Nanotechnology, has been described as the technology for the 21st century, with applications from electronics to biotechnology and medicine. Accordingly, the next decade will be characterized by an increasing industrial demand for the creation of novel nanostructures whose individual physical and chemical properties can be tuned to specific applications. This in turn requires increased control over material composition, shape and resolution, providing the mechanisms for advanced nano-meter scale fabrication methods. Focused Electron Beam Induced Deposition (FEBID) and Extreme Ultra Violet Lithography (EUVL) are two innovative, next generation, nanoscopic fabrication techniques. These approaches have in common that high energy irradiation is used to write the nanostructures desired. Such irradiation, in turn, leads to the production of secondary, low energy electrons that are determining in the chemistry defining the performance of these methods.
The ELENA project aims at a better understanding of this low energy electron induced chemistry governing the performance of these methodologies and to use that understanding to advance these as commercially viable nanostructure fabrication techniques. Further, in order to significantly contribute to the development of FEBID and EUVL and nanotechnology in general, ELENA trains 15 early stage researcher in a broad set of skills and providing them with a detailed understanding of the physics and chemistry underpinning both FEBID and EUVL as well as the broader aspects of nano-technology processing.
