Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UniEn-MLD (Unique ALD/MLD-Enabled Material Functions)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-06-01 al 2025-11-30
UniEn-MLD project seeks the extremity of the atomic/molecular layer deposition (ALD/MLD) thin-film technique to enable unforeseen material functionalities. The targeted metal-organic materials and interface-engineered superstructures are designed and elaborated so that the unique advantages of this ALD/MLD gas-phase synthesis approach can be best exploited.
New science evolves from our aim at (i) unique material assemblies (bonding schemes, crystal structures, layer piling sequences, interface interactions) not accessible through conventional synthesis, and (ii) synergistic combinations of different material functionalities, also such which would be mutually exclusive in conventional materials. An important project part is the search for new innovative organic components capable in bringing, e.g. structural guidance, redox control, carrier doping or stimuli-switching into the hybrid material, to create the desired functionalities.
The technical advantage follows from the specific ALD/MLD mechanism which yields the new adventurous materials as high-quality large-area homogeneous and conformal coatings, even on demanding surfaces. This opens attractive new avenues for technology advances in important and strongly emerging fields, such as efficient magnetic information storage and local energy harvesting and storage.
New science evolves from our aim at (i) unique material assemblies (bonding schemes, crystal structures, layer piling sequences, interface interactions) not accessible through conventional synthesis, and (ii) synergistic combinations of different material functionalities, also such which would be mutually exclusive in conventional materials. An important project part is the search for new innovative organic components capable in bringing, e.g. structural guidance, redox control, carrier doping or stimuli-switching into the hybrid material, to create the desired functionalities.
The technical advantage follows from the specific ALD/MLD mechanism which yields the new adventurous materials as high-quality large-area homogeneous and conformal coatings, even on demanding surfaces. This opens attractive new avenues for technology advances in important and strongly emerging fields, such as efficient magnetic information storage and local energy harvesting and storage.
Within the UniEn-MLD project, already an appreciably large number of new ALD/MLD processes have been successfully developed for the deposition of entirely new metal-organic materials (both crystalline and amorphous) and engineered inorganic-organic superlattice structures. For example, we have investigated numerous lithium precursors for lithium-organic thin films having the eye on their application in thin-film microbattery application. For this application, one of the key characteristics of the thin films is their conformality on high-aspect-ratio substrates, which has been evaluated in the project using state-of-the-art lateral high-aspect-ratio test structures.
One of the central goals in the project has been to develop novel processes/materials which in particular involve exciting new organic components with desired/on-demand designed functionalities (e.g. optical properties). For example, in our newly designed/fabricated luminescent europium-organic thin films the organic component was found to serve as an efficient sensitizer such that the films could be excited with visible light (instead of UV light); this is a crucially important discovery regarding the planned FRET-based bioassay applications.
One of the central goals in the project has been to develop novel processes/materials which in particular involve exciting new organic components with desired/on-demand designed functionalities (e.g. optical properties). For example, in our newly designed/fabricated luminescent europium-organic thin films the organic component was found to serve as an efficient sensitizer such that the films could be excited with visible light (instead of UV light); this is a crucially important discovery regarding the planned FRET-based bioassay applications.
The discovery of the visible-light excited europium-organic thin films for which the luminescence intensity could be further significantly enhanced by depositing the films on nanoplasmonic substrates goes clearly beyond the state-of-the-art. It can be considered as a clear breakthrough, since it opened the possibility to realize non-radiative FRET effect highly relevant for next-generation bioassay applications. However, there are still several issues to be tackled to bring the new thin-film coatings into true application level, such as the unstability of these coatings against water droplets. We are currently investigating the possibility to deposit ultrathin protective layers in-situ on the FRET-active layers.