The objective of this project is to support the participation of outstanding young European researchers in the 7th

International Conference on Laser Ablation (COLA'03) and provide high-level training in a scientific area of

high current interest fostering the interaction between young scientists and internationally known experts in the

field.

COLA'03, to be held in Hersonissos, Crete, Greece (October 2003) is a major conference in the field of laser-

matter interactions, that focuses on fundamental studies and technological applications of laser ablation,

attracting scientidsts form both academia and industry. Laser ablation is a highly interdisciplinary field drawing

science and engineering. It plays a key role in current frontier topics, which are among the priority research

themes for the new European Research Area, such as nanoscience and technology, materials processing and

biomedical applications.

Researches in Europe have a leading role in the field of laser ablation promoting European scientific excellence.

The organisation of COLA'03 in Europe offers a great opportunty for advancing the European state-of-the-art

in the field by providing:

- a stimulating environment for fruitful interaction between scientists

- efficient exchange of views between research and industry communities

- a high-quality training to young researchers, essential for their studies and future career.

A high level and dynamic training component in COLA'03 is implemented through:

- the selection of conference topics representing areas of intense current scientific and technological interest

- the invitation of world-known experts to lecture on "hot" topics

- a programme structure with brainstorming lecture-discussion sessions, to allow selected project presentations by

young scientists with leading experts in the field

- the organization of poster sessions, followed by discussion sessions, to allow selected project presentations by<

The Low Temperature Laboratory (LTL) of Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) offers expertise, facilities, and equipment for outside users to undertake measurments at temperatures from 4 K down to the lowest attainable to date. ULTI is expected to contribute to scientific progress and technical development in ultra low temperature physics, to serve as a first-rate educational center for young physicists and, because of its long-standing connections with the low temperature research in Russia, to act as a node for scientific collaboration between Russia and EU countries.

The in-house research includes experimental programs on refrigeration, cryogenics and nanofabricated cryosensors, experiemental and theoretical studies of quantum fluids and solids, nuclear magnetism, and electrical transport in nanostructures. The local low temperature research staff consists of 35 persons of whom 6 are professors, 4 senior scientists, 5 post-doctorals, 5 technicians and 2 secretarial employees; the rest are graduate andundergraduate students. The refrigeration equipment includes three nuclear cooling cryostats capable of reaching sub-mK temperatures and five 20-mK cryostats. As a new addition to our facility, we offer for the users full access to our 55 m2 semi clean room with electron beam lithography line as well as limited access to a 2600 m2 clean room, jointly operated by HUT and VTT, the neighboring State Research Center. The staff of the HUT/VTT clean room has expertise on design and manufacturing of nanofabricated cryosensors both electrical and micromechanical.

Of the total research activity at the ULT installation, at most 18% will be allocated to the ULTI visitors. On average at any given time 1.5 EU-sponsored Users would work in the LTL, and about 40 persons participating in 35 different projects could benefit from the ULTI in four years.

The main objective of the Ultra-ID Project is to study the fundamental size limits, when the electron transport in one-dimensional (1D) systems can be considered qualitatively similar to macroscopic regime, and to explore qualitatively new phenomena appearing below the certain scale. Project will focus on fabrication, theoretical and experimental study of electron transport in the state-of-the-art narrow 1D objects: normal metals, superconductors, semiconducting heterojunctions and carbon nanotubes. Principal technological objective of the Project is to elaborate old and develop new methods of microfabrication, pushing the reproducible limit of 1D object fabrication down to ~ 10 nm scale. Three independent, but complimentary methods will be used for fabrication of metallic systems: high- resolution e-beam lithography, electrochemical growth of ultra thin nanowires, and progressive reduction of the effective diameter of pre-fabricated 1D objects by plasma etching. Principal technological objective related to activity with 1D semiconductors is the fabrication of high-quality systems enabling application of external potential. Main technological objective related to electron properties of carbon nanotubes is the fabrication of structures suspended on top of a terraced plane or a cleaved edge of superlattice. Research activity with normal electron transport will be concentrated at three main topics: metal- insulator transition in ultra-thin wires, electron decoherence in 1D limit, peculiarities of electron transport in 1D systems with controlled external periodic potential. Study of superconductors will be focused on the problem of quantum phase slips in ultra-thin 1D systems (wires and rings). Experimental part of the scientific activity will include state-of-the-art low noise transport and magnetic measurements at ultra-low temperatures. Theoretical investigation will use modern methods of quantum solid state physics.

Carbon nanotubes grown by chemical vapour deposition or carbon arc method are fairly cheap but contain a considerable amount of defects and therefore the electrical and mechanical properties are far below their theoretical limits. In the laser ablation technique, nanotubes are produced under much better control of carrier gas flow and thermal gradients, but throughput is low and lasers are expensive. In channel spark ablation thermal gradients and gas flow are similar, but the process is much cheaper. The Arc-Jet method improves the flow conditions in the carbon arc (Kraetschmer) generator by injecting the carrier gas through a nozzle into the electric arc. The consortium will set up generators for channel spark ablation (Bologna), laser ablation (Stuttgart), and Arc-Jet production (Shanghai) and compare the products from these methods. To this end procedures for quality control and quality standardisation will be developed. These methods are based on optical and Raman spectroscopy, X- ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis, as well as on mechanical investigations and electrical and thermal transport measurements (on pressed pellets, entangled films, and composites). The Austrian company AT&S Austria Systemtechnik AG is one of the largest producers of printed circuit boards. There is a general tendency to make these boards 'smarter' and to transfer passive electronic elements (resistors and capacitors) from the chips to the boards. AT&S envisages to use the nanotubes produced in this project for electronic elements integrated into their boards. AT&S has just started a subsidiary in China so that both the Chinese daughter and the European mother are likely to benefit from this project. The present project will produce high quality nanotubes at much larger quantities than presently available and at prices which are more than two orders of magnitude lower. We expect this to lead to a considerable breakthrough in #

Superhigh energy ball milling with the help of novel laboratory and industrial planetary mills will be applied for the development of new materials and technologies based on particle size reduction and mechanical activation of particles. Fundamental aspects of mechanical activation of materials will be studied. Improved performance of new materials will be achieved by means of finding an optimal balance between the size effects and effects of mechanical activation of particles. The specific feature of the project is the use of the planetary mills characterized by dramatically higher energy density than conventional milling equipment. The main groups of materials studied in this project would be hard alloys, intermetallics and composites, sialons and multicomponent ceramic oxides. Processing studies will be carried out for developing technologies and materials for applications in various industrial fields. Optimisation studies of the processing procedures and materials performance evaluation in the industrial environment will follow. The aims of the project include development of technologies providing high-volume production of nanoscale materials at low cost and technologies of recycling of solid materials in a fast, efficient and environmentally friendly process. Technological developments will exploit novel industrial planetary mills of continuous mode. Applications of the approach in various fields of industry including manufacturing of cutting tools, production of special refractories, production of advanced ceramics, development of hard thin coatings, development of improved thermal spray coatings, will be investigated.

The objective of this project is to provide access funding for scientists from European institutes who wish to perform part of their research at the Braun Center for Sub Micron Research (WISSMC) at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Under this project European scientists the will have the opportunity to visit the Braun Center, which is among the very few laboratories in the world, and particularly in Europe, which are self-sufficient in terms of the integration of 'state of the art' growth-fabrication facilities and measurement-evaluation equipment. The visitors under this program will be exposed to the very high quality research carried out at the WISSMC in the fields of mesoscopic physics and nano-physics. The transnational access will be provided as specified in section 6 of this Annex. The visiting scientists will be able to study complex semiconductor structures and devices. This will include high purity III-V semiconductor structures grown by molecular beam Epitaxy, miniaturization by optical lithography or electron beam writing and other processing and evaluation tools. The visiting scientists will interact strongly with two groups: excellent theoreticians and experimentalists, all working in strong collaboration under one roof and in this rather focused areas of research. The project will provide new opportunities for EU students to broaden their experience and knowledge in state of the art mesoscopic physics. It will allow graduate students to pursue new opportunities such as post doc positions in the field of mesoscopic physics. EU senior scientists will be able to strengthen their scientific ties with leading scientists at the Weizmann Institute. The project will enhance an extended flow of scientists between Europe and the Weizmann Institute and will thus induce fruitful scientific collaborations. It will help establish new research/technology collaborations with scientists across Europe.

Carbon nanotubes have many unique and extreme physical properties for this reason they will playa key role in the next future of society. Many governments allover the world are investing great resources in nanotechnologies research activities. The reason is the great performances of nanostructured materials and the large variety of applications of these technologies. The objective of this proposal is to realize a new machinery based on a cheap technological procedure, the Channel Spark Ablation (CSA), to produce high quality single walled carbon nanotubes which should yield the same quality as laser ablation, but at much lower costs. The nanotubes produced by this equipment will be used as passive electronic elements into innovative solar cells and dye sensitised solar cells. The major innovation of the proposal IS the idea to adopt an innovative technology to provide single-walled nanotubes at first on the kilogram scale and ultimately on a tonne scale. The.CSA is a system based on the pulsed electron-beam generation from the glow-discharge plasma environment. The applicability of the CSA to nanotubes preparation relies on the high effective temperatures that can be reached at the target surface and on its similarities to Pulsed Laser Ablation. It is clear that the development of sophisticated equipment and its further adjustment required for different materials utilisation can not be tackled by an only company. The contribution of the RTD performers will be essential to avail the indispensable know-how and resources to overcome the theoretical and technical problems and so to get the final positive result. The economical reason of the trans-national cooperation is given by the great industrial interest, allover the Europe, for this new, promising technique for nanotubes mass production. Actually the most important limitation of the nanostructured materials is due to the high production cost mainly due to high energy consumption and low process pro

Nanostructured functional materials constitute one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding fields in scienceand technology, which include their use in such diverse areas as materials technology, biotechnonology, energyand environmental technology, electronics, catalytic applications etc. From other side, the increasingly importantrole in biophysics and in life sciences is played by laser spectroscopie methods. The present project challengesone of the most exciting and phenomena rich sub-fields of nano-science and nano-technology (N&N): theinteraction of visible and near visible light with nanostructured materials. It is aimed at fabrication of optically-active synthetic nanostructures for the exploration of sensing mechanisms with biological matter.In the framework of the present project research activity is planned to be concentrated on, firstly, deliberatefabrication of optically-active substrate by means of state-of-the-art nanofabrication techniques (e-beamlithography, colloidal lithography etc.) and, secondly, exploration of obtained optically-active substrates forbiosensing applications. Utilizing shaped metallic nanostructures or arrays of metallic nanostrctures to influencethe fluorescence of biomolecules in close proximity to the surface is planned by tuning surface plasmonresonance energy of formed nanoarchitectures. Controlled positioning of macromolecular species on the pre-fomed nobel metal nanostructures to probe enhanced fluorescence or enhanced quenching, necessary for ultra-sensitive detection scheme, will be performed. Later goal constitutes a demostration of sensitivity of builtarchitectures to the binding events between preformed sensing platform and biomolecular species,complementary to those available in the fabricated synthetic bio-nanoarchitectures.Overall, the results of research activity are expected to contribute substantially in fundamental understanding ofsurface enhancement#

The main problem in nanotechnology is the lack of methods for mass production. This is especially true for SMEs, which do not have the ability to invest in expensive equipment for large-scale production of nanostructures. Nanoimprint lithography on the other hand provides a tool that is comparably cheap and suited for mass production. 3D NANOPRINT aims at the development of a complete process technology with the necessary tools to produce 3-dimensional nanostructures with ultra high precision. In comparison to deep or extreme ultra violet lithography (abbreviated as DUV and EUV lithography respectively) this research paves the way for the widespread use of a nanoscale production technology also by smaller companies, since the investment costs of nanoimprint production lines are less than 1% of the DUV or EUV investments. The project consist of two levels, a directly process oriented part dealing with nanoimprint lithography itself, nanoimprint resists, reactive ion etching and alignment problems and an application oriented part. In this part requirements for nanoimprint lithography as production tool are defined, assuring that the final result of the project is a cost effective, high throughput, ultra-precise tool for the production of 3 dimensional nanostructures. As a reference application 3-dimensional photonic crystals have been chosen, since the optical properties of such devices are extremely sensitive to the quality of the production process (therefore are excellent indicators) and assure a high economic impact since the photonics market is growing quickly. Other applications considered are micro- and nano-optical devices.

The overall objective of this 3-year project is to develop a CMOS-compatible industrial process for the fabrication of field effect transistors based on carbon nanotubes (CNT-FETs). In order to solve the CNT manipulation and placement problems, two approaches based on template growth in engineered porous structures will be investigated. In the first one, CNTs will be grown inside porous alumina templates obtained by anodic oxidation of Al films. The originality of the method is that the pores are synthesised parallel to the surface of the substrate (instead of perpendicular as usual) which will greatly ease the contacting operations for the source, drain and gate electrodes of the CNT-FETs with large numbers of CNTs connected in parallel. In the second approach, CNTs will be grown in vertical pore structures obtained by nanolithography and reactive ion etching. In both cases, the catalyst particles (necessary for the nucleation and growth of CNTs at low to medium temperature) will be electrodeposited at the bottom of the pores prior to chemical vapour deposition growth of the CNTs. As the catalyst particles are confined inside the pores, high temperature surface diffusion is prevented during (or before) growth and the nanometric size of the particles is preserved, leading to uniform CNT diameters. Moreover, by using monocrystalline films or substrates at the bottom of the pores, we propose to deposit the catalyst particles in an epitaxial-type mode, which will lead to a perfectly controlled structure likely to induce chirality control for the CNTs. This point is of paramount importance for the future of CNT-based electronics. The project brings together 4 European partners with complementary skills, from 3 different countries. If the proposed approach is successful, only Europe would have the critical size to set up new standards and industrial practices for CNT-based electronics. It is therefore essential that such research is carried out at European level.