The study of living matter has to be considered as an exciting and substantive

An innovative mechano-chemical approach (based on the high energy ball milling) will be used for the development of innovative nanopolymers to be used in Rapid Manufacturing (RM) based on Selective Laser Sintering (SLS),by: 1.Structural modification (up nanopolymers stage) using a currently widely used polymer like Polyammide PA (a 'nanoPA' will be produced); 2.Alloying (at nanoscale) with different polymers to tune mechanical properties; 3.Nanocharging of polymers (development of nanocomposites). Moving from this background, the project will make a real, LARGE, step up in polymers and composites properties by including nano features into the base materials and the final products. The final products will benefit from radically extended performances (i.e. operating temperatures, increased strength). In this way it will be possible, using existing prototyping machines, to realize freeform manufacturing technologies for the direct automated and customised production of parts and products from small to medium size batches for a wide range of possible applications (from vehicle applications to biomedical devices). The following are the project S/T objectives of SLS materials and parts produced using the modified PA -New nanostructured materials based on Poliammides (PA) -Agglomerated (scale of 20-50 micron) nanophased (scale of 10-20 nm) particles suited for RM via SLS -Properties improvements in materials and RM/SLS parts properties (referred to conventional PA) of more than 200%. -Parts having improved properties and wider application window for automotive sector, consumer goods and medical instrumentation. For these reasons STEPUP responds quite well to the call topics by: introducing new concepts for the micro/nano fabrication (usage of nanoplymers); enabling transition of RM to customised solutions integrating materials design and simulations.

The newly established Materials Science and Nanotechnology Institute (UNAM) is the first national research institute of Turkey in the area of atomic scale materials and nanotechnology. UNAM is growing as a major research facility equipped with all necessary research infrastructure and advanced research tools to carry out forefront R&D activities. This advanced research facility is available to the researchers of all other institutions. As a centre of excellence, UNAM is expected to provide scientific advising for the state of the art research problems in nanotechnology. Through this project, the Institute can rapidly reach its full potential for research and technological innovation and emerge as an internationally competitive center, integrated firmly into the European Research Area. UNAM is recently established; despite wide recognition within Turkey, so far our exposure to the European scientific community has been limited. We strongly desire to improve this and develop connections to and collaborations with European laboratories, university groups and research institutes through mechanisms to be established in this project. However, UNAM currently suffers from a bottleneck in funding of travel, conference organization. In addition, UNAM needs to increase its PhD staff through postdoctoral and research scientist positions, since full faculty positions through the university are very limited. There is need for a number of trained personnel in high-technology equipment relevant to nanotech in Turkey, such TEM, FIB, lithography equipment. The proposed project will allow UNAM administration to offer internationally competitive salaries for young Turkish scientists receiving doctorates every year in the USA, reversing the brain drain, as well as young European scientists with technical expertise. The proposed project will be critical in overcoming all of these difficulties.

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.

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.

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.

Today, markets demand smaller, cheaper, energy friendly and more different consumer products. Last decades micro technology has opened possibilities for mobile communication, safety and health science products. To meet these demands, the industry is encountering technological barriers that prevent the industry from evolving from the micro to a nanotechnology era. To resolve these barriers, the industry and research institutes need to initiate research programmes, and need to structure and integrate its research programmes and transfer the knowledge that as been acquired in these programmes. “New” researchers have to be trained with excellent research skills, knowledge on the specific technology, and understanding of market demands, application development, and so on. For this purpose 4 industrial, 5 academic and 3 research institutes have defined the 4 year SPAM research and training program; “a Supra-disciplinary approach to research and training in surface Physics for Advanced Manufacturing - SPAM”. Research objectives are: • identify and develop crucial knowledge in the field of surface physics, • enable the manufacturing of smaller semi-conductors and hence technology to print under 32 nm; extreme positional accuracy (< 4 nm); at competitive cost, • use this knowledge to further develop lithography technologies/tools needed for cost efficient development of nano-electronic devices, including manufacturing processes. Training objectives are: • provide personalised individual training, in particular for 16 ESR but also for 6 ER, to prepare and optimise their research in SRTs, with the help of 9 VS. • provide a network-wide training, fully exploiting the network potential and complementarities, leading to 12 network events. • transfer existing knowledge between partners through the SRTs and to transfer newly gained knowledge. Meeting the objectives are the responsibility of 4 Supra-disciplinary Research Teams (SRT) and 5 interlinking Training Exchange Pools.

The aim of the present project is to explore different synthesis strategies to obtain silicon nanocrystals and carbon nanodots with luminescent properties as alternative to conventional fluorescent biomarkers or other light-emitting semiconductor nanoparticles containing heavy metals known as quantum dots. Nanostructured silicon can provide appealing properties such as size and wavelength-dependent luminescence emission in the red/near infrared window, resistance to photobleaching, and robust surface chemistry for grafting of bio-molecules without incurring the burden of intrinsic toxicity or elemental scarcity of quantum dots. Carbon-based nanostructures with fluorescent properties remain relatively unexplored but similar behaviour and properties can be envisaged. The production of silicon nanocrystals will be approached by means of two different methods: i) thermal processing of silesquioxanes to produce an encapsulating oxide matrix for the silicon nanocrystals and ii) laser pyrolysis of silicon precursors either in gas phase or in the form of aerosols containing organometallic precursors. Both methods are quite novel and offer great possibilities for scaling up the batch production of silicon nanocrystals offered by current methodologies. Likewise, the synthesis of carbon nanodots will be explored by both thermal decomposition and laser ablation of carbon-containing precursors. To stabilize the nanoparticles and render them biocompatible for in vitro and in vivo diagnostic imaging experiments, different passivating and encapsulating agents like alkyl or alkoxy-groups and micelle-forming polymers and phospholipids will be evaluated. Finally, fluorescent labelling of cells, evaluation of cytotoxicity, drug-loading, circulation and degradation of selected samples will be carried out.

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#

Shape memory alloys (SMA) exhibit unique and useful effects, such as a capacity to cycle a component between two different macroscopic shapes by cycling the temperature. In the recent years MEMS components made of shape memory alloys have attracted considerable interest in the research field as they offer a high output work density and exhibit specific desirable thermomechanical effects. As a consequence, many research studies have been focused on the development of shape memory thin films which could be integrated into the planar technology of microsystems. However, there are few works in the literature where the effects of the grain size (d)/sample size (D) ratio are studied, and those that do exist are insufficient to draw general conclusions.