The detection of chemical or biological substances increasingly appears as an essential concern in order to prevent human or animal health and security related problems. Present analytical techniques are expensive and often require highly specialized staff and infrastructures. The principal need is to perform screening tests, which can be carried out in non-specialized infrastructures, e.g. Point of Care, schools and field, before unambiguous identification in a specialized laboratory. There is thus a need to develop a new detection system that has low-cost and is portable but at the same time offers high sensitivity, selectivity and multi-analyte detection from a sample containing various components (e.g. blood, serum, saliva, etc.). The objective of P3SENS is to design, fabricate and validate a multichannel (50 or more) polymer photonic crystal based label-free disposable biosensor allowing for a 'positive/negative' detection scheme of ultra small concentrations of analytes in solution (< 1 ng/mL). The biosensor will be encapsulated in a specifically designed microfluidic system in order to deliver the sample to the multiple sensing zones. The design of the biochip will allow it to be easily inserted in a compact measurement platform, usable by non-specialized practitioners outside of specialized laboratories for carrying simultaneous multi-analyte detection, delivering real-time monitoring, and with an assay duration that will not exceed a few tens of minutes. The photonic chip proposed in this project will be based on polymer Photonic Crystal (PhC) micro-cavities coupled into a planar waveguide optical distribution circuit. The photonic chip will be fabricated with available fabrication technologies - and with an emphasis on low cost substrates (polymer) and fabrication processes (nano-imprint lithography). More generally, P3SENS will push forward the development of low cost disposable biochips based on photonics.

The objective of the project is to realise high-performance organic electronic devices and circuits using large-area processing compatible fabrication methods. The high performance of the organic circuits referred to here means high speed (kHz-MHz range), low parasitic capacitance, low operating voltage, and low power consumption. The related organic thin film transistor (OTFT) fabrication development will be focused to enable a high resolution nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) step, which is compatible with roll-to-roll processing environment. Applying NIL will enable smaller transistor channel lengths (down below 1 µm) and thereby an increase in the speed of the device. Another important concept to improve the performance is the self-aligned fabrication principle, in which the critical patterns of the different OTFT layers are automatically aligned in respect to each other during the fabrication. This decreases the parasitic capacitances and thereby increases the speed of the device, and is one of the key elements to enable the use of large-area fabrication techniques such as printing. Also complementary transistor technology will be developed, which will enable a decrease in operating voltage and power consumption. The high performance organic transistors will be tested in basic electronic building blocks such as inverters and ring oscillators. The technology development will be exploited in the active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) and radio-frequency identification (RFID) demonstrators. In addition to showing that sufficient performance can be reached without sacrificing the mass fabrication approach, solutions for the fabrication of roll-to-roll tools in order to make serial replication viable will be provided. Finally, the design, characterization, and modeling of submicron low-power OTFTs will be done in order to support the fabrication of the demonstrators based on the technology developed in the project.

Spintronics, in which both the spin and the charge of the electron are used, is one of the most exciting new disciplines to emerge from nanoscience. The 3SPIN project seeks to open a new research front within spintronics: namely 3-dimensional spintronics, in which magnetic nanostructures are formed into a 3-dimensional interacting network of unrivalled density and hence technological benefit. 3SPIN will explore early-stage science that could underpin 3-dimensional metallic spintronics. The thesis of the project is: that by careful control of the constituent nanostructure properties, a 3-dimensional medium can be created in which a large number of topological solitons can exist. Although hardly studied at all to date, these solitons should be stable at room temperature, extremely compact and easy to manipulate and propagate. This makes them potentially ideal candidates to form the basis of a new spintronics in which the soliton is the basic transport vector instead of electrical current. ¬3.5M of funding is requested to form a new team of 5 researchers who, over a period of 60 months, will perform computer simulations and experimental studies of solitons in 3-dimensional networks of magnetic nanostructures and develop a laboratory demonstrator 3-dimensional memory device using solitons to represent and store data. A high performance electron beam lithography system (cost 1M¬) will be purchased to allow state-of-the-art magnetic nanostructures to be fabricated with perfect control over their magnetic properties, thus allowing the ideal conditions for solitons to be created and controllably manipulated. Outputs from the project will be a complete understanding of the properties of these new objects and a road map charting the next steps for research in the field.

This proposal addresses new scientific challenges in spintrontronics, with the focus on the miniaturization of magnetic sensors. Bismuth crystals and graphene layers show anomalously high Fermi wave length and mean free path. This allows us the observation of electron confinement effects in the length scale of nano-lithography techniques. Both systems can be grown and processed on Si-based substrates, which paves the way for the integration with the existing semiconducting technology. Quantum transport properties are to be studied twofold: by means of intense magnetic fields in nano-patterned devices, and by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) at the surface level. In Bi epitaxial films and graphene flakes, Landau quantization grants access to the topology of the Fermi surface through magnetotransport measurements. The exceptional high-mobility of Bi and graphene gives rise to giant Hall and magnetoresistance effects (> 300,000 %), strongly influenced by structural parameters. Another consequence is the large spin-difussion length, which enables the transport of spin-polarized currents through large distances. Furthermore, the spin-split surface state of Bi crystals and graphene in contact with magnetic electrodes opens up the possibility of polarizing magnetically the medium and injecting spin-polarized currents. The purpose of STM studies here is to assess the influence of structural details at the atomic level on the macroscopic magnetotransport properties of Bi and graphene. STM in combination with pulsed field experiments will be used to investigate the loss of the 2-dimensional character of the electric transport as a function of the sample thickness. Both research lines are very appealing because of the enormous potential for practical device applications and the underlying Physics behind them.

The recent progress in the fabrication and direct synthesis of laterally confined structures, thanks to lithography techniques, has given rise to renewed interest in understanding the interaction between spin-polarized current and magnetic domain walls (DWs), because of it is a key technology for the future spintronics. Although there are several possible ways in which current can interact with magnetic domains, the most interesting interaction is that in which spin angular momentum transferred from the spin-polarized current results in motion of the domain wall. The main aim of the present project is the study of CIDWM in nanostrips with different configurations of magnetic anisotropy. As a starting point, permalloy nanostrips with longitudinal anisotropy will be analyzed, where the composition will be varied in order to modify the STT. In a second stage, the project will be focused towards more original systems with perpendicular anisotropy. The research combines different activities: elaboration and nanofabrication of metallic nanostrips, study of the domain wall motion induced by spin-polarized current (this includes analysis of DW topology, depinning, velocity, mobility and position as a function of dimensions of nanostrips and current) using advanced magnetic imaging techniques, and advances in the micromagnetic modeling of the spin transfer torque. An important aspect of this project will be the effort for understanding inconsistencies and unresolved issues in the interaction of spin-polarized current with DW (existence and nature of non adiabatic contribution, thermal effects, maximum speed of DW driven by current and magnitude of current required to sustain the motion of DW along a nanostrip), whose answer will determine how useful CIDWM will be for technological applications. Therefore, the project pretends to include a good balance between fundamental, applied and theoretical research

The objective of the proposal is the fabrication and study of three dimensional (3D) magnetic nanowires for ultra-high density information storage. Current memory architectures are 2D, composed of one layer of active components. The extension of data storage devices into the third dimension could result in information densities of hundreds of Gb/in2, causing a technological revolution. The project aims at implementing a 3D version of the existing 2D host institution’s idea of domain wall based shift registers to store data. In this scheme, the data bits are stored using the two possible directions of the magnetisation in thin and narrow nanowires made of soft ferromagnetic materials. The fabrication of the 3D devices will be done by using a novel promising nanolithography technique: focused electron beam induced deposition (FEBID), with unique capabilities for the creation of 3D nanostructures. We have recently demonstrated the required possibility to control domain walls in cobalt nanowires created by this technique. The patterning of magnetic nanostructures by means of conventional lithography, such as electron beam lithography and ion milling, will be explored in parallel. The control of the domain walls will be probed by magneto-optical magnetometry and magneto-electrical measurements. The two directions to be investigated for the creation of 3D magnetic devices will be the stacking of 2D magnetic nanowires, and the direct fabrication of 3D nanowires. The host group possesses patents protecting the ideas presented in this proposal. The success of the project would place the European Union in a privileged position to lead the next steps in the development of Information Technology.

The goal of IFOX is to explore, create and control novel electronic and magnetic functionalities, with focus on interfaces, in complex transition metal oxide heterostructures to develop the material platform for novel ‘More than Moore’ (MtM) and ‘beyond CMOS’ electronics, VLSI integratable with performance and functionality far beyond the state-of-the-art. To this end it will:

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) is an increasingly used and promising technique for achieving the extreme ultraviolet (XUV) spectral range with highest brightness, short pulse duration, and coherence. Extensive studies of this phenomenon have been mostly carried out using jets of neutral atomic gas, which have resulted in novel coherent XUV sources. However, typically observed high-order harmonics presently have the disadvantage of low conversion efficiency (10-6). This is problematic for many potential applications of HHG radiation including XUV coherent diffraction imaging, time-resolved measurements, and seeding of Free Electron Lasers. Recent studies have shown that this weakness can be partially overcome by using the ablated plasma as a nonlinear medium. An especially interesting observation, unique for harmonics originated both from gas jets, surfaces, or plasma, is the enhancement of a single harmonic, attributed to resonance with a strong radiative transition. In this way, conversion efficiencies higher than 10-5 from the pump laser radiation to the harmonics in the plateau range have been reported. The project is aimed at the enhancement of HHG efficiency from laser ablation produced on the surfaces of solid-state materials and comparison with HHG from gas jets. The milestones of the proposed investigations include (a) analysis and optimization of harmonic generation from laser plasma produced on the surface of various targets, (b) search of resonance-induced enhancement of single harmonic in the XUV range, (c) harmonic generation from the laser plumes containing nanoclusters, (d) search of the continuum in the harmonic emission near the cutoff (a characteristic signature for attosecond pulse generation), and (e) HHG from gas jets and comparison with the HHG from laser plasma. As a result of project, further improvements of the harmonic efficiency in the XUV range through the HHG from laser plasma and gas jets will be achieved.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) has become a standard and wide spread instrument for characterizing nanoscale devices and can be found in most of today's research and development areas. The NanoBits project provides exchangeable and customizable scanning probe tips that can be attached to standard AFM cantilevers offering an unprecedented freedom in adapting the shape and size of the tips to the surface topology of the specific application. NanoBits themselves are 2-4 μm long and 120-150 nm thin flakes of heterogeneous materials fabricated in different approaches. These novel tips will allow for characterizing three dimensional high-aspect ratio and sidewall structures of critical dimensions such as nanooptical photonic components and semiconductor architectures which is a bottle-neck in reaching more efficient manufacturing techniques. It is thus an enabling approach for almost all future nanoscale applications. A miniaturized robotic microsystem combining innovative nanosensors and actuators will be used to explore new strategies of micro-nano-integration in order to realize a quick exchange of NanoBits. For the fabrication of the NanoBits, two different techniques are proposed. On the one hand, a standard silicon processing technique enables batch fabrication of various NanoBits designs defined by electron beam lithography. On the other hand, focused ion beam milling can be used to structure a blank of heterogeneous materials, the socalled nembranes. Novel scanning modes in atomic force microscopy will be developed to take full advantage of the different NanoBits geometries and to realize AFM imaging of critical dimension structures. The innovative nanoimaging capabilities will be applied to characterize and develop novel nanooptical photonic structures in the wavelength or even sub-wavelength range and TERS applications in the nanomaterial and biomedical sector. Especially the involved SMEs will exploit and disseminate the results to potential users to realize a more efficient micro-and nanomanufacturing.

The overall objective of the proposed project is the development of novel optoelectronic and photonic devices based on ordered arrays of GaN/AIGAN and InGaN/GaN nanorods. The mechanisms of spontaneous nucleation and growth of such nanorods on Si substrates, under specific experimental conditions, have been recently clarified and understood. However, the realization of true devices relies on the achievement of ordered arrays of nanorods by localization of the epitaxial growth on predetermined preferential sites. This challenging issue would be tackled by controlling the growth of such heterostructures by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) growth on nanomasks and nanopatterned substrates, and by the subsequent processing of the nanodevices arrays. Ordered growth following a predefined pattern is a critical step to allow subsequent applications. Nanomasks and nanopatterning will be achieved by e-beam lithography and dry etching. Three different devices will be developed as demonstrators, namely, arrays of nanophotodetectors in the IR, white light nanoLEDs, and nanocolumnar Solar Cells. It is worth to remark that all these devices are beyond the state-of-the-art and will benefit from the very high and unique crystal quality of nanorods. Other advantages of such nanostructures are a wide absorption surface and the capability to exploit Photonic Crystal effects for light extraction. The objectives of this project, being very ambitious, are perfectly feasible because all devices are based on the same basic structure of nanorod arrays (building block). The project, aside from very relevant scientific aspects, will offer the young researcher a full training program on technological and complementary issues.