The superlative properties of diamond make it a choice material for making nanoscale devices over a broad range of applications. Diamond devices are conventionally made using 'top-down' processing following the seeding and growth of nanocrystalline diamond thin films, however, due to the great resilience of diamond, fabricating nanoscale devices is technologically demanding and nanoscale patterning requires expensive and lengthy processing such as electron beam lithography (EBL). Herein, the applicant presents a proposal to develop a novel, inexpensive, rapid and scalable methodology to fabricate nanoscale devices using 'bottom-up' processing with a feature resolution that will surpass current state-of-the-art processing techniques such as EBL. To achieve this goal, the technique of DNA Nanotechnology will be used to create self-assembled 2D DNA patterns of any desired shape, which will subsequently be electrostatically and covalently coated with nanodiamond and diamondoid particles. Following diamond seeding on DNA templates, the applicant proposes to grow nanocrystalline diamond thin film devices with nanoscale features. Given the diameter of DNA is ca. 2 nm, structures with nearly 2 nm feature resolution should be achievable, especially when seeding the structures with molecular diamondoid particles. Following development of said technique, nanoscale diamond devices (specifically nanophotonic structures, transistors and biosensors) will be fabricated that promise unprecedented performance.

One-atom thin two-dimensional nanomaterials possess unique properties different from their bulk counterparts. Initiated by the discovery of graphene, many stable one atom-thick layers such as boron nitride, molybdenum disulphide, tungsten disulphide etc., have been isolated and characterized. However, the individual properties of such 2D-atomic crystals (except graphene) were modest. The combination of isolated single atomic layers into designer structures, named as 2D-heterostrcutures, is predicted to give synergetic properties. In order to harness the interesting properties the combination of various 2D-atomic crystals have to offer, a method to assemble them in a simple and scalable way is required. Currently, the only method known is manual placing of the 2D-atomic crystal layers sequentially which limits the scope of the study of such structures. The objective of the proposal is to assemble layered (each layer is one atom thick) stacks of graphene superlattices and heterostructures with other 2D-atomic crystals such as BN, MoS2, WS2 etc., by deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-mediated assembly. DNA mediated assembly is highly programmable by chemically specific interaction between nucleotides, length of the DNA, strength of the interactions in addition to the symmetry control of the assembled structures. Top-down lithography will be combined with bottom-up DNA assembly to fabricate seed layers of DNA for the guided assembly which lead to patterned heterostructures. This approach is targeted toward combinatorial screening of exotic properties of varied architectures of heterostructures with control over the composition of 2D-atomic crystals and spacing between the layers (controlled by DNA). The anticipated structures would be vertical atomic scale Legos of 2D-atomic crystal layers with DNA spacers.

The overall purpose of this research project is to develop and apply a novel laser-initiated liquid-assisted colloidal lithography (LILAC) method for controllable nanostructuring a wide range of surfaces. The method combines, for the first time, ultra-short laser pulses, medium-tuned optical near-field effects and colloidal lithography to achieve surface structuring of materials like Si, III-V semiconductor, biomedically relevant metals and polymer surfaces. The detailed mechanisms underpinning the pattern formation depend on the many experimental process variables: laser wavelength and intensity/fluence; choice of liquid; size, shape, nature and packing of colloid particles; choice of solid surface, etc. Accordingly, the 2-year project proposed here has three interconnected aims: 1. To investigate the mechanisms of the pattern formation by systematic variation of relevant experimental parameters. To this end, we will vary: the nature of the liquid used to produce radical species at the liquid-substrate interface, laser pulse duration and wavelengths, the colloidal lithographic masking strategy, substrate surface chemistry, etc.; 2. To exploit the LILAC method to generate surface patterns with unprecedented physical and chemical sophistication and complexity; 3. To undertake preliminary investigations of the utility of specific surface micro-structures for tissue engineering and sensor applications. This project will help Dr. Magdalena Ulmeanu to embark upon an independent research career and to acquire new practical and theoretical skills necessary for her career development in ultra-short laser processing of surfaces.

Two-photon direct laser writing (DLW) lithography is a powerful tool to fabricate 3D structures with feature sizes of ~100 nm. This technique is based on the quadratic dependence of the absorption of near-infrared (NIR) light (two-photon absorption, 2PA) by molecules called photoinitiators which trigger the photopolymerization of curable resins. With the aim of downsizing the structures to the nanometer resolution, a requirement of the microelectronics industry, a new strategy has been added to the DLW lithography, the two-beam approach (excitation and inhibition beams) based on the reversible saturable optical fluorescence transition (RESOLFT) concept. This approach is borrowed from the field of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and consists in the reversible depletion of some intermediate excited state of the photoinitiators only at some specific areas of the point spread function (PSF) of the excitation beam. The objective of this project is to further develop the two-beam DLW lithography to make it more competitive compared to other advanced nanofabrication techniques. The project is conducted to overcome the limitations of the two-beam DLW lithography: 1) the large feature size, the state-of-the-art has recently been pushed to 9 nm line width from a previous value of 55 nm, and 2) the large spatial resolution (Abbe´s resolution limit) due to the so-called 'memory effect', this value always exceeds 2–5 times the feature size, with a lowest value of 52 nm. The approach is based on the investigation of the photophysics and photochemistry involved in the photopolymerization by means of the ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy to shed some light on the inhibition processes. The expected results are the decrease of the actual size of the written features to the real nanometer resolution, ~1 nm and even more important to reduce the minimal distance of two adjacent yet separated lines (spatial resolution) to the same order of the feature size.

The ultimate goal of the project is to generate and transfer knowledge on the development of new nanomaterials specifically applicable in novel macro-bacterial sensors for food manufacturing and processing industry. The special structure of nanomaterials gives rise to their amazing properties. The ability to manipulate the structure and composition on the nanoscale provides very large opportunities to create new materials with superior performance for new products and devices. Since the optical properties of nanomaterials can be controlled by changing their size, shape, and aspect ratio, as well as via their surface modification, nanomaterials are prime candidates as building blocks for photonic sensors. The overall objective of this research is to develop the synthesis of ZnO, ZnS and PbS nanostructures with different sizes and morphologies via the laser ablation in liquid technique, then to modify and functionalize the surfaces of the prepared nanostructures and finally to use them for the preparation of photonic sensors with bacteria-detecting properties. Such efficient, easy-to-use and rapid sensors will be evaluated within different food processing, weighing and packaging lines available from project partner. This is an ambitious research programme, with a strong interdisciplinary nature combining materials engineering, surface science, bio-engineering, physics, chemistry and soft matter science. Its success is underpinned by the combination of complementary expertise of the Fellow, Host and Partners in nanomaterial preparation and characterization, photonics and food processing and analysis, respectively. The project will have a positive impact on a longer shelf-life of ready food, monitoring of food manufacturing lines, and optimization of cleaning routine during food manufacturing and packaging. Hence, positive impact on public health sector, as well as economic and ecological effects, is expected.

Control of matter via light has always fascinated humankind; not surprisingly, laser patterning of materials is as old as the history of the laser. However, this approach has suffered to date from a stubborn lack of long-range order. We have recently discovered a method for regulating self-organised formation of metal-oxide nanostructures at high speed via non-local feedback, thereby achieving unprecedented levels of uniformity over indefinitely large areas by simply scanning the laser beam over the surface.

The vision of PilotManu is the upscale of the current mechanical alloying technological facility into a powder manufacturing pilot line by further developing existing IPR-covered results owned by the SMEs in the consortium related to mechanical alloying technology and to innovative powder materials for different applications. The baseline technology that will be upscaled from a technological facility status into pilot scale, is the High Energy Ball Milling machine, able to deliver innovative materials for new product lines developed by SMEs and industrial partnership that will lead the technological upscale. The project will demonstrate the technological and economical viability of the pilot line by implementing advanced materials into coatings, abrasive tool and additive manufacturing applications. Additional application sectors will be represented in the business cases by analyzing the cost/benefits of using the following new materials: Mg hydrides for hydrogen storage, thermoelectrics for energy harvesting, flame retardant textile and polymer nanocomposite for rapid prototyping. The potential impact brought by the new HEBM pilot production will be transversal also in all those technological sectors demanding high performance and outstanding material properties not achievable by conventional products. These huge un-exploited knowledge reservoir related to materials produced via HEBM or Mechanical Alloying will be unlocked by the Pilot Manu production system able to bring these results into the market.

SiAM aims at exploiting in future ICT devices and circuits the atomic nature of dopants used throughout microelectronics. The key idea is to use the very sharp, deep and reproducible potential created by a dopant in a semiconductor host crystal. Despite its small size (on the scale of the Bohr radius), the donor state of a single dopant can be addressed with conventional lithography techniques, and is therefore perfectly suitable for realistic devices exploiting the quantum nature of single atoms. The project relies on: - The extremely mature silicon technology in which, however, no quantum mechanical or atomic properties are at play when dopant atoms are used. - The very atomic nature of these dopants. The consortium will investigate dopants: - At the device level, with the demonstration of atomic devices (single dopant) and molecular devices (coupled dopants). A crucial effort towards integration of deterministic implantation in CMOS technology will be made. - In the theoretical understanding, for exploiting the specific features of dopant-based devices, especially time-dependent processes. - At the system level, with circuits exploiting the atomic characteristics of dopant based devices. The consortium brings together three methods for fabricating single-atom transistors: top-down silicon fabrication, bottom-up growth of nanowires and Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)-assisted fabrication. This is a unique combination of expertises only available in Europe. In addition, metrology and theory experts will exploit time-dependent phenomena in atomic devices for applications such as electron pumps. Another opportunity is to address directly the spin of a single dopant and make use of its extremely long coherence time to make a single atom quantum bit, crucial for applications in spintronics and quantum computation. Target outcomes: - Dopant-based devices: (i) atomically-precise dopant junctions realized with STM-assisted hydrogen resist lithography, (ii) single-atom transistors and pumps made in a silicon foundry and (iii) single atom spin quantum bit made in bottom-up silicon nanowires. - Time-dependent theory: the apparent limitation of non-adiabaticity will be turned into an advantage by exploiting the dynamical delays due to non-adiabaticity for robust single-gate operation. - Integration of the dopant-based CMOS devices in a circuit will be realized. STM-assisted lithography will be performed on silicon-on-insulator wafers with special surface preparation and capping, in order to avoid the usual surface preparation at very high temperature. Finally, the development of nanovias will pave the way for reintegration of STM defined donor device chips into a CMOS flowchart.

The performance of thermoelectric generation has long since been limited by the fact that it depends on hardly tunable intrinsic materials properties. At the heart of this problem lies a trade-off between sufficient Seebeck coefficient, good electrical properties and suitably low thermal conductivity. The two last being closely related by the ambivalent role of electrons in the conduction of both electrical and thermal currents. Current research focuses on materials composition and structural properties in order to improve this trade-off also known as the figure of merit (zT). Recently, evidences aroused that nanoscale structuration (nanowires, quantum dots, thin-films) can improve zT by means of electron and/or phonon confinement. The aim of this project is to tackle the intrinsic reasons for this low efficiency and bring TE conversion to efficiencies above 10% by exploring two unconventional and complementary approaches: Phononic Engineering Conversion consists of modulating thermal properties by means of a periodic, precisely designed, arrangement of inclusions on a length scale that compares to phonon means free path. This process is unlocked by state of the art lithography techniques. In its principles, phononic engineering offers an opportunity to tailor the phonon density of states as well as to artificially introduce thermal anisotropy in a semiconductor membrane. Suitable converter architecture is proposed that takes advantage of conductivity reduction and anisotropy to guide and converter heat flow. This approach is fully compatible with standard silicon technologies and is potentially applicable to conformable converters. The Micro Thermionic Conversion relies on low work function materials and micron scale vacuum gaps to collect a thermally activated current across a virtually zero heat conduction device. This approach, though more risky, envisions devices with equivalent zT around 10 which is far above what can be expected from solid state conversion.

While photolithographic techniques are well established for patterning of semiconductors, they have not been employed for polysaccharide based materials to a large extent. The main idea of this project is to generate nano-patterned cellulose thin films using ideas and concepts from semiconductor industry to create 2 and 3 dimensionally structured cellulose surfaces. As starting material for the generation of cellulose surfaces, trimethylsilyl cellulose (TMSC) containing (2-photon sensitive) photoacid generators (PAG) is used which is deposited on different kinds of surfaces by spin coating. The use of mask aligners and UV-light or 2-photon absorption lithography converts exposed areas to cellulose (silyl groups are cleaved off by the generated acid) while in the unexposed areas TMSC remains. After the patterning step, TMSC can be selectively dissolved using an appropriate solvent or, alternatively, the converted cellulose can be digested using cellulases. Using the latter route remaining TMSC can be converted to cellulose in an additional step. As a result, 2 and 3 dimensionally nanostructured films can be obtained which have a large potential as material for semiconductor industry, in medicine (for growth of stem cells, antifouling materials) and in optical materials (refractive index changes). While the main focus of the project is to generate nano-structured cellulose films, this approach can be easily extended to other polysaccharides as well. The whole project aims at reducing organic solvents and to use mainly so-called eco-solvents.