The 'Development of low-cost technologies for the fabrication of high-performance telecommunication lasers' project has two main objectives: (1) Development of high-performance surface-grating-based DFB/DBR telecommunication lasers (2) Development of ultra-high speed directly modulated lasers (> 40 GBit/s) with a simplified multi-section design, which exploit high-order photonic resonances for extending the modulation bandwidth. The project approach is to develop a common technological fabrication platform for both types of lasers based on surface gratings and other surface micro- and nano-structures. One important advantage in using surface structuring for increasing the performances and functionality of edge-emitting lasers is the elimination of the regrowth stage, which adds to the fabrication cost, affects the laser performances (notably the reliability and the characteristics shift in time) and reduces yield. The surface micro- and nano-structures will be imprinted by the low-cost and high-yield nanoimprint lithography, which will contribute to reducing the fabrication cost. The developed surface-oriented technology will be largely independent on the underlying semiconductor structure and will be applied for the fabrication of InP- and GaAs-based edge-emitting lasers (EELs) working in the 1300 and 1550 nm ranges. Although advanced materials (like dilute nitrides and antimony-containing dilute-nitrides) as well as low-dimensional structures (quantum dots and quantum dashes) will be investigated for developing the active regions of the lasers, the surface-oriented technology will be directly applicable to epitaxial layer structures already developed and tested in regular Fabry-Perot telecommunication EELs. Thus the developed surface-oriented approach will have the unique advantage of enabling the fabrication of higher-performance lasers from already tested and qualified 'legacy' epiwafers.

The purpose of the restructured SURPASS project is to develop key technologies to achieve super-resolution beyond the diffraction limit in air at visible wavelength. The application fields covered by the project are optical data storage, wafer inspection, maskless optical lithography and confocal microscopy. The first super-resolution technology is based on so-called super-RENS materials (Super-Resolution Enhanced Near-Field Systems). These materials, such as the semiconductor InSb, undergo a local modification of their refractive index properties above a certain power threshold of a focused laser spot. As a consequence they produce a reduction of the effective size of the laser spot. Super-RENS materials are developed mainly for optical ROM discs to allow the readout of recorded marks smaller than the resolution limit of the optical readout system. The maximum capacity of single-level Super-RENS discs will be studied theoretically and experimentally. In parallel, semi-transparent Super-RENS levels will be developed and the industrial potential of this technology for multi-level discs will be evaluated. The purpose is to propose a technological solution for the extension of the Blu-Ray format from 25 GB to 75-100 GB for high-definition video content distribution. The second super-resolution technology is based on micro-solid immersion lenses (µ-SILs) which enable to reduce a focused laser spot by a factor equal to the refractive index of the µ-SIL. A low-cost manufacturing process will be developed on 200 mm silicon wafers. The resolution of µ-SIL should be further enhanced by using engineered polarization, high index material, plasmonic nanostructures at focus or functionalization with a Super-RENS layer. The performances of high-resolution optical heads including a µ-SIL will be studied in various application fields such as wafer inspection, optical lithography and confocal microscopy.

WADIMOS proposes to develop a generic technology for the realization of complex electro-photonic integrated ICs using standard CMOS processing technologies. These ICs will contain a photonic interconnect layer incorporating microsource arrays and ultracompact WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) functionality based on silicon nanophotonic wire circuits, driven directly from by the CMOS electronic circuitry. The photonic interconnect layer is intended to be incorporated in between the uppermost copper layers of an electronic IC. The availability of such ICs will benefit many applications in telecom, local access, datacom, automotives, avionics and sensing, on- and off-chip interconnect. Two applications will be investigated in particular: a 100TB/s datalink for a maskless-lithography tool based on a massively parallel e-beam tool and an optical network-on-chip based on a wavelength routed network directly integrated with CMOS circuits. The latter is addressing the expected limitations imposed by future purely electrical interconnects in complex MPSoC systems. These two applications are each backed by an industrial partner and their architectural design will be studied in separate workpackages, resulting in a set of specifications for the subcomponents forming the electro-photonic IC. Based on these inputs the different subcomponents will be designed, fabricated and characterized. The most relevant subcomponent is a III-V silicon heterogeneous multi-wavelength microsource array, which will be realized fully in a CMOS-pilot line, based on a process previously developed by project partners and independently by INTEL/USCB researchers. Finally, the different subcomponents will be integrated into two demonstrators each addressing one of both applications under study.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.