The state of surface and interface science research in the Philippines
Résumé
Several Nobel Prize in Physics, like the works of Gabriel Lippmann (1908) and Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1991) were awarded in the field of surface and interface science and most of the developed countries like U.S.A., France, Germany, and Japan had invested huge amount of money in the field of theoretical and experimental surface and interface science. So one would ask, how does a developing country like the Philippines fair in this field of study? Presently, the surface and interface science research in the Philippines is focused on two main research topics namely: (1) deposition and synthesis of thin films and (2) surface modification using plasma and chemical techniques. But it is only during the last two decades that the number of publications related to the field of surface and interface science gradually increased due to the importance given by the Philippine government toward researches that were related to materials science specifically on the applications for the semiconductor industry. The role of vacuum technology was seen to play a very important role in the field of surface and interface science as most of the experiments were performed at very low pressure. Based on the publications coming from the Philippines from 1990 to present; the researches on materials science gave more highlight on the bulk properties of materials rather than understanding the interactions on the surface of the materials. This observations are mainly due to the following challenges that scientists and engineers are facing in the field: (1) the lack of sensitive equipment that focuses on the chemical and physical surface properties of materials; (2) the difficulty of getting research funding for theoretical and simulation works on surfaces and interfaces; and (3) the lack of substantial number of local experts in the field. Also, it was only recently that a laboratory solely dedicated in the study of surface and interface science was established in the University of the Philippines Diliman. Since most of the research funding is given by the Philippine government and since the major challenges in this field are being addressed from the recent programs of the government and private sectors especially the Department of Science and Technology; it can be predicted that there will be an increase in the number of research publications and patents that focuses on this field of study for the next decade.