Enhancement of Sceintific Excellence and Innovation Potential in Electronic Instrumentation for Ionising Radiation Environments

Project Information

ELICSIR

Grant agreement ID: 857558

DOI

10.3030/857558

Project closed

EC signature date 20 June 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 28 February 2023

Funded under

• Twinning of research institutions

Total cost

€ 791 812,50

EU contribution

€ 791 812,50

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF NIS- FACULTY OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING
Serbia

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ELICSIR (Enhancement of Sceintific Excellence and Innovation Potential in Electronic Instrumentation for Ionising Radiation Environments)

Reporting period: 2021-06-01 to 2023-02-28

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Ionizing radiation can be encountered as natural (background) radiation originating from cosmic rays or naturally occurring radionuclides, or as radiation emitted by man-made sources. Ionizing radiation has found numerous applications in industry, medicine and research. Monitoring of ionizing radiation exposure is accomplished with radiation dosimeters, composed of radiation sensors (detectors) and signal processing electronics. Semiconductor devices (e.g. MOS transistors and various types of diodes) are increasingly used as sensor elements, as active (electronic) dosimeters are becoming more popular and are replacing their traditional passive counterparts. Operating principle of electronic dosimeters relies on measurement of the change of electrical properties of the sensing elements due to radiation. This field of research has a significant and growing commercial potential; e.g. radiation ddosimetry market is estimated at EUR 2.5 Billion in 2022, compared with EUR 1.7 Billion in 2018.

ELICSIR project is aimed at significant strengthening of the research and innovation capacity of the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, University of Nis, Serbia (EF-UNINIS), in the field of radiation dosimetry and design of radiation hard electronics. This will be accomplished through establishing the links between EF-UNINIS with three renowned research institutions from the EU having complementary scientific profiles and broad expertise in radiation effects research: Tyndall National Institute (TYN) from Ireland, IHP GmbH (IHP) from Germany, and University of Granada (UGR) from Spain.

The overall project objectives are:
- To enhance the scientific and innovation capacity of EF-UNINIS and improve the researcher profiles of all project partners.
- To increase overall visibility and networking capacity of EF-UNINIS.
- To facilitate knowledge transfer and networking among scientists and professionals on the national and regional levels.
- To establish conditions and joint strategy for sustainable long-term collaboration.
- To promote the significance of the EU-sponsored research among the target groups.
- To improve the educational potential of EF-UNINIS and promote the mobility and inclusion of early stage researchers in research and networking activities.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Main activities in the project up to mid-term have been as follows:
- An ELICSIR team has been established at EF-UNINIS, currently consisting of eight staff members and ten postgraduate students
- The EF-UNINIS staff has been working jointly with the staff from supporting partners on training and supervision of the students
- Joint research work has so far resulted in four Masters theses, twelve journal papers, and fourteen international conference presentations, with a large body of experimental results still to be fully analyzed and published
- ELICSIR consortium has organized three workshops, three training schools, and a final project symposium
- ELICSIR has established its Stakeholders Forum, currently including 44 members with a wide range of activities, from research to local government
- We have initiated and organized two "ELICSIR project Twinning days", gathering Twinning projects from the West Balkans region to exchange their experiences and foster future collaborations
- ELICSIR has produced promotional materials (flyer, poster, video, regular newsletter) describing the project and also a critical role of EU in funding research

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Extensive research data gathered through joint experiments has been analyzed and results indicate that the consortium has progressed beyond state of the art in the area of radiation effects in electronic devices (commercial floating gate transistors, RADFETs, specialized diodes). It has been confirmed that these devices can be used for radiation dosimetry and basic mechanisms of the radiation damage have been explained, indicating possible improvements in design and fabrication. Scientific Cooperation and Commercialization/Innovation strategies have been formulated to facilitate partners' joint activities after the project. These strategies will ensure that the impact of the ELICSIR project is sustained through new EF-UNINIS collaborations with established EU partners.

Project partners during ELICSIR kick-off meeting on 3-4 Oct 2019.