About NanoCharM
About NanoCharM Introduction The global demand for nanomaterials is expected to reach US$3.7 billion this year, driven mainly by nanoscale metals and oxides. European developers and users of nanomaterials will be constrained by bottlenecks in characterization techniques, many of which are slow, expensive and inefficient. Background A brief outlook at the state-of-the-art clearly shows that ellipsometry/polarimetry techniques have an enormous potential. A very important fraction of the world-wide activity occurs in the USA and Japan, despite the major ellipsometers/polarimeters manufacturing companies having their headquarters in Europe. Bearing in mind the strategic importance of many of the applications of ellipsometry/polarimetry techniques for characterizing multifunctional nanomaterials, it is essential that the EU make a serious effort to strengthen the coordination of R&D activities in this area enabling the optimum exploitation of the experience accumulated by a significant number of groups. Europe has by far the critical mass of resources, both human and technological, and expertise needed to build up a task force on ellipsometry and polarimetry characterization tools. A glance at the proceedings of recent conferences and meetings on nanomaterials and their technological applications provides clear evidence of the exponential increase and interest by research groups and companies in exploiting ellipsometry and that many European groups have pioneered R&D on ellipsometry for the characterization of a large variety of nanomaterials and their related processing and applications. It is furthermore noticeable that the European groups involved in this area have already a good level of mutual interaction and communication, which is an optimum basis for promoting and sustaining a Coordination Action and effectively contributing to the creation of permanent links between nanomaterials users and developers, and the characterization community. The NanoCharM project will effectively provide information on the unique capabilities of ellipsometry and polarimetry in the characterization of nanostructures for a wide audience, including academic researchers active in nanotechnology, engineers in industry, PhD students, university and college teachers who would like to widen their knowledge of these vital methods of material analysis, SMEs exploiting nanomaterials and even investors who would like to benefit from a future technology. Presently widely used characterization tools such as SEM, AFM, STM, TEM, SNOM, XRD, XPS etc. can offer efficient and reliable answers to problems such as imaging of nanostructure, size and structure determination, distribution of nanoparticles, composition etc. All these approaches, however, rely on interaction of samples with a tip, or x-ray or high energy electrons and, in some cases, require ad-hoc sample preparation. Such methods are therefore expensive, time consuming, sometime destructive and can alter the chemical/physical nature of the sample. Potential market segments requires screening of large number of samples for mass-production, and the above mentioned approaches may lead to a bottleneck in development, whereas the application of non-contact, non-invasive, non-destructive, non-sample preparation demanding ellipsometry/polarimetry can bring significant opportunities for high throughput characterization of a new generation of multifunctional nanomaterials. The exploitation of ellipsometry/polarimetry techniques holds the potential to revolutionize nanomaterial systems, in diagnostics, testing and enhanced-processing, both in developed countries and in the developing world, where poor allocation of resources is a major drawback, thus creating a unique opportunity for European industry. NanoCharM aims at reinforcing collaboration already existing within the ellipsometry community and developing new collaborations between the ellipsometry community and nanomaterials researchers/producers/end-users as a new and versatile platform capable of fulfilling societal and market requirements. Cost is a key driver especially for developing countries and ellipsometry/polarimetry offers great advantages for the rapid development of cost-effective new tools and process solutions. Polarimetry and Ellipsometry Ellipsometry and polarimentry techniques are used to optically characterize materials such as semiconductors, dielectrics, metals, organic polymers and plastics in thin films, thin films stacks and nanostructures. Ellipsometry does not contact or damage samples, and is an ideal and precise measurement technique for determining optical and, hence, physical and chemical properties of materials at the nanoscale. It is most commonly used to accurately measure film thickness and optical properties. However, there are many other material properties that have been recently demonstrated capable of being studied, that exploit ellipsometry, due to their influence on the optical response of the material. Therefore, today’s ellipsometry is becoming popular in a continuously widening circle of applications because of the increasing miniaturization of integrated circuits, breakthroughs in knowledge of biological macromolecules deriving from DNA and protein surface research, materials design of thin film multilayers, nanocomposite and smart materials, and materials engineering at the nanoscale. Contemporary applications cover widest spectral regions from the terahertz domain to ultra short wavelengths, addressing bound and unbound charge excitations in complex structures unveiling critical properties of new materials and controlling intricate layer structure in real time. Concept A key element of the European Commission's "Nanosciencies, Nanotechnologies, Materials and New Production Technologies" theme is the effective integration of nanotechnology, materials science, design and new production methods, so as to achieve and maximise impacts for industrial transformation and, at the same time, support sustainable production and consumption. The NanoCharM project will provide a strong push to both the fundamental research and technological applications of materials and devices with critical dimensions in the nanometer region, by:
NanoCharM Aims The project aims to consolidate existing European world-leading expertise in polarimetry / ellipsometry as a means of efficient characterization, disseminate this knowledge to the user community and facilitate advanced research in the field, in order to maintain this lead. This project is also considered critical to underpinning Europe’s stated aim of moving to a true knowledge-based industry and economy, particularly in relation to nanomaterials and their application. The techniques that are the subject of this project also offer benefits to the developing countries in the rapid development of cost-effective new tools and process solutions for their specific needs.
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