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.

Semiconducting nanowires and in particular their heterostructures could be of paramount importance for energy conversion. These structures hold great potential to provide a means of manipulating phonons by preserving the electronic properties. Our primary goal is to provide novel semiconductor nanostructures possessing enhanced phonon scattering which leads to a selective reduction of thermal conductivity without affecting the electrical characteristics.

Wireless sensor nodes (the so called 'Smart Dust') are autonomous devices incorporating sensing, power, computation, and communication into one system. The incorporation of electrical gas sensors in motes is a scientific challenge which has not been solved yet. The objective of the project is to build up an international partnership to tackle these scientific challenge developing self-powered autonomous nano-scale chemical sensors which harvest energy from the environment. The objective will be pursued by packing together scientists from top level institutions and training young researchers to the twofold task of developing self heated nanowire based chemical sensors and Quantum Dots Solar Cells and integrate the latter for powering the first in a mote. Long lasting collaborations will be developed through exchange of people and realization of different research activities. Primary application will be Energy-efficient Buildings (EeB), which are already some of the largest and most prevalent deployments of 'sensor networks' in the world, although they are not typically recognized as such. Wireless gas sensing of air quality could strongly increase the performance of HVAC systems (among NMP 2012 topics).

The present invention provides a process for wiring electrical contact sites, in particular on the surface of an electronic or microelectronic component, with the following steps: applying and patterning at least one dielectric on the component surface; currentlessly depositing a conductor starting layer for producing metal wiring interconnects and substitute contact sites with short-circuit contacts for interconnecting the individual metal wiring interconnects and the corresponding electrical contact sites; reinforcing the conductor starting layer by a common electrodepositing process; and separating the short-circuit contacts for separating the electrical contact sites or the contact sites of the wiring from one another.

Disclosed is a wiring connection structure comprising a wiring on which a preferable carbon nanotube can be formed, and a method for forming the same. On a lower layer Cu wiring, Mo is deposited to form a connection layer. On this connection layer, a carbon nanotube is grown using a CVD method. When the connection layer composed of Mo is formed, the following advantages can be obtained. Even when heat is applied during the CVD for growing the carbon nanotube, thermal diffusion of Cu in the lower layer Cu wiring is suppressed so that activity of the catalyst metal can be kept. Further, since the contact resistance between Mo and the carbon nanotube is low, a low resistance connection between the lower layer Cu wiring and the carbon nanotube can be secured and at the same time, a preferable carbon nanotube can be formed.

Sensors based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are integrated 5 into a microfluidic system outfitted with data processing and wireless transmission capability. The sensors combine the sensitivity, specificity, and miniature size of SWNT-based nanosensors with the flexible fluid handling power of microfluidic lab on a chip analytical systems. Methods of integrating the SWNT-based sensor into a microfluidic system are compatible with the delicate nature of the SWNT sensor 10 elements. The sensor devices are capable of continuously and autonomously monitoring and analyzing liquid samples in remote locations, and are applicable to real time water quality monitoring and monitoring of fluids in living systems and environments.

Sensors based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) are integrated into a microfluidic system outfitted with data processing and wireless transmission capability. The sensors combine the sensitivity, specificity, and miniature size of SWNT-based nanosensors with the flexible fluid handling power of microfluidic lab on a chip analytical systems. Methods of integrating the SWNT-based sensor into a microfluidic system are compatible with the delicate nature of the SWNT sensor elements. The sensor devices are capable of continuously and autonomously monitoring and analyzing liquid samples in remote locations, and are applicable to real time water quality monitoring and monitoring of fluids in living systems and environments. The sensor devices and fabrication methods of the invention constitute a platform technology, because the devices can be designed to specifically detect a large number of distinct chemical agents based on the functionalization of the SWNT. The sensors can be combined into a multiplex format that detects desired combinations of chemical agents simultaneously.

A wireless communication device, such as an RFID tag, is provided material that is dielectric, unless a voltage is applied that exceeds the materials characteristic voltage level. In the presence of such voltage, the material becomes conductive. The integration of such material into the device may be mechanical and/or electrical.