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.

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.

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.

ROOTHz project addresses the bottleneck of Terahertz Science and Technology, where the fabrica-tion of room temperature, continuous wave, compact, tunable and powerful sources (at low cost, if possible) is the prime challenge. THz radiation (also called T-rays), whose frequency range lies between microwaves and infrared light in the electromagnetic spectrum, opens the possibility for a new imaging and spectroscopic technology with a broad range of applications, from medical diagnostic (without the damage pro-duced by ionizing radiation such as X-rays), industrial quality control or security-screening tools. T rays sources must be obtained at the limits of electronics from one side and optical systems from the other, resulting in a lack of efficient and practical radiation sources. In ROOTHz we propose to exploit THz Gunn oscillations in novel (narrow and wide bandgap) semiconductor nanodevices, which have been predicted by simulations but not experimentally confirmed yet. We aim at the fabrication not only of solid state emitters but also detectors at THz frequencies by exploiting the properties of both wide and narrow bandgap semiconductors and the advantages pro-vided by the use of novel device architectures such as slot-diodes and rectifying nano diodes (nano-channels with broken symmetry so called self-switching diodes, SSDs). The simplicity of the tech-nological process used for the fabrication of these diodes is remarkable, since it only involves the etching of insulating trenches or recess lines on a semiconductor surface (a single step of high reso-lution lithography). Furthermore, their particular geometry allows providing Gunn oscillations overcoming the classical frequency limit (around 300GHz). The fabrication of THz detectors with the same technology will complement this objective and allow the demonstration of a simple THz detection/emission subsystem at the conclusion of the project.

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.

This project proposes the development of a technology capable of delivering, high speed, simultaneous elemental and molecular maps of biological targets. Specifically these targets will include plaques associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), tumours treated with Pt-based chemotherapy drugs, and cell populations derived from the FP7 project, the ONE Study. The dual-mode imaging system will enable the analysis of metallo-proteins and their binding sites, or where there is no native metal tag or its abundance is too small to detect, anti-body or specific reactive chemistry metal or nano-particle tags will be added to the target molecules. For the ONE Study, one of the key project aims is to develop cell labelling strategies that will enable therapeutically administered cells to be tracked at low abundance in the host cell populations without toxic impact on either the therapeutic cells or host organism. The technology will be based on employing a common pulsed laser platform for laser ablation, desorption, or matrix assisted sampling of the target material simultaneously coupled with inductively-coupled plasma elemental mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ion trap organic mass spectrometry. In the case of the molecular mass spectrometry, electro-spray or matrix assisted charging will be used. The sampling will employ a technology developed in the host laboratory that enables targets to be sampled at atmospheric pressure whilst excluding atmosphere from the sampling point. The technology will be optimised for high speed and high efficiency to enable rapid mapping of targets at very high sensitivity. This will require development of a new high efficiency torch design for ICP-MS and the novel use of micro-jet pumps to deliver samples to the mass spectrometers. The project will also take advantage of the Fellow's expertise in synchrotron X-ray techniques to obtain non-destructive and comparative analyses of the specimen materials.

To extend beyond existing limits in nanodevice fabrication, new and unconventional lithographic technologies are necessary to reach Single Nanometer Manufacturing (SNM) for novel ‘Beyond CMOS devices’. Two approaches are considered: scanning probe lithography (SPL) and focused electron beam induced processing (FEBIP). Our project tackles this challenge by employing SPL and FEBIP with novel small molecule resist materials. The goal is to work from slow direct-write methods to high speed step-and-repeat manufacturing by Nano Imprint Lithography (NIL), developing methods for precise generation, placement, metrology and integration of functional features at 3 - 5 nm by direct write and sub-10nm into a NIL-template. The project will first produce a SPL-tool prototype and will then develop and demonstrate an integrated process flow to establish proof-of-concept ‘Beyond CMOS devices’ employing developments in industrial manufacturing processes (NIL, plasma etching) and new materials (Graphene, MoS2). By the end of the project: (a) SNM technology will be used to demonstrate novel room temperature single electron and quantum effect devices; (b) a SNM technology platform will be demonstrated, showing an integrated process flow, based on SPL prototype tools, electron beam induced processing, and finally pattern transfer at industrial partner sites. An interdisciplinary team (7 Industry and 8 Research/University partners) from experienced scientists will be established to cover specific fields of expertise: chemical synthesis, scanning probe lithography, FEBIP-Litho, sub-3nm design and device fabrication, single nanometer etching, and Step-and-Repeat NIL- and novel alignment system design. The project coordinator is a University with great experience in nanostructuring and European project management where the executive board includes European industry leaders such as IBM, IMEC, EVG, and Oxford Instruments.

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 #

New magneto-transport phenomena have been discovered in magnetic multilayers and are now being optimized for industrial applications, extending the conventional electronics with new functionality. However, most of the current research on magnetic multilayer materials and its device applications rely on conventional equilibrium electron transport. The full potential of nano-structuring, which leads to a broad spectrum of novel non-equilibrium transport phenomena, is therefore not realized. In this research project we will focus on practically unexplored functional principles that can be implemented in nanostructures produced by state-of-the-art lithography and surface manipulation techniques. Our main idea is to use electrically controlled spin currents in highly non-equilibrium regimes with respect to energy and temperature; hence “spin-thermo-electronics”. The large amount of heat generated in nanoscale devices is today one of the most fundamental obstacles for reducing the size of electronics. In this proposal we turn the problem around by instead using electrically controlled local heating of magnetic nano-circuits to achieve fundamentally new functionality, relevant to several key objectives of the information and communication technology. Particular emphasis will be put on investigating and technologically evaluating the interplay of spin, charge, and heat in magnetic structures of sub-10 nm dimensions. Such structures, although inaccessible by today’s lithographic means, are in our view crucial for further miniaturization of electronic devices.