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10/23/2006 -
Inorganic Materials Chemistry Desk Reference, Second Edition (2005)
by D. Sangeeta and John R. LaGraff
ISBN 0-8493-0910-7. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. 2005. Hardcover. 372 pages. $159.95.
| REVIEWED BY: | Maria Salamon, Lehigh University
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Inorganic Materials Chemistry Desk Reference, 2nd Edition by D. Sangeeta and John R. LaGraff is a compact desk reference for the working professional dealing with inorganic materials processes and chemistry. This work addresses the need for ready accessibility to the properties of a diverse array of inorganic precursors without having to sift through books and journals.
The book begins with an introduction to various inorganic materials processes, followed by a glossary of terms commonly found in inorganic materials processing.
The first chapter consists of a brief overview of selected inorganic materials chemistry processes. Topics covered include sol-gel, hydrothermal, supercritical drying and freeze-drying, metal organic decomposition, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, and aerosol processes. The microfabrication of microelectronics and microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices is reviewed, as well as precursors, nanofabrication, and self-assembly. Available characterization techniques are listed.
Chapter 1 would be useful for someone completely unfamiliar with inorganic materials processing and analysis techniques. However, for anyone with a background in materials engineering, the first chapter would not present anything new. Each topic is given only the briefest of explanations, so if particulars are desired for any process, one needs to look elsewhere. Perhaps to this end, the authors include a list of sources of additional information. One book that is much used in our office for bringing new members up to speed in MEMS fabrication that I did not see listed in this text is The MEMS Handbook, also published by CRC Press.
The second chapter is entirely devoted to defining terms found in inorganic materials chemistry and materials processing. This chapter alone renders the book invaluable. These definitions comprise over 90 pages in the book, and the scope it covers saves a great deal of searching on the Internet. Furthermore, even if one already has the ASM Materials Dictionary, there is no worry of redundancy because there are a large number of terms included that are not touched upon in the ASM Materials Dictionary.
The third chapter lists a large number of inorganic material precursors and provides the following physical data: chemical formula, formula weight, boiling point, melting point, sublimation temperature, state/color, density, some miscellaneous information, and the reference for all of the above. I found this section useful when investigating various processing routes; it allowed me to quickly find multiple precursors all in one place.
Chapter 4 lists many of the properties of solid-state inorganic materials. Among these were: general, electrical, magnetic, optical, structural, superconducting, and thermal. References are included for all of the given data. Since acquiring this book, I have used Chapter 4 the most in my work. Oftentimes a new experimental procedure will present a result, the composition of which I can only narrow down to a few possibilities. The miscellaneous information included in the general properties is very convenient for looking up the characteristics of the candidates for my unknown product and comparing them to what I made. This "rough and ready" solution has saved a great deal of development time.
This book suits the needs of many different persons. It would be most useful to the person engaged in "cookbook chemistry," as it provides many inorganic precursors in one location. It would also be useful to a person who does not have a technical background, but has to deal with such topics as sol-gel processing in their work. Just a warning though: If you are looking for processing, fabrication, or analysis details, this is not the book for that. Also, this book does not go into any detail in the property data for any of the compounds listed. A last complaint concerns the first and second chapters, and that is the lack of diagrams. In the first chapter especially, schematics would be very useful in explaining the concepts presented, even moreso if this chapter is serving as an introduction to persons unfamiliar with these topics. In closing, if you need a quick answer as to what precursor to use, to look up an unknown term, or to confirm a property of a compound you synthesized, this is a handy book to have in the office.
For more on Inorganic Materials Chemistry Desk Reference, Second Edition, visit the Taylor & Francis/CRC Press web site. |
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