) did not influenced by La substitution in SBT. The x-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements showed the decrease of binding energy of Bi 4f core levels (5/2 and 7/2) upon La substitution in SBT. The dielectric constant was increased from 120 to 190 up to 10% La doping and decreased with further increase in La concentration.

Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings

Effect of La doping on the structural and electrical properties of SrBi2Ta2O9

Ferroelectric nanostructures have been fabricated by self-assembly, using the high temperature instability of ultra thin films. Lead zirconate titatnate (PZT) structures, as small as 20 nm lateral size with a height of 9 nm, have been fabricated on (100) SrTiO3 substrates. The shapes and sizes of the ferroelectric structures could be tuned within a small range by varying the initial thickness of the as deposited film and crystallisation annealing. Introduction of intentional defect sites prior to the crystallisation treatment had a pronounced effect on the shape and size of the final nanostructures. The ferroelectric switching of individual nanoislands of 50 nm lateral size and 25 nm height islands was shown by piezoresponse AFM.

Integrated Ferroelectrics

Self-assembled ferroelectric nanostructures

Lead zirconate titanate nanoislands were obtained by using self-patterning method. The single-crystal nanoislands were also studied using scanning and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The ferroelectric switching of several individual islands was also investigated by piezoresponse force microscopy.

Applied Physics Letters

Ferroelectric epitaxial nanocrystals obtained by a self-patterning method

We have studied the evolution of microstructure when a disordered ternary alloy is quenched into a ternary miscibility gap. We have used computer simulations based on multicomponent Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equations for cA and cB, the compositions (in mole fraction) of A and B, respectively. In this work, we present our results on the effect of relative interfacial energies on the temporal evolution of morphologies during spinodal phase separation of an alloy with average composition, cA = 1/4, cB = 1/4 and cC = 1/2. Interfacial energies between the 'A' rich, 'B' rich and 'C' rich phases are varied by changing the gradient energy coefficients. The phases associated with a higher interfacial energy are found to be more rounded than those with lower energy. Further, the kinetic paths (i.e. the history of A-rich, B-rich and C-rich regions in the microstructure) are also affected significantly by the relative interfacial energies of the three phases.

Fulltext

Bulletin of Materials Science

A study of phase separation in ternary alloys

In this report, we explore the possibilities of the fabrication and characterization of ferroelectric nano-stnictures by various methods. Techniques include the self-assembly route and direct electron beam lithography, The chemical self-assembly route, which adopted the microemulsionmediated synthesis, appeared to be very encouraging for producing very small monodispersed nano particles and powders, with sizes of 10-60 nm. The possibility to form a two dimensional arrangement of these micro droplets was explored with a suitable choice of the substrate material, and the method of coating. For the patterns prepared by the e-beam technique, a strong coupling between two closely spaced nano elements was observed, the spacing between them was found to be the key factor in tailoring their interaction, i.e., whether they would arrange themselves in rod-like pattern or a two dimensional array of isolated squares or circles.