Consortium
The
consortium is composed by two research institutes (MDM, CEMES) and one
university (UB). This consortium gathers together different specialists
involved for many years in nanotechnology and nanoscience. Thanks to
its scientific expertise and its complementary experimental facilities,
such a consortium is in position to develop the interdisciplinary work
necessary for achieving successfully the goals of this proposal. The
partners have accumulated experience by participating at many projects,
at the regional, national and European levels, related to the
objectives of this proposal. Description of partecipantsLaboratorio Nazionale MDM, INFM-CNR.
The MDM (Materials and Devices for Microelectronics) Laboratory is an
Italian National Laboratory belonging to INFM, the Italian Institute
for the Physics of Matter since 2006 part of CNR, the National Research
Council. MDM is a state-ofthe-art facility located within the
STMicroelectronics complex at Agrate Brianza, near Milan (Italy). The
MDM main research activity is related to those issues in condensed
matter physics relevant for microelectronics device science and
technology. Major tasks of the Laboratory are the investigation of the
structural, electrical, optical, and magnetic properties of materials
for present and future micro and nano-electronic, and spintronic
applications as well as the development of novel characterization
techniques capable of addressing the always-decreasing device
dimensionality. MDM Laboratory is equipped with a wide range of
characterization facilities for materials: variable temperature
(25-1100K) scanning probes system (AFM, STM, EFM, SKPM) in UHV, SPM
system in ambient, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflectivity (XRR),
scanning electron microscope, ToF-SIMS and XPS, electrical
characterization (4.2-500K, IV, CV, GV, DLTS, noise, internal
photoemission spectroscopy), optical spectroscopies (4.2-300 K,
micro-Raman-UV and visible excitation, photoluminescence spectroscopy,
fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (middle- and far-IR)). MDM
Laboratory is also equipped with facilities for material growth and
processing in a 94 m2 clean room class 1000: atomic layer deposition,
thermal and e-beam evaporator, MBE, rapid thermal processing and
furnace annealing systems, wet benches for wafers cleaning, optical and
e-beam photolithography.
CEMES-CNRS.
The goal of CEMES ("Unité Propre du CNRS", 70 staff scientists among 150) located in TOULOUSE is to study the matter from an experimental and theoretical point of view, from the atomic to the macroscopic scales. The laboratory hosts an important activity related to the synthesis, the fabrication and the atomic scale characterization of novel materials of small dimensions and on their integration into demonstrating devices. The goal is to establish relations between atomic composition, architecture and physical or chemical properties of these nano materials. The lab owns 5 transmission electron microscopes including a TEM/FEG equipped with a spherical aberration corrector and an energy filter. FIB preparation of TEM samples can be performed with a ZEISS XB1540 CROSSBEAM. More precisely, Nanomaterial for Electronics group has an internationally recognized expertise notably in the field of defects, interfaces, strain and chemical analysis in semiconductors. In the past, this group has, for example, provided the community with a comprehensive and global image describing the evolution in size and densities of defects found after ion implantation and annealing, from magic size clusters of few atoms to dislocation loops, in Si and Ge. This thermal evolution is at the origin of the famous transient diffusion of dopant in Si and other activation anomalies. This work is still considered as state-of-the art and these concepts are today integrated in modern Si process simulators. The group has also been deeply involved in ultra low energy ion beam synthesis process (ULE-IBS) to fabricate and organize metal or semiconductor nanocrystals and nanoparticles in dielectric matrix for applications in electronics, magnetism and optics. Recently, CEMES has invented a new holographic technique (patented and later published in Nature) able to image strain in nanostructures and devices with nanometric resolution. Finally, CEMES has a long lasting experience of collaboration with one of the other partners (MDM) and major European semiconductor industries within EC funded projects (IST/FrendTech, IP/nanoCMOS, IST/ATOMICS, IP/PULLNANO, STREP/REALISE and GROWTH/NEON, coordinated by CEMES).
University of Barcelona.
The Electronic Materials and Engineering (EME) group is ascribed to the
Department of Electronics of the University of Barcelona. As a research
unit it also belongs to the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Institute
(IN2UB) of the University of Barcelona. The activities at EME include
several research lines, that can be summarize as: synthesis of
materials and structures (semiconductors, dielectrics, thin and thick
films, nanostructures); technology and devices (CMOS technology and
devices, deposition, ion implantation, thick film technology, Si
compatible optoelectronic and photonic devices); characterization
(structural, optical, surface analysis, electrooptical, electrical) of
materials and devices; design, fabrication and test of sensors and
actuators for advanced instrumentation; nanotechnology and nanodevices.
In the recent years, by joining several European projects dedicated to
Si photonics, the group demonstrated the capability to contribute to
front-end research in this strategic field of research. The facilities
at UB-EME available for the investigation related to the project
include:
- Electrical and electro-optical characterization unit: Electrical Probe Station, Semiconductor
- Device Analyzer, Electroluminescence Excitation and Detection System;
- Tools for surface and thin film analysis (XPS-UPS, SIMS, SEM);
- Nanoscopic tools for fabrication and characterization (AFM, FIB, NIL, Hot Embossing));
- Time- and frequency-resolved luminescence (PL, PLE, EL);
- Raman, infrared and UV-VIS spectroscopies (conventional and FTIR).
Moreover,
as associated unit, the group has full and privileged access to all the
facilities at the National Center of Microelectronics (CNM) in
Bellaterra (Barcelona), which are the common ones encountered in a
clean-room laboratory for CMOS-related devices development and
fabrication.
