My 12-year-old granddaughter Nina Alesi once asked me, "Grandpa, you are
a scientist at IBM, so what do you do?" I tried to reply, "Oh, I watch
atoms move. . . " But before I could finish this sentence, my 7-year-old
grandson Vinnie interjected, "Grandpa, do atoms play soccer?" This book
is about the games atoms play in diffusion and various other properties
of materials. While diffusion has been studied for more than 100 years
in solids, its importance, excitement, and intellectual chal- lenges
remain undiminished with time. It is central to understanding the
relationship between the structure and properties of naturally occurring
and synthetic materials, which is at the root of current technological
development and innovations. The diversity of material has led to spec-
tacular progress in functional inorganics, polymers, granular materials,
photonics, complex oxides, metallic glasses, quasi-crystals, and
strongly correlated electronic materials. The integrity of complex
materials pack- ages is determined by diffusion, a highly interactive
and synergic phe- nomenon that interrelates to the microstructure, the
microchemistry, and the superimposed physical fields. While the various
physico-chemical properties of the materials are affected by diffusion,
they determine diffu- sion itself. This book, which is intended to
document the diffusive processes operative in advanced technological
materials, has been written by pio- neers in industry and academia.
